Ancient Greek myths surprise with the originality of the characters. However, with Cerberus, the inhabitants of Hellas did not become particularly wise, although they endowed the animal with frightening features. Who else will guard the approaches to the most terrible place on earth - the kingdom of the dead? Of course, a dog, albeit not quite an ordinary one.

Origin and image

Cerberus in ancient Greek mythology is perhaps the most terrible creature that can terrify even the most brave hero and warrior. In Latin, the name of the hellish dog is listed as "Cerberus", which means "souls of the dead" and "devourer". The ugly monster is the offspring of Typhon and Echidna.

The giant and the gigantic half-woman half-snake gave birth to two more children, a brother and sister Cerberus. No less monstrous dog Orf with two heads guarded the herd that belonged to the giant Geryon, and the Lernean Hydra, a snake-like creature with poisonous breath, guarded the underwater entrance to the kingdom of the dead.

Cerberus, of course, also got the fate of a watchman, but compared to his brother and sister, he enjoyed the most respect for his bad temper and excessive aggressiveness.

The appearance of the mythological character makes the creepy image complete. The back is crowned with three heads with evil eyes, a long snake tail flaunts on the back of the body, ominous snakes teem on the neck and stomach. However, according to other sources, the creature is represented with fifty or even a hundred heads. And in the Roman era, the middle head was a lion's head. Sometimes Cerberus even looks like a man with a dog's head.

The ancient Greeks depicted the mouth of Cerberus with sharp fangs. A poisonous mixture of white color flowed from the tongue of the dog. According to legend, when Hercules pulled the monster out of the dungeon, Cerberus vomited on the ground from the sunlight. As a result, the herb aconite grew, from which Medea later prepared deadly potions.

The dangerous dog's life's work was to serve God faithfully. The duty of Cerberus is to guard the exit from the world of the dead, so that not a single soul that has gone "to the next world" can return to people. And, as is known from the myths, attempts to escape were not uncommon. At the same time, the dog greets new guests (necessarily deceased) cordially, wagging its tail cutely. An aggressive creature is not so hospitable to living souls, therefore, in the legends, the heroes try to bribe it in every possible way. For example, who came for a dead lover, delighted the ears of Cerberus with the sounds of a lyre and eventually put the sinister dog to sleep.

Cerberus and Hercules

The three-headed dog is strong and fearsome. Attempts to defeat the guard of Hades were made more than once, but only a brave strong man managed to do this. The story of the pacification of the monster from the underworld was the 12th, final feat of the hero. The evil king Eurystheus, who wondered to destroy Hercules, asked the ancient Greek hero to bring the legendary dog ​​to the throne.

Hades just didn’t want to give up his faithful guard - he made concessions only after the hero hit his shoulder with an arrow. The ruler of the underworld allowed Cerberus to be taken away, but on one condition - if Hercules defeats him without weapons. A glorious warrior dressed in lion skins and attacked a fierce animal, trying to strangle it. Cerberus did not manage to fight off the intruder with a dragon's tail and fell at his feet.

At the sight of the monster, the cowardly king Eurystheus was horrified, and he freed Hercules from hard work. And by the way, he ordered the dog to be returned to its place in the underworld.

In literature and cinema

Cerberus often becomes the hero of literary works, and also appears on movie screens.

In ancient Greek and Roman literature, the character is found in, and. In The Divine Comedy, Cerberus is the guardian of the third circle of hell, where gluttons and gourmets suffer, who are destined to rot in the pouring rain and the ruthless rays of the sun.

Writers sometimes use the image of a three-headed dog in an allegorical sense. in the work “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”, already in the epigraph, he began to criticize the autocracy with the words: “The monster is oblo, mischievous, huge, staring and barking.” The expression is mixed from two fragments of Virgil's Aeneid, which speaks of the Cyclops Polyphemus and Cerberus. Later, the line turned into a catchphrase used to describe any negative event that has a public resonance.

Modern literature also uses the image of this infernal monster. In the novel "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", Cerberus, although scary, is tender. A huge dog with three heads is bred, who named him Fluffy. The dog guards the entrance to the dungeon where the philosopher's stone is kept. The hero is distinguished by one feature - he falls asleep at any sound of music. , and put the guard to sleep with the help of a flute, as in the myth of Orpheus.

Fluff from the movie "Harry Potter"

An interesting appearance in the movie of a fierce dog happened in 2005. In the film "Cerberus" directed by John Terlesky, the heroes hunt for a sword kept in the lost tomb of the great Hun Attila. The weapon gives the owner invulnerability and power over the whole world. However, the magical relic is jealously guarded by a monstrous dog. The film starred Greg Evigan, Garrett Sato, Bogdan Uritescu and other actors.

• The naturalist and physician Carl Linnaeus, who lived in the 18th century, gave the name of the ancient Greek monster to an amazing plant that is usually found on the lands of Africa, Australia and India. The poisonous flowering tree contains a powerful toxin that can kill a person. With the light hand of a botanist, the plant began to be called Cerbera (Cerberus).

Plant "Cerberus"

• On the eve of the World Cup, which is scheduled for 2018, there was a scandal. In the city park of Sochi, a sculpture of Cerberus, created by artists Vladimir and Victoria Kirilenko, was illegally installed. The monument was conceived as a symbol of the championship amulet: a mythical dog in bronze guards the ball. A sculpture two meters high and weighing a ton grew in the center of the city, but the mayor's office ordered this object to be dismantled.

In ancient Greek mythology, Cerberus is described as a legendary dog ​​with three heads. A monstrous dog guards the gates to Hades, a gloomy underworld of dead souls from which no one can escape without the permission of the gods. And the living will not penetrate into the world of the dead, because the gate is guarded by the three-headed monster Cerberus, the infernal protector of the underworld.

In the ancient world, dogs were usually considered wild animals, and until they came to domestication, they wandered the streets and foraged on the outskirts of cities. The mythical Cerberus included not only all the terrible qualities of dogs, but also represented a set of terrible creatures.

The ancient Greeks depicted Cerberus as a monstrously strong three-headed dog with the claws of a lion. A terrible monster was painted as a "hellish watchman" with a snake's tail, and even then a mane from a snake ball.

It is believed that the three heads of the guardian of the underworld symbolize the past, present and future, although other authors believe that they represent birth, youth and old age. A very powerful weapon of Cerberus is hidden in a look so terrible that anyone who looked into his eyes immediately turned into cold stone!

Legends say that the teeth of the three-headed monster were the sharpest blades, and its bite was deadly poisonous, like saliva itself. If a drop of poison fell on the ground, then a wolf plant sprouted in this place.

PARENTS OF CEBER.

The father of Cerberus was Typhon, an influential and extremely dangerous monster of ancient Greek mythology (besides a god). A giant and a giant with bright red eyes and, as they said, the lord of the fiery forces was so much that even the gods of Olympus.

Wherever Typhon appeared, he brought disaster and violence. The purpose of the evil monster was to destroy the world, and the desire to interfere with Zeus on his way to the Kingdom of Heaven. The mother of the nightmarish three-headed monster was Echidna, a half-female, half-serpent creature called "the mother of all monsters."

Echidna's eyes were black, the head and body of a beautiful woman, but the lower half of the body was a snake. The mother of monsters lived in a cave, where she attracted people to be devoured by her beauty.

CERBERUS IS THE GUARDIAN OF THE DOORS OF THE NELL.

The main mission of Cerberus was to protect the Greek underworld and to be a faithful servant of the god Hades. His favorite place was the banks of the River Styx, which marked the frontier.

Cerberus guarded the gates of Hades, preventing the dead from escaping, and also guarded the entrance from the living, not letting his master in without permission. Chained to the gates of Acheron, another river of the Underworld, Cerberus was loyal to the dead or newly arrived spirits, but devoured anyone who tried to return to the world of the living, trying to pass the gates of hell.

Cerberus is cited in various mythological stories as the "guardian of hell", and there are even a couple of Greek myths in which a hero defeats a monster. First, there is Orpheus, the famous musician of Greek mythology, who sneaked into the underworld and lulled the beast with his lyre (a type of harp). Usually a vigilant and aggressive guardian, Cerberus, having heard the wondrous sound, simply fell asleep.

The Thracian singer was revered in Greece and happily married the nymph Eurydice. However, she was bitten by a snake and died. Orpheus was so inconsolable with the loss that he boldly rushed on a dangerous journey to the Underworld, wanting to bring Eurydice to the world of the living by any means.

The hopeless and strange enterprise was crowned with success, for Charon (the ferryman who helps the souls of the dead to cross the River Styx) was so enamored by the music that the boatman undertook to translate Orpheus, a living man. Having met Cerberus, Orpheus managed to make the three-headed monster lie obediently on the ground, lulled by the music of his lyre, after which the man was able to easily cross the gates of Hades.

Hades and his wife Persephone agreed that Orpheus would take his beloved on the condition that when ascending into the world of the living, Eurydice would follow Orpheus, but he was strictly forbidden to look back and look at his wife.

Alas, having reached the surface, Orpheus apparently felt the delight of reuniting with his beloved, and turned to look at his beloved ... immediately she became a ghost and was sent back to the realm of the dead, this time forever.

HERCULES DEFEATED CERBERUS.

The most famous story of Cerberus has its hero Hercules, a half-human demi-god. Eurytheus, king of Tirins, demanded that Hercules capture and bring Cerberus to the world of the living. But Eurysteo was convinced that Hercules would fail in this impossible mission.

However, Hercules, having come to the Underworld, spoke with Hades, and asked: if I can defeat Cerberus without using any weapons, will you let me take the monster? When Hercules met Cerberus on the shores of Acheron, he began to fight the huge monster using only his bare hands.

Even being the strongest man in the world, Hercules needed all his might to subdue a strong monster. Soon the monster was exhausted by the fight with the demigod and finally surrendered to Hercules. Cerberus is one of the few creatures that is retarded alive after meeting Hercules. Unlike other characters of mythology who crossed the path of Hercules, Cerberus returned intact to his place of service, continuing to guard the doors of the world of dead souls.

In many books of ancient mythology, Cerberus is found, although it varies somewhat among different authors. For example, in the hell presented by Dante, not the entire underworld is shown, but the third infernal circle is the circle of gluttony, and Cerberus serves to personify uncontrolled appetite.

There is also an equivalent of Cerberus in Norse history where Hell is guarded by a four-eyed dog named Garm. In Egypt, his incarnation was Anubis, the dog-headed god, guardian of tombs, who accompanied souls on their way to the underworld. A number of authors report that Cerberus had fifty or even a hundred heads, and in other descriptions he looks like a lion with wings, a dog and a wolf.

Throughout our culture, we see a character guarding the Realm of the Dead. Someone will say about superstitions, traditions and mythology. But there is something about it that is very disturbing. The underworld and everything connected with it is so well described, as if it were a real world that one day someone really managed to leave.

The ancient Greeks used the name "Cerberus" to frighten children, and today this is the name of a guard who strictly observes the law. Few people know that this name was worn by the guard at the gates of hell - a terrible-looking vicious dog that could not be bribed, but could be deceived. The main thing is that such creatures are also found in our world!

Cerberus - who is it?

Who is Cerberus in Greek mythology, many people know, he became one of the popular characters in Greek myths, thanks to Hercules, who defeated a terrible monster. The story of the origin of the dog was told to the world by the storytellers of Hellas. Modern scholars present several interpretations of the origin of the name of the guard of hell:

1. Cerberus was born to the monsters Tryphon and Echidna, a dog with three heads with poisonous saliva. Does not allow the dead to return to the world of the living, those who try to escape are devoured. When meeting new shadows that have arrived in the kingdom of Hades, he gently wags his tail.
2. The second version of the name - Kerber, corresponds to the Sanskrit name of one of the dogs of the god Yama. "Kerberos" is translated from Proto-Indo-European as "spotted".
3. The third version of the name is Garm, the guard dog of the house of the dead in the myths of the Scandinavians, linguists assure that in Proto-Indo-European both nicknames have a common word root.

Does Cerberus exist?

In studies of paranormal phenomena, scientists have repeatedly come across evidence of the existence of a creepy dog ​​that appeared from under the ground. His habitats:

1. Devil's meadow, in the forest near Pskov.
2. Mound on the banks of the Vaksh River in Tajikistan.
3. The swamps of Britain, in those places many legends about dogs with flames splashing in their mouths have been preserved.

The legends of the swamps of England and gave the idea to Conan Doyle about the Hound of the Baskervilles. As for Russian places, the locals say that both in the clearing and in the mound there are entrances to the underworld, which are guarded by creepy dogs. In Black Meadow, scientists installed equipment to record the appearance of a monster. But when a black Cerberus dog with sparks running down its back emerged from the ground, all the sensors immediately melted. The beast walked around the clearing, and then abruptly sucked into the grass. During this phenomenon, people could not move due to a strange numbness.

A version has been put forward that the movements of the dog resemble ball lightning, because they are also black. And thunderstorms also happen underground, there is a piezoelectric effect, it manifests itself when electrical discharges occur in deformed soil crystals. This explains why the modern Cerberus appeared from the ground in sparks and flames, and sometimes even with the effect of small explosions.

What does Cerberus look like in real life?

Several descriptions of what Cerberus looks like have survived. The most common option: about three heads with a snake's tail. There are other descriptions where:

• the body of a dog, at the withers - the heads of snakes, the tail of a huge snake.
• the torso of a man, and the top of a mad dog. In one hand he holds the head of a bull, which kills with breath, in the other - the head of a goat, which destroys with a look.

There are several versions of how many heads Cerberus has. In different legends, their number ranges from 50 to 100. On products and drawings of vases, images showed that Cerberus is a dog:

1. Huge in size, on the tail - the mouth of a dragon.
2. With two heads and a snake tail.
3. With one head, snakes - on the withers, neck and stomach.
4. About three heads, the middle of which is a lion's.

Cerberus - mythology

What was Cerberus guarding? The ancient Greeks were sure that he guarded the entrance to the domain of Hades, where the souls of the dead languished. Only one person managed to put the beast to sleep - the singer Orpheus, who wanted to bring his wife Eurydice out of the underworld. Other legends say that Cerberus bites all new arrivals, so the Hellenes endowed the deceased with honey gingerbread so that there would be something to treat the guardian of the gate. wrote that in hell the three-headed Cerberus torments sinful souls.

The infernal creation myth mentions that he had siblings:

1. Orff, a dog with two heads and tails. Guarded the cows of Geryon, Hercules killed him.
2. Lernaean Hydra. A monster with 100 snake heads. She was also slain by the son of Zeus.
3. . An infernal creature with three heads: a lion, a goat and a snake. Destroyed by the hero Bellerophon.

Cerberus and Hades

Hades is the ruler of the kingdom of the dead, the kingdom itself was called by the same name. The son of Kronos and Rhea ruled there along with his wife Persephone. God considered that the infernal Cerberus would be the best guardian. His three heads have become a symbol of the past, present and future time, which, like a dog, meets and absorbs everything in its path. The famous singer Homer said that the entrance guarded by this dog is located in the extreme west, beyond the Ocean River. There are very gloomy fields where the souls of the dead fly.

Cerberus and Hercules

One of the most high-profile feats of the son of Zeus is considered how Hercules defeated Cerberus. To pull the hellish dog to the ground, to the people, was an indication of King Eurystheus. Hades allowed to take the guard for a while, but set the condition that the hero defeat the enemy with his bare hands. Before going to the kingdom of the dead, the son of Zeus was initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries, he was able to defeat the beast with the help of Hermes and. Hercules took the monster to the king, in Mycenae, but he got scared and ordered the guard to be returned back to hell.

Sphinx and Cerberus

Ancient myths preserved the name of another unique guardian - the Sphinx, a relative of the hellish dog. If the lair of Cerberus was at the gates of hell, then the Sphinx lived on earth. There are 2 versions of his birth:

1. Born from Tryphon and Echidna. This creature with a female face and a lion's body did not let those into Thebes who could not solve its riddle. He brutally killed them.
2. Parents - Orff and Echidna. He lived on Mount Fikion, was called Fix. It was considered the personification of mystery and wisdom.

In Greek mythology, Cerberus or, as it was also called, Kerberos, is a terrible creature that guarded the entrance to the other world of Hades. Cerberus did not let the dead into the world of the living from the realm and vice versa. He devoured those who tried to escape from the underworld.

Cerberus was a three-headed dog with a dragon's head at the end of a snake's tail. The wool on his back was replaced by poisonous snakes. Instead of saliva, poison flowed from his mouth.

According to one of the legends, in order to appease the formidable monster, honey gingerbread was left in the coffin of the deceased. In some myths, Cerberus had 50 or even 100 heads. And in other descriptions, he had a human body with one head of a dog on his shoulders and with two arms, in which were the heads of a goat and a bull.

The head of a bull struck a person with its deadly breath, and the head of a goat killed with a look.

Cerberus is the most nightmarish offspring of Echidna and Typhon, their offspring also include the Lernaean Hydra and the Nemean Lion.

Cerberus and Orpheus

The first who managed to pacify the terrible monster was the legendary Orpheus, the son of Apollo. He needed to get into the underworld in order to return his deceased wife Eurydice. Orpheus was able to enchant Cerberus with his beautiful music and he missed him.

But, unfortunately, Orpheus failed to bring her out of the other world of Hades, as he violated one condition. The son of Apollo looked back to see if his beloved was following him. Therefore, Eurydice is forever imprisoned in the realm of the dead.

Cerberus and Aeneas

The Trojan prince Aeneas, the son of Venus, went to the underworld to meet with his father Anchises and consult with him about where it would be better to build a new city of the Trojans. According to Greek mythology, Aeneas wanted to fight Cerberus, taking the sword, he went into the possession of the god of the dead Hades.

But the soothsayer Sibyl stopped him, arguing that there is another way to get past the formidable dog. To help Aeneas, she prepared honey cakes, which she then soaked in wine from a sleeping herb.

And when they approached the gates of the underworld, the Sibyl threw these cakes to Cerberus. He ate them and fell asleep. In the other world, Aeneas met the shadow of his father Anchises, who predicted a great future for him.

Battle of Cerberus and Hercules

Hercules descended into the realm of the dead twice. The first time, on the orders of King Eurystheus, he had to bring Cerberus from the other world. This was his last twelfth feat.

Appearing before the god of the dead Hades, Hercules respectfully turned to him with a request to allow him to deliver the three-headed dog to Mycenae in order to demonstrate it to King Eurystheus. Hades was cruel and gloomy, but still could not refuse the son of the greatest god of thunder and lightning Zeus.

However, Hades told him that he would give Cerberus only on one condition: Hercules needed to pacify the evil monster without weapons. For a long time, Hercules Cerberus was looking for in the other world, and found him on the banks of the Acheron River.

It is not uncommon for mythological creatures to be so highly developed and popular that many perceive them as quite real beings. Such is Cerberus, one of the most fearsome monsters that man's fantasy has ever spawned.

He is distinguished by a special bloodthirstiness, as well as aggressiveness in the process of completing the task assigned to him by the gods. Its other name is Kerberos, and in Latin it is assigned term eater. He is presented as one of the many offspring of the union of Echidna and Typhon, perhaps the most terrifying of his brethren.

If you compare it with the Lernian Hydra or the Nemean Lion, it is not difficult to see that Cerberus is superior in strength to both of them combined. He is faithful to Hades until his death, and also performs the most important task - he kills everyone who tries to penetrate into afterworld.

What did Cerberus look like?

This creature was a terrifying wolfhound, which was distinguished by the presence of three heads at once with mouths studded with fangs. Some sources even indicate that this dog had five heads, but the story with three-headed monster.

Cerberus' neck is littered with snakes that are constantly writhing and hissing. It is distinguished by a very long tail, the tip of which has a snake's head instead of a pom-pom. The fur of this mythical creature is also filled with snakes that protect it, leaving almost no vulnerable spot on the body.

Huge paws are capable of tearing almost any opponent. Cerberus, as the legends that have come down to us depict him, is distinguished by a very evil and even scary look, capable of terrify anyone and cause primal fear.

The mouths of Cerberus are constantly ready to bite, and foam flows down the fangs, which is especially poisonous. According to one of the legends, during the stay of Cerberus on the surface of the planet, the poison covered a small piece of land on which the herb aconite began to grow, which was subsequently used by Medea to create her poison.

Other sources indicate that Cerberus was able to turn into a man who had only one dog's head on his shoulders. His hand in this image was occupied by a severed bull's head, the stench of which made it possible to defeat enemies, crept very close. In the other hand, the creature held the head of a goat, the look of the dead eyes of which killed enemies on the spot.

Not infrequently, Cerberus is depicted as an ordinary dog, similar to a modern sheepdog. She still guards the passage to the underworld, but instead of attacking, she simply meets travelers and warns them against a deadly journey. But if such a dog was kind to the living, then the dead could not receive mercy from him.

He fell with his formidable power on anyone who tries to leave the realm of the dead without the permission of his master. He easily turns into a terrifying monster that literally devours anyone who tries to break into the realm of the living, violating the established laws of the universe. After all, everyone in ancient times knew that leave the realm of the dead Impossible if already in it.

Cerberus was given the task of ensuring that the balance between the kingdom of Hades and Zeus was maintained at a fragile parity. Such a requirement was established by the lord of the dead himself, when he and his brothers shared the kingdoms inherited after the overthrown by them of the Titans.

The monster remained undefeated, as it possessed supernatural strength and ferocity. He is also given a special ability create fear in the hearts those who bravely challenge him. However, some heroes made attempts to overthrow the tyranny of Cerberus, and some of them managed to fight the monster quite effectively.

The first among the host of heroes stood out Hercules, who in Italy was called Hercules. He managed to defeat this terrible opponent due to the fact that he was the son of a god. Bringing Cerberus to one of the Greek kings was a task that was included in the canonical number of his great feats.

After the king saw that Hercules was really capable of such a feat, the monster was brought back, and for his exploits the hero was awarded a wreath of silver poplar. It was at this moment that aconite appeared on earth, born from the foam of a monster.

Orpheus was also able to defeat Cerberus, who managed to play such a magnificent melody in front of him that she lulled the vigilance of the animal. Psyche got the monster drunk special decoction, thanks to which he falls asleep. Despite these isolated cases, Cerberus always remained the most feared monster in the memory of the ancient Greeks, so meeting him meant instant and terrible death.