![]() Horace's many snake-headed Cerberus followed a long tradition of Cerberus being part snake. The first appearance of a three-headed Cerberus occurs on a mid-sixth-century BC Laconian cup (see below). 590–580 BC), a Corinthian cup from Argos (see below), now lost, Cerberus was shown as a normal single-headed dog. On one of the two earliest depictions (c. In art Cerberus is most commonly depicted with two dog heads (visible), never more than three, but occasionally with only one. On the far left, Athena stands, left arm extended. Between them, a tree represents the sacred grove of Hades' wife Persephone. Cerberus is emerging from a portico, which represents the palace of Hades in the underworld. Heracles, chain in left hand, his club laid aside, calms a two-headed Cerberus, which has a snake protruding from each of his heads, a mane down his necks and back, and a snake tail. Perhaps trying to reconcile these competing traditions, Apollodorus's Cerberus has three dog heads and the heads of "all sorts of snakes" along his back, while the Byzantine poet John Tzetzes (who probably based his account on Apollodorus) gives Cerberus fifty heads, three of which were dog heads, the rest being the "heads of other beasts of all sorts". An exception is the Latin poet Horace's Cerberus which has a single dog head, and one hundred snake heads. However, later writers almost universally give Cerberus three heads. 8th – 7th century BC), Cerberus has fifty heads, while Pindar (c. In the earliest description of Cerberus, Hesiod's Theogony (c. And, like these close relatives, Cerberus was, with only the rare iconographic exception, multi-headed. His father was the multi snake-footed Typhon, and Cerberus was the brother of three other multi-headed monsters, the multi-snake-headed Lernaean Hydra Orthrus, the two-headed dog that guarded the Cattle of Geryon and the Chimera, who had three heads: that of a lion, a goat, and a snake. Cerberus had several multi-headed relatives. Cerberus was usually three-headed, though not always. Descriptions ĭescriptions of Cerberus vary, including the number of his heads. Another suggested etymology derives Cerberus from "Ker berethrou", meaning "evil of the pit". ![]() An etymology given by Servius (the late-fourth-century commentator on Virgil)-but rejected by Ogden-derives Cerberus from the Greek word creoboros meaning "flesh-devouring". Though probably not Greek, Greek etymologies for Cerberus have been offered. However, as Ogden observes, this analysis actually requires Kerberos and Garmr to be derived from two different Indo-European roots (* ker- and * gher- respectively), and so does not actually establish a relationship between the two names. Lincoln notes a similarity between Cerberus and the Norse mythological dog Garmr, relating both names to a Proto-Indo-European root *ger- "to growl" (perhaps with the suffixes -*m/*b and -*r). This etymology was also rejected by Manfred Mayrhofer, who proposed an Austro-Asiatic origin for the word, and Beekes. ![]() Lincoln (1991), among others, critiques this etymology. It has been claimed to be related to the Sanskrit word सर्वरा sarvarā, used as an epithet of one of the dogs of Yama, from a Proto-Indo-European word * k̑érberos, meaning "spotted". Ogden refers to attempts to establish an Indo-European etymology as "not yet successful". The etymology of Cerberus' name is uncertain. Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete, Greece. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, the last of Heracles' twelve labours.Įtymology Cerberus and Hades/ Serapis. He was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon, and was usually described as having three heads, a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from his body. In Greek mythology, Cerberus ( / ˈ s ɜːr b ər ə s/ or / ˈ k ɜːr b ər ə s/ Greek: Κέρβερος Kérberos ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. Heracles, wearing his characteristic lion-skin, club in right hand, leash in left, presenting a three-headed Cerberus, snakes coiling from his snouts, necks and front paws, to a frightened Eurystheus hiding in a giant pot. For other uses, see Cerberus (Greek myth) and Cerberus (disambiguation).
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