Taenarum (town)

Heracles, Cerberus and Eurystheus on a hydria by the Eagle Painter, c. 525 BC, now in the Louvre, Paris

Taenarum or Tainaron (Ταίναρον) or Taenarus or Tainaros (Ταίναρος) was a town of ancient Laconia, situated at the distance of 40 stadia, or 5 miles (8.0 km), north of the isthmus of the Taenarian Peninsula (modern day Cape Matapan). A cavern near Tenarus was considered the entrance to the Greek underworld, through which Heracles dragged Cerberus in his 12th labor, and also through which Orpheus led Eurydice back among the living. Through this association the infernal world was often styled "Tenarus" among classicist writers.[1]

  1. ^ "Tenarus". Encyclopaedia Americana. pp. 188–189.