Sources also agree that Cerberus' father was Typhon, son of Gaia and Tartarus, a monstrous storm-giant that even the Greek gods feared. A common descriptor used by ancient authors for Cerberus is ' jagged-toothed.' Family Īccording to Hesiod, Bacchylides, and Ovid, Cerberus is the offspring to Echidna, a monstrous she-dragon who had the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a serpent, who was the mother of many famous Greek monsters. According to Hesiod, Cerberus had a total of fifty heads, though most later sources say that he had three.

a dreaded hound.' He was bronze with a mane of snakes, snakes down the ridge of his back, and the tail of a dragon-like serpent. The poet Hesiod describes Cerberus as being ' unspeakable, unmanageable.,' and, '. This etymology though is highly contested.Īnother possible etymology of Cerberus is that it's derived from κήρ (' kêr'), meaning ' death' and Ἔρεβος ( 'erebos'), meaning ' darkness.' Therefore, his name could be roughly translated to ' Death-Daemon of the Dark.' Appearance Īccording to descriptions, Cerberus was gigantic in size and terrible to behold. The exact etymology and meaning of Κέρβερος ( Kérberos) is unknown, but according to Kleins Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Cerberus is possibly a cognate of with the Sanskrit ' karbarah,' meaning ' variegated,' and 'sabalah,' also meaning ' variegated' or ' spotted.' Sabalah is also the name of one of the two dogs of Yama, the Hindu god of the dead. 4.1 Orpheus' Attempt at Rescuing Eurydice.

Hades dog name spot