Cerberus - The Twelfth Labor of Heracles

In Greek mythology, the dog which guards the entrance to the Underworld, originally 50-headed, later with three heads. Any living souls visiting Hell gave ‘a sop to Cerberus’, ie a honey-cake, to quieten him. Heracles carried him off as one of his labours.

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.

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.

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 Twelfth Labor of Heracles

The last of the Twelve Labours of Heracles was to capture Cerberus.

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. 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.