Guardians of the Threshold

The ferryman, the hound, and the authority to pass

The underworld has guardians who challenge the living. Heracles recalls carrying its hound away; Aeneas must answer the ferryman and pass the dog. Dante gives these figures new duties, and Virgil becomes the guide who knows how to quiet them.

1. Odyssey 11.623–626
2. Aeneid 6.298–304
3. Aeneid 6.388–397
4. Aeneid 6.398–410
5. Aeneid 6.417–425
6. Inferno 3.88–99
7. Inferno 6.22–33