The Golden Bough (mythology) Aeneas tore off the bough, a second golden one immediately sprang up, which was a good omen, as the sibyl had said that if this did not happen the coming endeavor would fail. Soon after they started their descent into the Underworld, the Sibyl showed the golden bough to Charon who only then allowed them to enter his boat and cross the Stygian river. On the other side, she cast a drugged cake to the three-headed watchdog Cerberus, who swallowed it and fell asleep. Once in the Underworld, Aeneas tried talking to some shades, and listened to the Sibyl speak
Dragons in Greek mythology Dragons in Greek mythology Dragons play a significant role in Greek mythology. The word dragon derives from the Greek δράκων (drakōn) and its Latin cognate draco. Ancient Greeks applied the term to large, constricting snakes. Daniel Ogden speaks of three ways to explain the origins of Greek dragon myths: as "vertical" evolution from (reconstructed) Proto-Indo-European mythology, as "horizontal" adaptation from Ancient Near Eastern mythology, or as sitting within "the cloud of international folktale". Regarding theories of vertical transmission, Ogden argues that they carry "an unspoken assumption that prior to such a transfer the Greeks' own myth-world was a "tabula rasa"",