Who Is Cerberus (Kerberos)?
Fifty-headed hound of the underworld
Cerberus is the watchdog that guards the house of Hades, god of the underworld, in Greek mythology. He is the second child of the monsters Echidna and Typhaon, and a sibling of Orthrus and the Hydra.
The Theogony describes him as an unmanageable, unspeakable, flesh-eating dog with a voice like bronze and fifty heads. In Episode 4, he is introduced as one of the family of monsters born from Echidna.
The familiar image of a three-headed dog spread in later times. Elsewhere in the Theogony, he is said to fawn on those who enter the underworld, wagging his tail and ears, but to catch and devour anyone who tries to leave. The story of the hero Heracles dragging him up to the world above is also famous.
