Concept
Cerberus
Overview
In Greek mythology, Cerberus ( or ; Ancient Greek: Κέρβερος Kérberos [ˈkerberos]), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon, and was usually described as having three heads, a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from his body. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, the last of Heracles' twelve labours.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
Thus I hear that the Solymi, who dwell near the Lycians, hold Cronus in special honour; but when he had slain their princes, Arsalus, Dryus, and Trosobius, he was banished and removed (whither they cannot say). So he passed out of account, but Arsalus and his fellows are called “stern Gods”, and the Lycians publicly [Sidenote: E] and in private make execrations in their names. Many stories like these may be had out…
Plutarch, Selected Essays of Plutarch, Vol. II.
States what Cerberus is; the author is tied to Cerberus in the knowledge graph.
Last of all, he saw the souls destined to a second birth, by main force, bent and transformed into all sorts of beasts by artificers who fashioned them by appropriate tools and by blows as upon an anvil, compressing all their parts, reversing some, planing down some, and utterly destroying some, so as to fit them for habits and modes of life other than human. Among these appeared the soul of Nero, having already…
Plutarch, Plutarch on the Delay of the Divine Justice
The author is tied to Cerberus in the knowledge graph.
And my Conductor, with his spans extended, Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled, He threw it into those rapacious gullets. Such as that dog is, who by barking craves, And quiet grows soon as his food he gnaws, For to devour it he but thinks and struggles, The like became those muzzles filth-begrimed Of Cerberus the demon, who so thunders Over the souls that they would fain be deaf. We passed across the…
Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, Longfellow's Translation, Complete
The author is tied to Cerberus in the knowledge graph; names Cerberus twice.
Related ideas
- Eusebius
- Aristophanes
- Athena
- Greece
- Athens
- Homer
- Hesiod
- Heraclitus
- Heracles
- Ancient Corinth
- Republic (Plato)
- Mount Etna
- Byzantine Empire
- Apuleius
- Odyssey
- Orpheus
- Poseidon
- Plato
- Greek mythology
- Plutarch
- Merriam-Webster
- Rhodes
- Sophocles
- Sanskrit
Place in the tradition
Part of Cynicism (philosophy).