Typhon and Echidna produced a brood of monsters including Cerberus, the Chimera, the Lernaean Hydra, the Nemean Lion, the Sphinx, Orthrus, Ladon, and the Colchian Dragon — terrors that defined Greek heroic mythology.
Cerberus guards the gates of the Underworld, permitting souls to enter but preventing any from leaving.
Hades keeps Cerberus as his watchdog at the gates of the dead, the three-headed hound answering to the lord of the Underworld alone.
Eurystheus assigned the capture of Cerberus as Heracles's twelfth and final Labor, believing no mortal could enter the underworld and return alive. When Heracles brought the hound to Tiryns, Eurystheus hid in his bronze jar in terror.
Heracles wrestled Cerberus into submission with bare hands as his twelfth and final labour, dragging the three-headed hound to the surface before returning him to the underworld.
Orpheus charmed Cerberus to sleep with his lyre when he descended to the underworld to retrieve Eurydice, bypassing the three-headed guardian through music rather than force.
Psyche tossed Cerberus a drugged honey cake to pass him on her descent into the underworld, following instructions to retrieve a box of Persephone's beauty for Aphrodite.
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