We talk of death as if it were a part of life, but it’s not. As philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein observed, “Death is not an event of life. Death is not lived through.”
In talking about death, we must resort to metaphors—one often used is the “realm” of the dead, a place that is a kingdom. For every kingdom there is a king, which, in Greek mythology, is Hades. Hades is used to refer both to the place of the dead and the king of the dead, the brother of the supreme god, Zeus.
The Universe’s Structure
Sometimes in reading the great myths, we get preoccupied with the big story, the dramatic action, or the myth’s overarching meaning or meanings. Zeus defeating the Titans is an example of order prevailing over chaos and of good defeating evil, among other meanings.But we benefit by paying attention to the smaller details of a story—such as the number of heads the Cerebus has. Frequently, myths have layered depths of meaning about them, and the details can have extraordinary resonances and implications.
Let’s examine, then, the three-headed dog. Cerberus is the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, who are both monsters. Zeus defeated Typhon as he established the cosmos’s order. Echidna is immortal and represents primordial forces that constitute nature’s tendency to danger and decay. Indeed, Echidna’s offspring include not only Cerberus but also the Hydra, the Chimera, Orthrus and the Sphinx! A dangerous brood indeed.
Cerberus, therefore, is part of that corruption that resists attempts to establish a completely ordered and structured universe. While Zeus commands that the cosmos be ordered and structured, but these monstrous offspring form pockets of resistance; they are dark forces seeking to undo all this order.
However, if they cannot be destroyed (Echidna is immortal), then they need to be co-opted into a useful function to serve the greater good—the structure of the universe.
The universe’s structure is threefold. When Zeus overcame all opposition to his rule, he established three realms: the sky—his domain; the seas, ruled by Poseidon, his brother; and Hades, his other brother, given control of the underworld and all the dead.
Cerberus’s destructive tendencies find good use as the guard dog of the dead. It helps in defining the limits of the underworld and keeps it secure. The creature greets the newly-arriving dead gently with his snake-tail, but if anyone attempts to leave the realm of the dead, Cerberus rips them apart and devours their ghostly flesh with his three, savage heads. Its ferocity is such that only three humans in antiquity got past it and lived to return: Herakles, Theseus, and Orpheus.
Cerberus’s Three Heads
Zachary Grey (1688–1766), an English clergyman, scholar, and writer identified the meaning of Cerberus’s three heads when he wrote in his commentary on the satirical poem “Hudibras,” by 17th-century wit Samuel Butler. Grey said, “This Dog with three heads denotes the past, the present, and the time to come; which receive, and, as it were, devour all things. Hercules got the better of him, which shews that heroic Actions are always victorious over time, because they are present in the memory of posterity.”
Heroes and Artists
But there is hope, as Grey notes: Great deeds triumph over time, celebrated for eternity. Theseus, but most especially, Herakles, are remembered as heroes. Herakles, in what is considered his hardest and greatest Labor—his final and 12th one—had to bring Cerberus out of the realm of Hades and present him to King Eurystheus (to whom he was indentured) into the land of the living.Hades told Herakles that if he could overcome Cerberus without weapons, then he could remove him. With the utmost difficulty, Herakles pinioned the dog and used a triple-leash to take him out. His invulnerable lion skin pelt (from his First Labor, the Nemean Lion) prevented the snake-like tail of the dog from penetrating his back and killing him. (Clearly, this is another example of the forces of order using one monstrosity to protect against another.) Having completed the mission, Herakles released Cerberus to return to the underworld.
The idea of heroism conquering time is celebrated most famously in Homer’s epic “The Iliad.” Here, great heroes through great deeds “live” forever. This is not just an academic point; this belief affected history itself. Alexander the Great slept with a dagger and the “Iliad” underneath his pillow. He saw himself as Achilles come back to life. Like the hero Achilles, we still remember him.
In addition to the great deeds enacted by warriors, music, poetry, and the arts, in general, have the power to resist Cerberus and death. Orpheus, the great musician, descended into Hades to bring back Eurydice, his beloved wife. The myths says that his playing calmed and stilled the beast, as if the flow of time itself stopped to enable Orpheus’s passage. He successfully eluded death on the journey.
The three-headed dog consumes us all, as a veritable and powerful symbol of time. For ancient Greeks, warriors or poets might redeem the malevolence of the beast. Herakles, certainly succeeded; he was raised to Olympus to join the immortals in their unending life.
Aside from whatever religious faith, convictions, or ideas we may have about death and the afterlife, surely some nugget of wisdom is found in the Greek celebration of courage—facing Cerberus, or the three-headed beast of time. Although we cannot “live” through death, the fact of it’s existence can and should inspire our lives now.
