a sop to Cerberus



a sop to Cerberus

A bribe. Taken from the ancient Greek and Roman custom of leaving gifts with corpses so that Cerberus (guardian of the gates of hell) would pass them by. What is this money, a sop to Cerberus so that I won't tell the authorities what you've done?
See also: sop

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Caelinus-Ancient Roman
ElouiseEL-o-eez, el-o-EEZEnglish
Philomenafil-ə-MEEN-ə (English)English, German, Late Greek
Zaina-Arabic
MaudeMAWDEnglish
Jianhong-Chinese