Pausanias Analysis

Passage 8.18.3

← 8.18.2 8.18.4 →

Passage 8.18.3: Heracles' Cerberus labor and the River Styx

Mythic Non-skeptical

Greek Text

ἐποίησε δὲ καὶ ἐν Ἅιδου ὕδωρ εἶναι, καὶ Ἀθηνᾶ τὸν Δία οὐ μεμνῆσθαί φησιν ὅτι διʼ αὐτῆς Ἡρακλέα ἔσωζεν ἐκ τῶν Εὐρυσθέως ἄθλων· εἰ γὰρ ἐγὼ τόδε ᾔδη ἐνὶ φρεσὶ πευκαλίμῃσιν, εὖτέ μιν εἰς Ἀίδαο πυλάρταο προὔπεμψεν ἐξ Ἐρέβευς ἄξοντα κύνα στυγεροῦ Ἀίδαο, οὐκ ἂν ὑπεξέφυγε Στυγὸς ὕδατος αἰπὰ ῥέεθρα. Homer, unknown location.

English Translation

He also represented water as existing in Hades, and Athena says that Zeus did not remember how she had saved Heracles many times during the labors assigned by Eurystheus: "For had I known this in my prudent mind, at the time when he sent him forth from Erebus to the gatekeeper of Hades, to fetch the hound of dread Hades, he would never have escaped the steep-flowing currents of the water of Styx." Homer, unknown location.

Proper Nouns

Zeus (Ζεύς) deity
Athena (Ἀθηνᾶ) deity
Kerberos (Κέρβερος) other
Also in: 3.25.6
Styx (water of) (Στύξ) other
Eurystheus (Εὐρυσθεύς) person Q117453263
Heracles (Ἡρακλῆς) person
Hades (Ἅιδης) place Q1521549
Erebus (Ἔρεβος) place Q131122
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