CHAP. XIIl. CERBERUS. 77 



Cerberus. 



This animal is supposed to be the guardian of 

 the Lower Regions, or the accusing Spirit. It is 

 more probably the former, being seated near the 

 entrance to the abode of Osiris, and called Ouom. 

 ri-Amenti*, *' the Devourer of Amenti," and " of 

 the wicked."! It has the form of a hippopotamus, 

 a peculiarly Typhonian animal ; sometimes with 

 the head of a fanciful creature, partaking of the 

 hippopotamus and the crocodile ; and it is fre- 

 quently represented as a female. 



Seated at the entrance of Amenti, it watches 

 the arrival of those who present themselves for 

 judgment, and turning its hideous head with angry 

 looks, appears to menace the wicked who dare to ap- 

 proach the holy mansion of Osiris. This monster 

 was the prototype of the Greek Cerberus ; but 

 the lively imagination of the Greeks improved 

 upon or exaggerated the deformity : its neck was 

 said to bristle with snakes ; it was represented with 

 three, or with fifty heads; and Virgilt and others 

 describe its rapacity, and the terror it was supposed 

 to cause. 



* Plate 63. Part 2. figs. I, and 3. 



f The sign " wicked " is a man killing himself, by beating his own 

 head with a hatchet or club, according to Champollion's ingenious in- 

 terpretation. Vide Plate 63. Part 2. fig. 2. 

 t Virg. iEn. vi. 4.21. 



" Melle soporatam et metlicatis frugibus ofFam 

 Objicit : ille fame rabida tria guttura pandens, 

 Corripit objectam." 



