A constellation representing the
three-headed monster that guarded the gates of Hades. It is
depicted being held in the outstretched hand of Hercules, who
overpowered Cerberus and dragged it from the Underworld to the
surface as one of his labours. The constellation was introduced
by Johannes Hevelius in 1687, replacing the branch from the
tree of the golden apples that had previously been depicted in
the hand of Hercules. Although, in mythology, Cerberus was
supposedly a three-headed dog, Hevelius and all subsequent map
makers depicted it with three snake heads.
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Cerberus held in the grasp of Hercules, as shown on the Firmamentum Sobiescianum star atlas of Johannes Hevelius. It is shown in mirror image, as it would appear on a celestial globe. Image © Tartu Observatory Virtual Museum.
The English engraver John Senex, a friend
of Edmond Halley, combined Cerberus with the apple branch,
Ramus, in 1721 to produce Cerberus et Ramus, the serpents in
this case being wrapped around the branch.
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Cerberus et Ramus shown in the Uranographia of Johann Bode.
© Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved
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