"Cerberus"

GREEK MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURES

Parents : Typhon and Echidna
Offspring : Chimera, Hydra

Cerberus, also known as Kerberos, is a three-headed dog from Greek and Roman mythology. It is the guardian of the Underworld's gates. Cerberus prevents those who have crossed the river of Styx to leave the Underworld. Cerberus is usually depicted as having three heads.

Cerberus was the offspring of the Echidna and Typhon. Its brother Orthrus is a two-headed dog. Each of Cerberus's heads are said to have appetite for live meat only and thus allow spirits to freely enter the land of the dead. In most works the three-heads each respectively see and represent the past, the present, and the future, while other sources suggest the heads represent birth, youth, and old age.


Mythology :

Heracles was assigned the task, or labor, of capturing the hellhound Cerberus by King Eurystheus. Due to Eurstheus discounting two of the ten labors, Heracles was given an additional two labors in which one of them was the capturing of Cerberus.

Upon entering the Underworld with the help of Eleusis, Athena, Hermes, and Hestia, Hercules made his way to Hades. He asked Hades for permission to take Cerberus to the surface to show to Eurystheus. Hades gave Heracles permission, but on the condition that Heracles uses no weapons to overpower the hound. Heracles overpowered Cerberus without weapons and slung the beast over his back through a cavern entrance to the Underworld. Once seeing the beast, Eurystheus jumped into a pithos out of fright and told Heracles to take it back in return for releasing him from his labors.