Cerberus In Dante's Inferno
Cerberus, know for his famous role in Dante’s Inferno and Fluffy in Harry Potter, actually made appearance in several literature with a slightly different look from the publicly accepted image of a giant dog with three heads that guards something and prevent entrance. But Cerberus was not always so easy to fool.
Back in the old days, about 8th-7th century before common era, Cerberus has fifty heads instead of three according to Hesiod’s Theogony. Contrary to modern perception, he fawns on those that enter the house of Hades, but eats those who try to leave. Ithe year 522 BC-443 BC, he possessed 100 heads according to Pindar. Later Cerberus traveled to Latin and his 100 heads merged into a single dog head with one hundred snake heads on top according to Horace. He can also produce Venom, which makes him the cause of the poisonous plant aconite according to Ovid. Seneca, in his tragedy Hercules Furens gives a detailed description of Cerberus who …show more content…
With three heads, and thus three mouths, Cerberus was synonymous with the sin of Gluttony. Virgil gets past Cerberus fairly easily by throwing mud in his three mouths temporarily choking him. While in Aeneid he guared the whole of the underworld, here his domain is limited to the third circle, a reduction in spatial, not conceptual terms. Here, Cerberus also becomes more active as he scourges the gluttonous sinners.
Throughout the years, Cerberus has been transformed from a feared mythological creature of the Underworld with snakes and dragons on his body to a large, odd looking dog that even children can pass. In Disney’s Show Hercules, Cerberus lost his fierce image and looks simply like an ill-tempered giant puppy. In the 1992 movie Highway to Hell, Cerberus became quite small, becoming the first instance where he wasn’t of gigantic
Back in the old days, about 8th-7th century before common era, Cerberus has fifty heads instead of three according to Hesiod’s Theogony. Contrary to modern perception, he fawns on those that enter the house of Hades, but eats those who try to leave. Ithe year 522 BC-443 BC, he possessed 100 heads according to Pindar. Later Cerberus traveled to Latin and his 100 heads merged into a single dog head with one hundred snake heads on top according to Horace. He can also produce Venom, which makes him the cause of the poisonous plant aconite according to Ovid. Seneca, in his tragedy Hercules Furens gives a detailed description of Cerberus who …show more content…
With three heads, and thus three mouths, Cerberus was synonymous with the sin of Gluttony. Virgil gets past Cerberus fairly easily by throwing mud in his three mouths temporarily choking him. While in Aeneid he guared the whole of the underworld, here his domain is limited to the third circle, a reduction in spatial, not conceptual terms. Here, Cerberus also becomes more active as he scourges the gluttonous sinners.
Throughout the years, Cerberus has been transformed from a feared mythological creature of the Underworld with snakes and dragons on his body to a large, odd looking dog that even children can pass. In Disney’s Show Hercules, Cerberus lost his fierce image and looks simply like an ill-tempered giant puppy. In the 1992 movie Highway to Hell, Cerberus became quite small, becoming the first instance where he wasn’t of gigantic