The Fifth Head of Cerberus The Fifth Head of Cerberus The Fifth Head of Cerberus is the title of both a novella and a single-volume collection of three novellas, written by American science fiction and fantasy author Gene Wolfe, both published in 1972. The novella was included in the anthology "Nebula Award Stories Eight". The title of this collection of novellas is a play on words which refers to Cerberus a three-headed dog from Greek mythology which guarded the gate to the Greek underworld, Hades. In the first novella the protagonist explains that Cerberus represents his own family, its three heads being his father, aunt
Gate deities of the underworld whips, four falcon heads and four human heads. This is an enigmatic and barely understandable point. 8th gate: this access is inhabited by a flaming snake who burns up the enemies of Osiris. 9th gate: here stand Horus and Set on a hawk-headed lion. 10th gate: Apep appears again, but chained in order not to harm Ra in his transit. 11th gate: this gate is called "Mysterious Of Approaches" and is overseen by the cat-headed god Meeyuty ("meow" onomatopoeia). 12th gate: here stand the goddesses Isis and Nephthys in the form of snakes: the journey through the gates of the