In the name of "Cerberus", the ancient Greeks frightened children, and today they call it a guard who adheres to the law. Few, who knows that this name was worn by the guard at the gates of hell - an eerie kind of malicious dog that could not be bribed, but could be fooled. The main thing is that such creatures are also found in our world!
Cerberus - who is this?
Who is Cerberus in Greek mythology, known to many, he became one of the popular characters of Greek myths, thanks to Hercules, who overcame the terrible monster. The story of the origin of the dog told the world the tellers of Hellas. Modern scientists present several interpretations of the emergence of the name of the guardian hell:
- Cerberus was born to monsters Tryphon and Echidna, a dog about three heads with poisonous saliva. Do not let the dead return to the world of the living, those who try to escape, devour. Encountering new shadows, arrived in the kingdom of Hades, gently wags his tail.
- The second variant of the name - Kerber, corresponds to the Sanskrit name of one of the dogs of the god Yama. "Kerberos" is translated from the primordial European, as "spotted".
- The third variant of the name is Garm, the guard dog of the house of the dead in the myths of the Scandinavians, linguists assure that in the Indo-European both nicknames have a common root of the word.
Is there a Cerberus?
In studies of paranormal phenomena, scientists have repeatedly encountered evidence of the existence of an eerie dog, which appeared from under the earth. Habitat:
- Devil's clearing, in the forest near Pskov.
- The mound on the bank of the Vaksh river in Tajikistan.
- The swamps of Britain, in those places there are many legends about dogs, in the mouths of which the flames splashed.
Legends of the swamps of England and gave the idea of Conan Doyle about the dog of the Baskervilles. As for Russian places, local residents say that both in the glade and in the mound there are entrances to the underground kingdom, which are guarded by eerie dogs. On the Black Glade scientists have installed equipment to fix the appearance of the monster. But when the black Cerberus dog, on whose back sparks ran, emerged from under the ground, all the sensors immediately melted. The beast went around the clearing, and then sharply sucked into the grass. During this phenomenon, people could not move from a place because of a strange numbness.
The version is advanced that the movements of the dog resemble a ball lightning, because they are also black. And thunderstorms happen also underground, there is a piezoelectric effect, it is manifested when electric discharges occur in deformed crystals of the soil. This explains why the modern Cerberus appeared from under the earth in sparks and flames, and sometimes even with the effect of small explosions.
What does Cerberus look like in real life?
There are several descriptions of what Cerberus looks like. The most common variant: about three heads with a tail of a snake. There are other descriptions, where:
- body of the dog, on the withers - the head of snakes, the tail of a huge skid.
- the trunk of a man, and the top is a mad dog. In one hand he holds the head of a bull, killing with a breath, in the other - the head of a goat that destroys the eye.
There are several versions of how many goals Cerberus has. In different legends their number varies from 50 to 100. On products and drawings vases of images showed that Cerberus is a dog:
- Huge sizes, on the tail - the mouth of the dragon.
- With two heads and a snake's tail.
- With one head, snakes - on the withers, neck and stomach.
- About three heads, the middle of which is the lion's.
Cerberus - Mythology
What guarded Cerberus? The ancient Greeks were sure that he guarded the entrance to the realm of Hades, where the souls of the dead languished. To kill the beast was possible only one person - a singer Orpheus, who wanted to withdraw from the underworld his wife Eurydice. In other legends it is said that Cerberus bites all newcomers, so the Greeks gave the deceased a honey cake, so that there was more than to entertain the guard of the gate. Dante wrote that in hell three-headed Cerberus is tormented by sinful souls.
The myth of the hellish creation mentions that he had brothers and sisters:
- Orff, a dog with two heads and tails. He guarded the cows of Gerion, Hercules killed him.
- Lernaean hydra. A monster with 100 snake heads. She was also struck down by the son of Zeus.
- Chimera . Infernal creature with three heads: lion, goat and snake. Destroyed the hero Bellerophon.
Cerberus and Hades
Hades - the ruler of the kingdom of the dead, the same name was called and the kingdom itself. The son of Kronos and Rhea ruled there with his wife Persephone. God felt that the hellish Cerberus would be the best guardian. His three heads became a symbol of the past, present and future time, which, like a dog, meets and absorbs everything in its path. Famous singer Homer said that the entrance, which guard this dog, is in the far west, beyond the river Okean. There are very dark fields where the souls of the deceased fly.
Cerberus and Heracles
One of the loudest exploits of the son of Zeus is how Hercules defeated Cerberus. To pull the hellhound dog to the ground, to the people, was the indication of King Eurystheus. Hades allowed for a while to take the guard, but put the condition that the hero will defeat the opponent with his bare hands. Before going to the realm 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 Athena . Hercules took the monster to the king, to Mycenae, but he was frightened and ordered to return the guard back to hell.
Sphinx and Cerberus
Ancient myths have preserved the name of another unique guard - the Sphinx, a relative of the hellhound dog. If the den of Cerberus was at the gates of hell, the Sphinx lived on the earth. There are 2 versions of his birth:
- He was born from Tryphon and Echidna. This creature with a woman's face and a lion's body did not admit to Thebes those who could not solve his riddle. He cruelly killed such people.
- Parents are Orf and Echidna. He lived on Mount Phikion, was called Fix. He was considered the personification of mystery and wisdom.
The Legend of Cerberus
The legend of the hellish dog is closely intertwined with the legend of the heroic deed of Hercules, thanks to the hero, the people learned who Cerberus is at the gate of Hades. When the son of Zeus led the dog in the sun, his saliva, falling to the ground, turned into a poisonous plant aconite, which was also called hecatina. Researchers are always arguing, where did Hercules come to the surface with a hell dog, authors of different countries and eras call such places:
- near the temple of Artemis in Trebene;
- in the cave of Poseidon at Cape Tenar;
- near Boeotia;
- on the Aherusian Peninsula.