Talk:Cerberus

message: Any objections to my setting up auto-archiving on this page for any thread older than say five years? Right now we have threads over ten years old. I'll give it at least a week before I make any changes. Cheers. DonIago (talk) 17:33, 1 August 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Given I first asked about this over two years ago, I've turned on auto-archiving. DonIago (talk) 20:33, 25 October 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Auto-archiving? 

message: It is very useful to know the many and varied references to Cerberus when studying Heracles. We do not need another superficial piece of prose like those that already comprise most of the article. How about some unbiased truthful and useful information rather than shallow contrived expedient opinion. The entire article is in need of revision...the start of that revision is knowing most of the sources. Unless you want to make things up. Most of the Greek Mythology pages in Wikipedia are very shallow and some articles are really embarrassing. The list will beef up the content by showing interested people the many and varied classical source references.
If the list violates  WP:IINFO, and WP:NOR, then they need to be changed.
Take for example the line in the article: "often referred to as the hound of Hades". What is "often" about three references to "hound of Hades" in 228 references. Another piece of made up information by somebody who has not read most of the classical sources. A list would help that.
And "Cerberus was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon," which ignores "Ovid, Metamorphoses 10. 22 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman epic poetry C1st BC to C1st AD)". Again a list would help with that. By the way, Ovid says Cerberus was "Medusa's monstrous offspring"...interesting to know!
And what about...
"An exception is the Latin poet Horace's Cerberus which has a single dog head, and one hundred snake heads."
Well maybe in West's translation Cerberus has one hundred and one heads, but the authoritative Bennett translation "Horace, Carmium 2. 13. 34 ff" in "Horace Odes and Erodes" trans. Bennett 1901 p. 68 says the following:
"Quid miruin, ubi illis carminibus stupens
Demittit atras belua centiceps
Auris, et intorti capillis
Eumenidum recreantur angues?"
i.e. "belua centiceps" is "hundred-headed" according to trans. Lonsdale and Lee in "The Latin Classics" ed. Miller Vol 3 1909. Quoting a less authoritative translation without knowing one of the authoritative translations is misleading. A list would help with that as well.
Finally, let us not forget the line in the article:
"Cerberus' only mythology concerns his capture by Heracles."
which ignores the following myths:
doorkeeper of the Styx:  Silius, Punica 3. 35 (trans. Duff) (Roman epic poetry C1st AD)
guardian of the Styx:  Seneca, Agamemnon 13 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st AD), Scholiast on Seneca, Agamemnon 13 (Seneca's Tragedies, trans. Miller 1929 1917 Vol 2 p. 539), Silius, Punica 2. 552 (trans. Duff) (Roman epic poetry C1st AD), Scholiast on Silius, Punica 2. 552 (Silius Italicus Punica, trans. Duff 1961 1927 Vol 1 p. 100)
Statius, Silvae 3. 3. 27 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st AD), Scholiast on Statius, Silvae 3. 3. 27 ff (Statius trans. Mozley 1928 Vol 1 p.165)
hellish porter:  Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy 3. 12. 29 ff (trans. Rand & Stewart) (Roman philosophy C6th AD), Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy 4. 7. 19 ff
warden of Lethe: Statius, Silvae 3. 2. 112 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st AD), Scholiast on Statius, Silvae 3. 2. 112 ff (Statius trans. Mozley 1928 Vol 1 p.165)
him who blocks the entrance to the Lethaean stream: Seneca, Oedipus 559 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st AD): Scholiast on Seneca, Oedipus 559 (Seneca's Tragedies, trans. Miller 1938 1917 Vol 1 p. 474)
Echidnean dog: Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. 408 ff
Tartarean dog: Seneca, Hercules Furens 649 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st AD), Scholiast on Seneca, Hippolytus 844 (Seneca's Tragedies, trans. Miller 1929 1917 Vol 2 p. 540)
Stygian dog:  Seneca, Hippolytus 223 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st AD), Scholiast on Seneca, Hippolytus 223 (Seneca's Tragedies, trans. Miller 1929 1917 Vol 2 p. 539)
Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 79 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st AD), Scholiast on Seneca Hercules Oetaeus 79 (Seneca's Tragedies, trans. Miller 1929 1917 Vol 2 p. 539)
Seneca, Hercules Oetaeus 1245 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st AD), Scholiast on Seneca Hercules Oetaeus Oetaeus 1245 (Seneca's Tragedies, trans. Miller 1929 1917 Vol 2 p. 539)
That's quite a lot of myths to ignore.
The writer obviously does not know of the many and varied classical sources for Cerberus. A list would definitely help with that. The rigour of the article is a joke. I am trying to increase the rigour without writing inane prose which we could all do without. Most of it has been already said and in much better English by the sources and scholiasts on those sources ...which I am listing.
Please respond with a reasonable and logical argument before deleting, instead of citing possible breaches to  WP:IINFO, and WP:NOR.
Regards
Daryl Prasad
Darylprasad (talk) 07:40, 6 October 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: Hi Daryl. Since I think this new section is problematic for several reasons, I've removed it for now. I've also noticed that another editor also removed this section, but that you've added it back three times. As you are a new editor, you may not know, but this is what we call "edit-warring" (please read WP:EDITWAR), and editors can lose their edit privileges, as a result of doing this. You are in fact already in violation of what we call the "the three revert rule" (See WP:3RR), and any administrator (like myself) could block your account. Because you are new, I've decided not to block your account, for now. But please don't continue to edit war, or you probably will be blocked. What you should do instead is to discuss your proposed additions with other editors, by joining the discussion already started in the section just above this one, until a consensus of editorial opinion is reached. Regards, Paul August ☎ 11:14, 6 October 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Classic Literature Sources for Cerberus