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Cerberus, the ultimate guard dog
Cerberus (Latin) or Kerberos (Greek) was the mythological, ferocious, multi-headed beast that stood on the banks of the river Styx guarding the entrance to the kingdom of Hades (Pluto), the god of the underworld. He had a serpent’s tail, a mane of snakes and lion’s claws. He is usually depicted as having three dog’s heads. This varies in some accounts – one, two, fifty, sometimes even a hundred. (The higher numbers are presumed to derive from counting the number of serpents’ heads that make up his mane.) He was the offspring of Typhon, a terrifying, fire-breathing giant (inspiring fear, even in the Gods!), and the hybrid Echidna – half woman, half serpent. He prevented the living from entering Hades but allowed the spirits of the dead to enter, never to return.
Among those who famously got the better of Cerberus were Hercules (Heracles), Orpheus, Aeneas and Psyche.
HERCULES had slain his own children in a fit of madness and his punishment was to do twelve years of penance to King Eurystheus. Eurystheus gave Hercules twelve Labours to accomplish. (He originally gave him ten but deemed that two of them had not been completed by Hercules alone and added a further two.) The twelfth and last was the capture of Cerberus. Hercules befriended Persephone, the wife of Hades, and was given permission to attempt his task but forbidden to use any weapons. Such was his strength that he wrestled Cerberus into submission and successfully delivered him to Eurystheus.
ORPHEUS entered the underworld in search of his wife, Eurydice, and successfully eluded Cerberus by lulling him to sleep with the music of his lyre. He had been taught to play the instrument by Apollo.
AENEAS needed to enter the underworld to see his father, Anchises. The Cumaean Sybil (a prophetess) accompanied him. She successfully tranquillised Cerberus by feeding him honey cakes laced with poppy seeds and a powerful opiate. (An early version of “hash-brownies”?)
PSYCHE attempting to visit Persephone reportedly used the same technique with Cerberus as the Sybil, though this time with barley cakes.
HERCULES had slain his own children in a fit of madness and his punishment was to do twelve years of penance to King Eurystheus. Eurystheus gave Hercules twelve Labours to accomplish. (He originally gave him ten but deemed that two of them had not been completed by Hercules alone and added a further two.) The twelfth and last was the capture of Cerberus. Hercules befriended Persephone, the wife of Hades, and was given permission to attempt his task but forbidden to use any weapons. Such was his strength that he wrestled Cerberus into submission and successfully delivered him to Eurystheus.
ORPHEUS entered the underworld in search of his wife, Eurydice, and successfully eluded Cerberus by lulling him to sleep with the music of his lyre. He had been taught to play the instrument by Apollo.
AENEAS needed to enter the underworld to see his father, Anchises. The Cumaean Sybil (a prophetess) accompanied him. She successfully tranquillised Cerberus by feeding him honey cakes laced with poppy seeds and a powerful opiate. (An early version of “hash-brownies”?)
PSYCHE attempting to visit Persephone reportedly used the same technique with Cerberus as the Sybil, though this time with barley cakes.
RELATED TOPICS
1. Dante met Cerberus in the INFERNO. The three-headed dog was
guarding the entrance to incarcerated gluttons in the third circle of hell.
Virgil subdued him by throwing dirt into each of his mouths. (This
technique was once recommended by Fred Streeter on Gardner’s
Question Time as an antidote to greenfly. “They don’t like it.” he said,
“It gets in their teeth!”)
2. Garm, a four-eyed dog appears in Norse mythology guarding the
entrance to Helheim, the realm of the dead.
3. Other mythological creatures spawned by Echidna and Typhon
(Cerberus’ parents) include The Nemean lion and the Hydra (both slain
by Hercules during his Labours), the Sphinx and the Chimaera.
guarding the entrance to incarcerated gluttons in the third circle of hell.
Virgil subdued him by throwing dirt into each of his mouths. (This
technique was once recommended by Fred Streeter on Gardner’s
Question Time as an antidote to greenfly. “They don’t like it.” he said,
“It gets in their teeth!”)
2. Garm, a four-eyed dog appears in Norse mythology guarding the
entrance to Helheim, the realm of the dead.
3. Other mythological creatures spawned by Echidna and Typhon
(Cerberus’ parents) include The Nemean lion and the Hydra (both slain
by Hercules during his Labours), the Sphinx and the Chimaera.
4. There are four mentions of Cerberus in the works of Shakespeare, most notably in Love’s Labour Lost:
HOLOFERNES
Great Hercules is presented by this imp,
Whose club killed Cerberus, that three-headed canus;
Act V Sc ii
Great Hercules is presented by this imp,
Whose club killed Cerberus, that three-headed canus;
Act V Sc ii
5. The word cancerbero in Spanish is used to describe a football goalkeeper
with attitude.
6. It is said that when Cerberus was being abducted by Hercules he started
to foam at the mouth and on the spot where his saliva fell sprouted the
poisonous plant Aconite.
to foam at the mouth and on the spot where his saliva fell sprouted the
poisonous plant Aconite.
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