Cerberus

Hound of Hades, posted at the gate where the Styx is crossed — fawning on the souls who enter, savaging any who try to leave. Hesiod gives him fifty heads with a voice of bronze; the Apollodoran and tragic tradition settled on three. Heracles's twelfth and final labour was to fetch him up to Eurystheus at Tiryns without weapons: he caught the beast with his bare hands at the mouth of Hades, dragged him into the light through the chasm at Cape Taenarum, showed him to the terrified king, and led him back down again.

Associated Places