# What is the classical 3-headed dog? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972 "2001-12-05T03:56:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![annalamerino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@annalamerino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annalamerino)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/1 "2001-12-05T03:56:16Z")
What is the classical 3-headed dog? Like the one that appears in Harry Potter. I know it was like from Crete or something, including the harp that soothed it to sleep, but I can’t recall the name of the creature to look it up. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/2 "2001-12-05T03:56:58Z")
Cerberus. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/3 "2001-12-05T03:57:30Z")
[Cerberus.](http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffold/GG/creature.html#Cerberus) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/4 "2001-12-05T03:59:09Z")
Oooh. Simulpost. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/5 "2001-12-05T04:03:02Z")
ah, you guys got to it first… ---
**Author:** ![Crunchy\_Frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ebca7d/32.png) [@Crunchy\_Frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crunchy_Frog)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/6 "2001-12-05T04:17:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by annalamerino \* > \*\*I know it was like from Crete or something, including the harp that soothed it to sleep, but I can’t recall the name of the creature to look it up. \*\* Just to clarify, it wasn’t the harp itself that soothed Cerberus, but the musical talents of Orpheus. The link provided by **Larry Mudd** mentions fetching the dog as a labor of Heracles, which is not a misspelling, but another name for Hercules. Others, though I can’t remember their names off the top of my head, were able to get past Cerberus by tossing it a bit of cake. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/7 "2001-12-05T05:07:31Z")
Yeah, and when he bites at your crotch guys, he gets it all! ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/8 "2001-12-05T05:20:17Z")
Cerberus also plays a part in the finale of that great text adventure, Zork II. ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/9 "2001-12-05T06:11:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crunchy Frog \* > \*\*Just to clarify, it wasn’t the harp itself that soothed Cerberus, but the musical talents of Orpheus. The link provided by **Larry Mudd** mentions fetching the dog as a labor of Heracles, which is not a misspelling, but another name for Hercules. Others, though I can’t remember their names off the top of my head, were able to get past Cerberus by tossing it a bit of cake. \*\* In traditional mythology (at least as near as I can tell), only Orpheus and Heracles managed to subdue Cerberus (Orpheus using his harp, and Heracles using a stranglehold or three). Virgil wrote in the Aeneid that Aeneas (and depending on the mythology in question, accompanied by either Psyche or Sibyl) used the cake trick to get by him. In some mythologies, Psyche is given credit for getting by Cerberus using the cake, and no mention is made of Aeneas. And, of course, the dead usually brought with them a bit of cake to appease him. ---
**Author:** ![bobkitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c67d28/32.png) [@bobkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobkitty)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/10 "2001-12-05T13:54:40Z")
Just had to pop in here for a slight hijack… I wanted to name my dog Cerberus. He didn’t like that, though, so we changed it to Cerebus (which is a correct bastardization of Cerberus). I was new to the area and had to rely on word-of-mouth recommendation for a vet to take him to, and was really worried the first time we went whether or not the vet would be a good one. The first thing the vet tech asked was where his other two heads were. The vet made the exact same comment, then said perhaps when he got older they’d pop out. It’s still a running gag, six years later. I figured that if the vet and the tech were well read enough to know who Cerberus was, they were good enough to trust with my pup! 🙂 [/hijack] And Darwin’s correct, on the mythology and the cake. -BK ---
**Author:** ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/11 "2001-12-05T14:06:19Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Crunchy Frog \* > [BThe link provided by **Larry Mudd** mentions fetching the dog as a labor of Heracles, which is not a misspelling, but another name for Hercules._\* IIRC, Heracles=Greek Hercules=Roman The Romans “borrowed” many myths from the Greeks, and often the protagonists got renamed in the process. Great thread. All it needs now is a three-headed smiley. :D:mad:😉 ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/12 "2001-12-05T15:17:20Z")
> [@](#): > > I wanted to name my dog Cerberus. He didn’t like that, though, so we changed it to Cerebus (which is a correct bastardization of Cerberus). I thought Cerberus was the dog and Cerebus was the Aardvark? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/13 "2001-12-05T15:26:40Z")
Thank god someone mentioned aardvarks. ---
**Author:** ![annalamerino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@annalamerino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/annalamerino)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2001, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-classical-3-headed-dog/96972/14 "2001-12-05T20:22:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Cerberus > > Cerberus is one of the offspring of Typhoeus and Echidna. It is a three headed dog with a snake tail and snake heads proturding from his back. He guards the entrance to the underworld, allowing the dead to enter but, never to leave. One of the few living mortals to get past Cerberus was Orpheus who charmed it to sleep with his song during his attempt to rescue Eurydice from death. Fetching Cerberus from the underworld and displaying him to King Eurystheus was the last labor of Heracles . Orhpheus is OK, but I much prefer Morpheus, Greek god of the snooze-alarm. Typhoeus is the god of painful vaccinations. Echidna is “akin to Sanskrit ahi snake and probably to Latin anguis snake, anguilla eel, Greek enchelys eel, echidna viper, echinos hedgehog” What a mess that is! Aardvark though is just the Roman name for Echidna, and has the identical adventures, e.g. endlessly eating ants as they roll off Sisyphus’ rock. 😉