Herakles Kerberos Eurystheus Louvre E701

Taenarum or Tainaron (Ταίναρον) or Taenarus or Tainaros (Ταίναρος), sometimes anglicized Tenarus, was a town of ancient Laconia, situated at the distance of 40 stadia, or , north of the isthmus of the Taenarian Peninsula (modern day Cape Matapan). A cavern near Tenarus was considered the entrance to the

Greek underworld In Greek mythology, the underworld or Hades () is a distinct realm (one of the three realms that make up the cosmos) where an individual goes after death. The earliest idea of afterlife in Greek myth is that, at the moment of death, an individu ...

, through which

Heracles Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...

dragged

Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus ( or ; ''Kérberos'' ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a polycephaly, multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Greek underworld, underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring o ...

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.

Green marble

Taenarum was famous for a green marble much prized in the ancient world, as well as the purple snail that yielded the prized Lacedaemonian Purple dye. It was also famous for valuable marble (), known for its red and black elements.

Seat of a bishop

Taenarum was the seat of a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

; no longer a resident see, it remains a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

, suffragan of Corinth, in the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Location

Its site is located near the modern Tainaron.

References

Populated places in ancient Laconia Former populated places in Greece Places in Greek mythology Catholic titular sees in Europe Cerberus Orpheus {{Europe-RC-titularsee-stub