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Description
  The function of Antaeus in the last precinct of the eighth circle is to transport souls to the ninth pit of hell. Unlike its congeners, it is not chained. In fact, Antaeus did not participate in the Gigantomachy, which is why he has not been chained. He died of asphyxiation by Heracles.

  He was the Son of Poseidon and Gaia, and had the ability to recover in battle whenever he fell to the ground, a gift obtained from his mother. Settled in Libya, Antaeus murdered anyone who crossed his dominions, having taken an oath to build a temple of skulls in honor of his father. After collecting apples from the tree of the Hesperides, Heracles crosses the giant's territory, beginning a battle. After knocking him down several times and noticing that he regained his strength every time he fell to the ground, Heracles decides to pick him up and suffocate him.

  In the Divine Comedy, the mythical giant has only the task of leading souls to the Cocytus, taking the poets in his hands, after the words of Virgil. Unlike other furious infernal guardians, Antaeus doesn't say a word and rushes to his task:

"—¡Oh tú, que en el afortunado valle donde Escipión heredó tanta gloria, cuando Aníbal y los suyos volvieron las espaldas, recogiste mil leones por presa, y que, si hubieras asistido a la gran guerra de tus hermanos, aún hay quien crea que habrías asegurado la victoria a los hijos de la Tierra! Si no lo llevas a mal, condúcenos al fondo en donde el frío endurece al Cocito. No hagas que me dirija a Ticio ni a Tifeo: este que ves puede dar lo que aquí se desea: por tanto, inclínate y no tuerzas la boca. Todavía puede renovar tu fama en el mundo; pues vive, y espera gozar aún de larga vida, si la gracia no lo llama a sí antes de tiempo."

  Dante Alighieri, "La Divina Comedia", Hell, Canto 31, from the translation by Eduardo Gonzalez Lanuza, for the National University of Mexico, 1921.

   Full Gallery:
     www.deviantart.com/nykterios/g…

Description
  The function of Antaeus in the last precinct of the eighth circle is to transport souls to the ninth pit of hell. Unlike its congeners, it is not chained. In fact, Antaeus did not participate in the Gigantomachy, which is why he has not been chained. He died of asphyxiation by Heracles.

  He was the Son of Poseidon and Gaia, and had the ability to recover in battle whenever he fell to the ground, a gift obtained from his mother. Settled in Libya, Antaeus murdered anyone who crossed his dominions, having taken an oath to build a temple of skulls in honor of his father. After collecting apples from the tree of the Hesperides, Heracles crosses the giant's territory, beginning a battle. After knocking him down several times and noticing that he regained his strength every time he fell to the ground, Heracles decides to pick him up and suffocate him.

  In the Divine Comedy, the mythical giant has only the task of leading souls to the Cocytus, taking the poets in his hands, after the words of Virgil. Unlike other furious infernal guardians, Antaeus doesn't say a word and rushes to his task:

"—¡Oh tú, que en el afortunado valle donde Escipión heredó tanta gloria, cuando Aníbal y los suyos volvieron las espaldas, recogiste mil leones por presa, y que, si hubieras asistido a la gran guerra de tus hermanos, aún hay quien crea que habrías asegurado la victoria a los hijos de la Tierra! Si no lo llevas a mal, condúcenos al fondo en donde el frío endurece al Cocito. No hagas que me dirija a Ticio ni a Tifeo: este que ves puede dar lo que aquí se desea: por tanto, inclínate y no tuerzas la boca. Todavía puede renovar tu fama en el mundo; pues vive, y espera gozar aún de larga vida, si la gracia no lo llama a sí antes de tiempo."

  Dante Alighieri, "La Divina Comedia", Hell, Canto 31, from the translation by Eduardo Gonzalez Lanuza, for the National University of Mexico, 1921.

   Full Gallery:
     www.deviantart.com/nykterios/g…