Dog of Two Head

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Philochorus, FGrH 328 F18a, b, c; Harding, pp. 67–70; Ogden 2013b, p. 73; Ogden 2013a, p. 109 (Philochorus F18a = Plutarch, Theseus 35.1, compare with 31.1–4).

For discussions of Heracles' capture of Cerberus, see Gantz, pp. 413–416; Hard, pp. 268–269; Ogden 2013a, pp. 104–115.Seneca, Tragedies, Volume I: Hercules. Trojan Women. Phoenician Women. Medea. Phaedra. Edited and translated by John G. Fitch. Loeb Classical Library No. 62. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-674-99602-1. Online version at Harvard University Press. In Greek mythology, Cerberus ( / ˈ s ɜːr b ər ə s/ [2] or / ˈ k ɜːr b ər ə s/; Greek: Κέρβερος Kérberos [ˈkerberos]), 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. 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. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, the last of Heracles' twelve labours. Ovid. Heroides. Amores. Translated by Grant Showerman. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 41. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1977. ISBN 978-0-674-99045-6. Online version at Harvard University Press.

Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.413–419, which has Cerberus brought up from the underworld through a cave on "the shores of Scythia, where, 'tis fabled, the [aconite] plant grew on soil infected by Cerberian teeth."

A mid-sixth-century BC Laconian cup by the Hunt Painter adds several new features to the scene which also become common in later works: three heads, a snake tail, Cerberus' chain and Heracles' club. Here Cerberus has three canine heads, is covered by a shaggy coat of snakes, and has a tail which ends in a snake head. He is being held on a chain leash by Heracles who holds his club raised over head. [127] Ovid (43 BC – AD 17/18) has Cerberus' mouth produce venom, [116] and like Euphorion, makes Cerberus the cause of the poisonous plant aconite. [117] According to Ovid, Heracles dragged Cerberus from the underworld, emerging from a cave "where 'tis fabled, the plant grew / on soil infected by Cerberian teeth", and dazzled by the daylight, Cerberus spewed out a "poison-foam", which made the aconite plants growing there poisonous. Whitbread, Leslie George, Fulgentius the Mythographer. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1971. Woodford, Susan, Spier, Jeffrey, "Kerberos", in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) VI.1 Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich, 1992. ISBN 3-7608-8751-1. pp.24–32. Though probably not Greek, Greek etymologies for Cerberus have been offered. 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". [9] Another suggested etymology derives Cerberus from "Ker berethrou", meaning "evil of the pit". [10] Descriptions [ edit ]