Hades and His Pet Dog Spot

790px-Herakles_Kerberos_Eurystheus_Louvre_E701

Cerberus /ˈsɜrbərəs/, or Kerberos, (Greek form: Κέρβερος, [ˈkerberos]) in Greek and Roman mythology, is a multi-headed (usually three-headed) dog, or “hellhound” which guards the gates of the Underworld, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping.

The name “Cerberus” is a Latinised version of the Greek Kerberos, which may be related to the Sanskrit word सर्वरा “sarvarā”, used as an epithet of one of the dogs of Yama, from a Proto-Indo-European word *ḱerberos, meaning “spotted”.

Yes, you read that correctly: Hades, the mighty Greek god of the underworld, had a pet dog named…Spot.

And some people think the ancient Greeks were all grim and serious with their “Then we shall have our battle in the shade!” and didn’t have a sense of humor…

Via Wikipedia.

This entry was posted in Culture, History by . Bookmark the permalink.

About

I design video games for a living, write fiction, political theory and poetry for personal amusement, and train regularly in Western European 16th century swordwork. On frequent occasion I have been known to hunt for and explore abandoned graveyards, train tunnels and other interesting places wherever I may find them, but there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that I am preparing to set off a zombie apocalypse. Nothing that will stand up in court, at least. I use paranthesis with distressing frequency, have a deep passion for history, anthropology and sociological theory, and really, really, really hate mayonnaise. But I wash my hands after the writing. Promise.

6 thoughts on “Hades and His Pet Dog Spot

    • When I saw this originally I was crossing my fingers that it would check out.

      Too many of the best stories fail the snopes.com test. ;-) This one, however, passed with flying colors.

      Reply
  1. Pingback: Super Spoilers! All-New X-Factor #5 | Gambit

  2. Actually, the Spartans said, “Then we shall fight our battle in the shade,” Not the ancient Greek gods.

    Reply

Leave a Reply