![]() ![]() Kerberos’s name certainly does not mean “Spot” in Ancient Greek, and it probably doesn’t mean this in any language at all.Ī very brief introduction to Indo-European linguisticsįirst, let’s get something out of the way: Κέρβερος does not mean “Spot” or “Spotted” in Greek, nor is there any word in Greek with this meaning to which the name Κέρβερος might be related. How deliciously ironic it would be for a literal Hellhound to have such a normal dog name like “Spot”! Unfortunately, the story probably isn’t true. There is a popular meme that has been circulating on the internet for a long time claiming that the name Κέρβερος ( Kérberos) actually means “Spot.” This is a cute story. From the fourth century BCE onward, though, three heads seem to have become the standard. He is often also depicted with a serpent for a tail. In Greek vase paintings, he is usually portrayed with either two or three heads. 438 BCE) says in a fragment (F249a/b SM) that he has no less than one hundred heads. The later poet Pindaros of Thebes (lived c. ![]() The Theogonia, a long narrative poem in dactylic hexameter composed by the poet Hesiodos of Askre in the late eighth or early seventh century BCE, says (in lines 308–312) that Kerberos has fifty heads. Ancient Greek sources disagree on exactly how many heads he has. ![]() In Greek mythology, Cerberus-or, to use a spelling that is more faithful to the Greek pronunciation, Kerberos-is the ferocious, many-headed watchdog who guards the entrance to the underworld. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |