Cerberus

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This article is about the mythical three-headed guard dog. For other uses, see Cerberus (disambiguation).

In Greek mythology, Cerberus or Kerberos (Greek Κέρβερος, Kerberos, "demon of the pit"), was the hound of Hades—a monstrous three-headed dog (sometimes said to have 50 or 100 heads) with a snake for a tail and serpentine mane.

He guarded the gate to Hades (the Greek underworld) and ensured that the dead could not leave and the living could not enter. His sister was the Chimera and his brother was Orthrus. He is the offspring of Echidna and Typhon.

He was overcome several times:

Heracles' final labour was to capture Cerberus, which he did by treating it with the first kindness it had ever received.
Orpheus used his musical skills to lull Cerberus to sleep.
Hermes put him to sleep with water from the river Lethe.
In Roman mythology, The Sybil of Cumae lulled Cerberus to sleep with drugged honeycakes in order to permit Aeneas fuller entry to the underworld.
In a Greek tale, Psyche also lulled Cerberus to sleep with drugged honeycakes.

In the Greek Oracle of the Dead at Cumae in southern Italy, the recently excavated subterranean shrine was found to contain chains fixed to the wall for three large dogs before the entrance to the shrine of Hades and Persephone. The three dogs would have represented Cerberus in this ancient temple.

The Greek Underworld
Residents:
Persephone Hades Minos Aeacus	Rhadamanthys Charon Cerberus
Geography:
Acheron Cocytus Tartarus Lethe Elysion	Styx Phlegethon Asphodel Meadows Erebus
Famous inmates:
Ixion Sisyphus	Tantalus The Titans
Related:
Greek mythology	Greek religion

[edit] The Twelfth Labor of Heracles

The last of the Twelve Labours of Heracles was to capture Cerberus. After having been given the task, Heracles went to Eleusis to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries so that he could learn how to enter and exit the underworld alive, and in passing absolve himself for killing centaurs. He found the entrance to the underworld at Tanaerum, and Athena and Hermes helped him to traverse the entrance in each direction. He passed Charon thanks to Hermes' assistance and his own heavy and fierce frowning.

Whilst in the underworld, Heracles freed Theseus, but the earth shook when he attempted to liberate Pirithous, so he had to leave him behind. They had been imprisoned by Hades, by magically binding them to a bench, because they had attempted to kidnap Persephone. The magic was so strong that when Hercules pulled Theseus free, part of Theseus' thighs remained on the bench, explaining why his descendants had notably lean thighs.

Heracles presented himself before the throne of Hades and Persephone and asked permission to take Cerberus, to which the gods agreed as long as Heracles did not harm the hound. Some say Persephone gave her consent because Heracles was her own brother. In any case, Heracles wrestled the dog into submission and dragged it out of Hades, passing through a cavern entrance in the Peloponnese. When he returned with Cerberus to the palace, Eurystheus, the man who had assigned the task to Hercules, was so afraid of the fearsome beast that he jumped into a pithos (large storage jar) to hide. From the spittle of the dog which fell upon earth, the first poisonous plants were born, including deadly aconite.