Heracles and Cerberus
In the last of his twelve labours, the hero must snatch the three-headed guard dog of the Underworld.
By Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.
‘The Capture of Cerberus’, by Sir Peter Paul Rubens, painted in 1636. It shows alarming but impotent shades of the Underworld watching on as our hero subdues the three-headed hound with a chain; the club in his right hand was, according to the terms laid down by Hades, not to be used.
Introduction
This post is number 12 in the series Twelve Labours of Heracles
The twelfth and final Labour of Heracles sees him despatched to the Underworld, the realm of Hades, to fetch Cerberus, a three-headed guard dog with snakes for a mane, and just for good measure, a venomous serpent for a tail.
AFTER eleven labours (including two discounted) Eurystheus had failed to kill off his cousin Heracles. So in a last throw of the dice, he sent him to fetch Cerberus, the guard-dog of the Underworld with three snarling heads, and a hissing serpent tail.
By way of preparation, Heracles was initiated into the Eleusian Mysteries at Athens, which commemorated the abduction of Persephone by Hades, King of the Underworld. Then guided by Hermes and Athena, he went down into Hades’s realm through the dark-mouthed cave at Cape Tenaron.*
As Heracles went, Medusa suddenly loomed before him, and he drew his sword; but Hermes reminded him that she was just a shadow. (Heracles could not understand the world of shadows; he even slew one of Hades’s cattle, to provide blood for the pale forms around him.) More shades came and went, until at the very doors of Hades he found Theseus and Pirithous, doomed to sit there forever after attempting to abduct Persephone from Hades.*
Cape Tenaron (or Cape Matapan) lies at the tip of the Mani Peninsula, in the Peloponnese. It marks the southernmost top of mainland Greece. See Google Maps.
