Editing Cerberus (section)

{{Short description|Multi-headed dog in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses|Cerberus (Greek myth)|Cerberus (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
[[File:Herakles Kerberos Eurystheus Louvre E701.jpg|thumb|right|[[Heracles]], wearing his characteristic lion-skin, club in right hand, leash in left, presenting a three-headed Cerberus, snakes coiling from his snouts, necks and front paws, to a frightened [[Eurystheus]] hiding in a giant pot. [[Caere]]tan [[hydria]] (c. 530 BC) from [[Caere]] (Louvre E701).<ref>''LIMC'' [http://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2616%22 Herakles 2616] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710023814/https://www.iconiclimc.ch/visitors/treesearch.php?source=100&term=%22Herakles+2616%22 |date=10 July 2017 }} (Smallwood, pp. 92, 98); Ogden 2013b, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vv0Fxm6Amh4C&pg=PA63 p. 63]; Ogden 2013a, p. 105; Gantz, p. 22; Perseus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?name=Louvre+E+701&object=vase Louvre E 701 (Vase)].</ref>]]

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Cerberus''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɜr|b|ər|ə|s|audio=LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Cerberus.wav}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Cerberus|title= Cerberus|work=Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary|publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]]|access-date=16 July 2009}}</ref> or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɜr|b|ər|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc|Κέρβερος}} ''Kérberos'' {{IPA|el|ˈkerberos|}}), often referred to as the '''hound of [[Hades]]''', is a [[polycephaly|multi-headed]] dog that guards the gates of the [[Greek underworld|underworld]] to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring of the monsters [[Echidna (mythology)|Echidna]] and [[Typhon]], and was usually described as having three heads, a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from his body. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by [[Heracles]], the last of Heracles' [[Labours of Heracles|twelve labours]].