Classic art has taken up Cerberus very generously; his treatment,
however, is far from being as definite as that of the Greek and Roman
poets. Statues, sarcophagi, and vase paintings whose theme is Hades, or
scenes laid in Hades, represent him as a ferocious Greek collie, often
encircled with serpents, and with a serpent for a tail, but there is no
certainty as to the number of his heads. Often he is three-headed in art
as in literature, as may be seen conveniently in the reproductions in
Baumeister's _Denkmäler des Klassischen Altertums_. Very familiar is the
statue in the villa Borghese of Pluto enthroned, three-headed Cerberus
by his side.[4] A Greek scarabæus shows a pair of lovers, or a married
couple, who have died at the same time, crossing in Charon's ferry. As
they are approaching the other bank of the Styx, where a three-headed
Cerberus is awaiting them, the girl seems afright and is upheld by her
male companion.[5] On the other hand, a bronze in Naples shows the
smiling boy Herakles engaged in strangling two serpents, one with each
hand. The figure rests on a cylindrical base upon which are depicted
eight of the wonderful deeds which Herakles performs later on. By a rope
he leads a _two-headed_ Cerberus from Hades.[6]
This last of the wonderful deeds of Herakles is a favorite theme of vase
pictures. Herakles is regularly accompanied by Hermes and Athena; the
dog, whose marvelous shape Homer fails to reveal, is generally
two-headed. Such a vase may be seen in Gerhard, _Auserlesene
Vasenbilder_, ii. 131.[7] Or still more conveniently, Professor Norton
has reproduced[8] an amphora in the Louvre with a picture of the
dicephalous Kerberos. Upon the forehead of each of the two heads rises a
serpent. Herakles in tunic and lion's skin, armed with bow, quiver, and
sword, stoops towards the dog. He holds a chain in his left hand, while
he stretches out his right with a petting gesture. Between the two is a
tree, against which leans the club of Herakles. Behind him stands
Athena.