Mythological
Cerberus
A many-headed, barking monster that sets its teeth upon the damned of the third circle, where the gluttonous lie beneath a rain mixed with hail and snow.
Profile
Cerberus is presented by Dante as a cruel and strange beast, with bestial features that bring him close to and at the same time set him apart from the gluttonous whom he torments. The note to Canto VI specifies that he has three heads, allegorically understood by ancient commentators as the three modes of the sin of gluttony. Virgil pacifies him by throwing fistfuls of earth, a gesture that the note traces back to the soporific cake of the Virgilian Sibyl. Cerberus does not speak, but acts: he shows his fangs, tears and flays the damned, pursues them snarling, and finally grows quiet intent on gnawing the bone, while the gluttonous, like mute dogs, take on bestial appearances. His placement is the third circle, as indicated by the note to verse 34.
In the text
Linked verses
4 verses| Cantica | Canto | Verso | Testo | Open verse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inferno | Canto VI | 13 | Cerbero, fiera crudele e diversa, | Open verse |
| Inferno | Canto VI | 22 | Quando ci scorse Cerbero, il gran vermo, | Open verse |
| Inferno | Canto VI | 32 | de lo demonio Cerbero, che ’ntrona | Open verse |
| Inferno | Canto IX | 98 | Cerbero vostro, se ben vi ricorda, | Open verse |