Nemi
Diana, the grove, the spring, the Rex Nemorensis, Hippolytus and the ritual presence of the dog.
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Comparative mythology
The Threshold Dog
Dog, death, passage and return in crossed myths
Nature of the model
The comparative model is an interpretive framework. It does not constitute archaeoastronomical proof and is not used to support the alignments.
In traditions far removed from one another, the dog appears at the same point in the story: where one passes from one condition to another. It guards a boundary, accompanies a journey, marks a return. This model gathers that recurrence and describes its structure.
The elements of the model
- The dog as guardian.
- The threshold as place and as moment.
- Death as passage and not as the end of the story.
- The underworld and its geography.
- Water as a boundary to be crossed.
- The journey of souls.
- The sky as destination or as map of the journey.
- The return, and who makes it possible.
The two case studies
Syracuse
Springs, caves, the Celestial Dog system and the underground landscape.
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Mediterranean and worldwide traditions
The comparison extends beyond the Mediterranean, where the figure of the threshold dog appears with analogous functions in independent cultural contexts. Similarity of function implies neither contact nor derivation.
TO BE VERIFIED List of the traditions treated, with primary sources and bibliography: to be supplied.