Greek Mythology: A Comparison Of Cerberus And Hercules

The ancient Greeks believed that when a person died their spirit lived out the rest of eternity in the underworld. Depending on how a person lived their life would determine if they were punished in the underworld. Cerberus is best known as the guard of the underworld. Cerberus is described as a three headed dog with a snake for a tail. Cerberus was the offspring of Echidna and Typhon. Cerberus is mostly known for his capture by Hercules as one of Hercules twelve labors.

In the story Hercules is tasked with bringing Cerberus up from the underworld. In the story Hercules threw his arms around Cerberus, grabbing all 3 heads at once. Hercules is said to have wrestled Cerberus until he submitted. Then Hercules took Cerberus up to Hades and asked if he could take Cerberus, and Hades let him have Cerberus. Hercules is one of the

Some say that he has more than 3 heads, some myths say that he has up to 50 heads. There are also differences in the size of Cerberus, some say he is the size of a normal dog and others say that he is taller than buildings. The reason for this speculation is that most of anyone that would have traveled down to Hades would have not made it back to describe Cerberus. Cerberus is most notable found in ancient Greek and Roman art. On a Corinthian cup from Argos depicts Cerberus and Hercules during the last of Hercules 12 labors. Another depiction of Hercules and Cerberus is in Laconian cup which show Hercules leading Cerberus out of Hades on a chain. There are many Attic cups with Cerberus with Hercules on them.

If you look at the constellations you can see Cerberus featured in a very different way. ‘When you see Hercules in the stars you can see a three headed snake in his hand that is said to be Cerberus. There is no explanation of why he is depicted as a three headed snake in the stars. Previously the stars depicted a branch of a tree that grew the Apples of the