Editing Cerberus (section)

=== Exit from the underworld ===
[[File:Peter Paul Rubens - Hercules and Cerberus, 1636.jpg|thumb|right|''Hercules and Cerberus''. Oil on canvas, by [[Peter Paul Rubens]] 1636, [[Prado Museum]].]]
There were several locations which were said to be the place where Heracles brought up Cerberus from the underworld.<ref>Ogden 2013a, pp. 107–108, 112–113.</ref> The geographer Strabo (63/64 BC – c. AD 24) reports that "according to the myth writers" Cerberus was brought up at Tainaron,<ref>[[Strabo]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+8.5.1 8.5.1].</ref> the same place where Euripides has Heracles enter the underworld. Seneca has Heracles enter and exit at Tainaron.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.103.xml 663 (pp. 102–105)] (entrance), [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.111.xml 813 (pp. 112–113)] (exit). Seneca's account may reflect a much older tradition rationalized by [[Hecataeus of Miletus]], fr. *27 a Fowler (Fowler 2000, p. 136) (''apud'' [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.25.4 3.25.4–5]), (cf. ''FGrH'' 1 F27), see Ogden 2013a, p. 112.</ref> Apollodorus, although he has Heracles enter at Tainaron, has him exit at [[Troezen]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=9AC4F2564ED0593B31146372FEC08E36?doc=Apollod.+2.5.12 2.5.12]. [[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]], ''[[Chiliades]]'' 2.36.404 (Greek: Kiessling, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dG0GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA55 pp. 55–56]; English translation: Berkowitz, [https://archive.org/stream/TzetzesCHILIADES/Chiliades#page/n48/mode/1up p. 48]) also has Cerberus brought up at Troezen.</ref> The geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] tells us that there was a temple at Troezen with "altars to the gods said to rule under the earth", where it was said that, in addition to Cerberus being "dragged" up by Heracles, [[Semele]] was supposed to have been brought up out of the underworld by [[Dionysus]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.31.2 2.31.2].</ref>

Another tradition had Cerberus brought up at [[Heraclea Pontica]] (the same place which Xenophon had earlier associated with Heracles' descent) and the cause of the poisonous plant [[Aconitum|aconite]] which grew there in abundance.<ref>Ogden 2013a, pp. 107–108, 112; Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ir5FhAQbcfAC&pg=PA68 pp. 68–69]; Fowler 2013, [https://books.google.com/books?id=scd8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA305 pp. 305 ff.]; [[Herodorus of Heraclea|Herodorus]] fragment 31 Fowler (= Euphorion fragment 41a Lightfoot); [[Euphorion of Chalcis|Euphorion]], fragment 41 Lightfoot (Lightfoot, [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/euphorion_chalcis-poetic_fragments/2010/pb_LCL508.273.xml pp. 272–275]); [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/14B*.html#31 14.31.3]; [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D7%3Acard%3D404 7.406–419]; [[Pomponius Mela]], 1.92; [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=27:chapter=2 27.4]; Schol. [[Nicander]] ''alexipharmaca'' 13b; [[Dionysius Periegetes]], 788–792; [[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]], ''Commentary on Dionysius Periegetes'' 788–792; [[Vatican Mythographers|First Vatican Mythographer]], 1.57 (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA73 pp. 73–74]; Pepin, p. 36). For aconite in the vicinity of Heraclea, see also [[Theophrastus]], ''[[Historia Plantarum (Theophrastus)|Historia Plantarum]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/enquiryintoplant02theouoft#page/298/mode/2up 9.16.4 pp. 298–299]; [[Strabo]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+12.3.7 12.3.7]; [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=6:chapter=1 6.4]; [[Arrian]], ''FGrH'' 156 F76a ''apud'' [[Eustathius of Thessalonica]], ''Commentary on Dionysius Periegetes'' 788–792.</ref> [[Herodorus|Herodorus of Heraclea]] and Euphorion said that when Heracles brought Cerberus up from the underworld at Heraclea, Cerberus "vomited bile" from which the aconite plant grew up.<ref>Schol. [[Apollonius of Rhodes]] ''[[Argonautica]]'' 2.353 (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ir5FhAQbcfAC&pg=PA68 p. 68]); compare with [[Euphorion of Chalcis|Euphorion]], fragment 41a Lightfoot, (Lightfoot, [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/euphorion_chalcis-poetic_fragments/2010/pb_LCL508.273.xml pp. 272–275] = [[Herodorus of Heraclea|Herodorus]] fragment 31 Fowler).</ref> Ovid, also makes Cerberus the cause of the poisonous aconite, saying that on the "shores of [[Scythia]]", upon leaving the underworld, as Cerberus was being dragged by Heracles from a cave, dazzled by the unaccustomed daylight, Cerberus spewed out a "poison-foam", which made the aconite plants growing there poisonous.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028%3Abook%3D7%3Acard%3D404 7.413–419], which has Cerberus brought up from the underworld through a cave on "the shores of Scythia, where, 'tis fabled, the [aconite] plant grew on soil infected by Cerberian teeth."</ref> Seneca's Cerberus too, like Ovid's, reacts violently to his first sight of daylight. Enraged, the previously submissive Cerberus struggles furiously, and Heracles and Theseus must together drag Cerberus into the light.<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Hercules Furens'' [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-hercules/2002/pb_LCL062.113.xml?result=16&rskey=CRLRlQ 797–821 (pp. 112–115)]; see also ''Agamemnon'', [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/seneca_younger-agamemnon/2004/pb_LCL078.199.xml 859–862 (pp. 198–199)], which has Cerberus "fearing the colour of the unknown light."</ref>

Pausanias reports that according to local legend Cerberus was brought up through a chasm in the earth dedicated to Clymenus (Hades) next to the sanctuary of [[Chthonia]] at [[Ermioni|Hermione]], and in Euripides' ''Heracles'', though Euripides does not say that Cerberus was brought out there, he has Cerberus kept for a while in the "grove of [[Chthonia]]" at Hermione.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.35.10 2.35.10]; [[Euripides]], ''[[Heracles (Euripides)|Heracles]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Eur.+Her.+610 615] (Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA69 pp. 69–70]).</ref> Pausanias also mentions that at Mount Laphystion in Boeotia, that there was a statue of Heracles [[Charops (mythology)|Charops]] ("with bright eyes"), where the Boeotians said Heracles brought up Cerberus.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+9.34.5 9.34.5].</ref> Other locations which perhaps were also associated with Cerberus being brought out of the underworld include, [[Hierapolis]], [[Thesprotia]], and Emeia near [[Mycenae]].<ref>Ogden 2013a, pp. 112–113.</ref>