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Cerberus was the three-headed (sometimes fifty-headed) dog with a serpent’s mane found in classical Greek tradition who guarded the entrance to Hades. His task was to prevent the living from entering the underworld – a task he fulfilled except in the cases of Orpheus, Aeneas and Odysseus, each of who tricked their way into the land of the dead and out again on their own particular errands. Aeneas had the help of a sibyl who drugged Cerberus with honeyed opiate while Orpheus sent the dog into a charmed sleep with the sound of his lyre. Cerberus barked whenever he was exposed to light and his saliva was the source of the poisonous plant, aconite.

It was appointed to Hercules as his twelfth labour to bring Cerberus from the underworld – a feat which was nothing short of overcoming death itself. In order to prepare himself for this labour, and so as not to violate the sanctity of the underworld divinities, he had himself initiated into the rites of Eleusis. But Hercules had been responsible for the spilling of much blood, including the slaying of centaurs. To regain his purity, he underwent special secret rites. He persuaded Charon, ferryman of the dead, to ferry him over where Cerberus was waiting. It was his way to wag his tail to those who intended to stay but to devour those who intended to leave. The Hydra was said to be Cerberus’ sister, and since Hercules had already overcome her, when the hero approached, the guard-dog fled to the god of the underworld, Hades, and hid under his throne. Assailed by ghosts and by a vision of the Gorgon, Hercules offered the flesh of one of the underworld cattle to them to propitiate the god. Hades allowed Hercules to take Cerberus with him but only if he could catch him without weapons, armed only with a breastplate and lion-skin. Hercules crept up behind Cerberus and choked him until he gave in, and permitted himself to be led out on a chain. The snakes upon the guard-dog’s body hissed and swarmed., while his eyes sparked. One version of the story has Hercules returning the dog himself, but another tells how Cerberus broke away from him at the fountain near Mycenae and the temple of Hera which was known afterwards as ‘the water of freedom.’

Cerberus is clearly the inspiration for J.K. Rowling’s Fluffy, the giant three-headed dog which guards the attic of Hogwarts School in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.