Project Gutenberg's Cerberus, The Dog of Hades, by Maurice Bloomfield

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Title: Cerberus, The Dog of Hades
The History of an Idea

Author: Maurice Bloomfield

Release Date: August 25, 2006 [EBook #19119]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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|TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: |
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|The original text uses macrons (a letter with a bar over it) in some of|
|the names. These have been replaced with [=x] (where x is the original |
|letter). |
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|There is Greek in this text which has been transliterated into Arabic |
|letters. |
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[Illustration]

Explanation of Frontispiece

The picture is reproduced from Baumeister's _Denkmaeler des klassichen
Alterthums_, volume I., figure 730 (text on p. 663). It is on a vase and
describes one of the twelve heroic deeds of Herakles. The latter,
holding aloft his club, drags two-headed Cerberus out of Hades by a
chain drawn through the jaw of one of his heads. He is just about to
pass Cerberus through a portal indicated by an Ionic pillar. To the
right Persephone, stepping out of her palace, seems to forbid the rape.
Herakles in his turn seems to threaten the goddess, while Hermes, to the
left, holds a protecting or restraining arm over him. Athene, with
averted face, ready to depart with her protege, stands in front of four
horses hitched to her chariot. Upon her shield the eagle augurs the
success of the entire undertaking.

CERBERUS,

THE DOG OF