Cerata, a place near Megara.
Cerātus, a river of Crete.
Ceraunia, a town of Achaia.
Ceraunia and Ceraunii, large mountains of Epirus, extending far into the sea, and forming a promontory which divides the Ionian and Adriatic seas. They are the same as the Acroceraunia. See: [Acroceraunium].——Mount Taurus is also called Ceraunius. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 27.
Ceraunii, mountains of Asia, opposite the Caspian sea. Mela, bk. 1, ch. 19.
Ceraunus, a river of Cappadocia.——A surname of Ptolemy II., from his boldness. Cornelius Nepos, Kings, ch. 3.
Cerausius, a mountain of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 41.
Cerbalus, a river of Apulia. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 11.
Cerberion, a town of the Cimmerian Bosphorus. Pliny, bk. 6, ch. 6.
Cerbĕrus, a dog of Pluto, the fruit of Echidna’s union with Typhon. He had 50 heads according to Hesiod, and three according to other mythologists. He was stationed at the entrance into hell, as a watchful keeper, to prevent the living from entering the infernal regions, and the dead from escaping from their confinement. It was usual for those heroes, who in their lifetime visited Pluto’s kingdom, to appease the barking mouths of Cerberus with a cake. Orpheus lulled him to sleep with his lyre; and Hercules dragged him from hell when he went to redeem Alceste. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 134; bk. 6, li. 417.—Homer, Odyssey, bk. 11, li. 622.—Pausanias, bk. 2, ch. 31; bk. 3, ch. 25.—Hesiod, Theogony, li. 312.—Tibullus, bk. 1, poem 10, li. 35.