18 Facts About Cerberus

1.

In Greek mythology, Cerberus, 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.

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2.

Cerberus 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 multiple parts of his body.

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3.

Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, the last of Heracles' twelve labours.

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4.

Cerberus's father was the multi snake-headed Typhon, and Cerberus was the brother of three other multi-headed monsters, the multi-snake-headed Lernaean Hydra; Orthrus, the two-headed dog who guarded the Cattle of Geryon; and the Chimera, who had three heads: that of a lion, a goat, and a snake.

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5.

And, like these close relatives, Cerberus was, with only the rare iconographic exception, multi-headed.

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6.

An exception is the Latin poet Horace's Cerberus which has a single dog head, and one hundred snake heads.

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7.

Cerberus ate raw flesh, had eyes which flashed fire, a three-tongued mouth, and acute hearing .

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8.

Cerberus is often shown being chained, and Ovid tells that Heracles dragged the three headed Cerberus with chains of adamant.

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9.

The geographer Strabo reports that "according to the myth writers" Cerberus was brought up at Tainaron, the same place where Euripides has Heracles enter the underworld.

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10.

The geographer Pausanias tells us that there was a temple at Troezen with "altars to the gods said to rule under the earth", where it was said that, in addition to Cerberus being "dragged" up by Heracles, Semele was supposed to have been brought up out of the underworld by Dionysus.

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11.

However, according to Hesychius of Alexandria, Cerberus escaped, presumably returning to the underworld on his own.

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12.

Euphorion of Chalcis describes Cerberus as having multiple snake tails, and eyes that flashed, like sparks from a blacksmith's forge, or the volcaninc Mount Etna.

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13.

From Euphorion, comes the first mention of a story which told that at Heraclea Pontica, where Cerberus was brought out of the underworld, by Heracles, Cerberus "vomited bile" from which the poisonous aconite plant grew up.

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14.

Ovid has Cerberus' mouth produce venom, and like Euphorion, makes Cerberus the cause of the poisonous plant aconite.

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15.

Seneca's Cerberus has three heads, a mane of snakes, and a snake tail, with his three heads being covered in gore, and licked by the many snakes which surround them, and with hearing so acute that he can hear "even ghosts".

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16.

Apollodorus' Cerberus has three dog-heads, a serpent for a tail, and the heads of many snakes on his back.

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17.

Capture of Cerberus was a popular theme in ancient Greek and Roman art.

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18.

Occasionally in Roman art Cerberus is shown with a large central lion head and two smaller dog heads on either side.

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