BY SANTIAGO LONDOÑO VÉLEZ tendency to transgress human limitations, even at the cost of self de- struction.⁵² For the sculptor, as he shows in Minotaur ( ; FIG. 109 ), the character is endowed with a simplified masculine body on whose head the horns are emphasized as well as the tail of a bull. Also originating in mythology, Cerberus, who in Amaral as- sumes names like Watch Dog ( - ; FIGS. 113–114 and 323–324 ) and Watch ( - ), had the mission of guarding the entrance to the underworld and to not let anyone leave. A “Cruel and different fiend,” according to Dante, Oily and black is his hair; atrocious eyes; His stomach is broad and his clawed hands Are fierce as they flay souls.⁵³ With fifty heads in some instances and three in others, or en- dowed with four eyes in certain mythologies, the Cerberus may have a snake as a tail or the tail of a dragon. Venom dripped from his mouth and his back was plagued by snakes. But the sculptor avoids a monstrous representation of this terrible guardian. Rather, he pres- ents it with one head and four legs. But without a doubt his armored canines, some with a serpentine tail, others with chains, trellises, webbings, strange muzzles, or helmets stand guard next to the in- visible gates of Hades. e green tones of the finishes prove very evocative and are reminiscent of ancient Chinese sculptures. In his very personal Sphinxes ( - ; FIGS. 111 112 , 256 257 and 259 261 ) Amaral also departs from the original concept that inspired the ancient Greeks and Egyptians to invent this mythological figure composed of the body and legs of a lion and human head and chest. According to tradition, Oedipus of ebes confronted the riddle that the Sphinx posed to passersby, destroying them if they failed to solve it. What is the animal that has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three at night? After Oedipus figures it out —man crawls in his first years, then walks on his feet, and is supported by a cane as he ages—, the Sphinx plunged off a cliff and died. Erected as a statue next to tombs and temples, it became a menacing figure for the traveler and a guardian of sanctuaries. Bronze sculptures such as Sphinx № ( ; FIG. 112 ), Sphinx № ( ; FIG. 270 ), Sphinx № with Ball in Face ( ; FIG. 111 ), and Sphinx № ( ; FIG. 259 ) lack literal allusions to the figure from the legend; they are rather about hieratic and sexless torsos arranged on a thoroughly worked rect- angular base which stand guard to protect an enigma. Some have a studded body, some are insistently textured, and still others have been reconstructed of remnants sewn to each other. . Watch Dog , “””‰. ž“ׇ‰×‰‰ cm, bronze. . Watch Dog ”, “””‰. ž‰×‡™×•— cm, bronze.