Cerberus (Mythology)

""Hither Queen Juno forced herself to go (so huge her hate and anger)from her home in heaven. She entered and the threshold groaned under hr holy tread. Immediately Cerberus sprang at her with his three heads and gave three barks together.""

- Ovid's "Metamorphoses", book IV, 450-451

In the Greek Myths, Cerberus was the guardian of the Underworld, the original Hellhound. Often depicted as three headed, in the oldest accounts the monster had fifty terrible dogs heads, and both the older and later versions had a snake for a tail, complete with a head of is own and venom. In some accounts Cerberus' body was covered in tiny, venemous snakes. The dogs heads of Cerberus were likewise poisonous, the spittle that came form each mouth turning magicall into the poisonous plant aconite whenever it hit the floor. Cerberus was the son of the Monsterous god Typhon and Echidna, the mother of monsters, whose upper body was a woman's but whose lower form was of a colossal snake. Sometime after its birth Hades took the beast into the underworld, and was quite fond of it; When hercules was tasked to capture the hound and bring it to the upper world, Hades allowed it on condition that he used to weapons on it. Cerberus, whose has an immortal lifespan, was a good deterrent to most mortals who thought about enering and exploring the realm of Hades, but Cerberus' primary task was to keep the dead within its confines. If any ghost was to try and leave Hades, Cerberus would strike out, swallowing them whole within its mighty chompers. If, however, a ghost approached who did not try to seek an escape from the Underworld, the dog would shake its tail and befriend the spirit.

Only a few living mortals have managed to enter Hades without being devoured by Cerberus: one of which, Orpheus, put the animal to sleep with his soothing music. On his 12th Labor, Hercules was sent to the underworld to fetch Cerberus, and after a great physical struggle the demigod subdued the monster and brought it to the surface world in adamantine chains (Adamantine being a super strong, divinely crafted metal; only such a metal could hold the unearthly powerful Cerberus). Though the Dog submitted to the chains after the battle, he barked at sunlight, perhaps out of pain due to the fact that it rarely, if ever before, went above to the world of the sun. After being presented to King Eurystheus, King of Tiryns, the hound either was let loose or broke away from the grip of the Demigod, returning to the bowels of the inner earth to resume its guardog duties.

In some accounts, Cerberus was said to be so terrible to behold that, like a Gorgon, whoever looked upon it turned to stone. However, as shown in the 12th Labor of Hecules and the presenting of Cerberus to an earthly living king, both of whom survived looking at it (King Eurytheus hid from the monster after seeing it), this not a power universally agreed upon for the three headed hellhound, which may also be the case when it comes to the numerous snakes on its body claimed in some sources (for how could Hercules, even with his Nemean Lion's skin and breastplate, withstand the numerous snake bites on him during such a wrestling match without succumbing to the venom? Some parts of his face, arms and legs had to be exposed to bites).