Cerberus+Snead

ORIGINS It is generally thought that Cerberus was born to Echidne, a half-woman/half-serpent, and Typhon, the most fierce of all creatures (a fire-breathing giant covered with dragons and serpents). Cerberus has a brother, Orphus, which is also a monstrous dog with two heads. Cerberus and Orphus were probably inspired from the dogs that haunted the battlefields in the dark of the night, feasting on the bodies of the fallen warriors.

APPEARANCE Kerberos (Cerberus) was described as a three-headed dog with a tail and mane of snakes, and a lion's claws. Some say he had fifty heads, though this number might have included the heads of his serpentine mane. He is often pictured with Hades, his master. According to Horace, Cerberus possessed one hundred heads. Hesiod wrote that he had fifty, while most sources agree to only three. The center head was in the shape of a lion, while the other two were in the shape of a dog and a wolf, respectively. He also had a dragon's tail and a thick mane of writhing snakes

MYTHOLOGICAL STORIES

Cerberus is best known for playing a part in Hercules' final labor. Hercules had to go to the Underworld and bring Cerberus back out of the Underworld without using his arrows or his club.

Hercules grabbed Cerberus by the throat and dragged him to Mycenae through a crack in the surface of the earth. Having accomplished this, Hercules acquired Cerberus to guard one of the secret groves of Demeter, but the dog eventually made his way back to Hades where he guarded the entrance.

In another legend, Orpheus makes the same journey to the underworld to bring back his lover, Eurydice. He manages to sooth Cerberus with his lyre.

In the Aeneid, the Trojan hero, Aeneas descends to Tartarus to visit his father Anchises. He is escorted by the Bybil of Cumae, and upon encountering 'huge Cerberus barking from his triple jaws, stretched at his enormous length in a den that fronts the gate,' she throws him a cake seasoned with honey and poppy seeds. Now Cerberus, “his neck bristling with horrid snakes, opening his three mouths in the mad rage of hunger, snatches the offered morsel, and spreads on the ground, relaxes his enormous limbs, lies now extended at the vast length over all the cave. Aeneas, now that hell's keeper is buried in sleep, seizes the passage and swiftly over-passes the bank of that flood whence there is no return.”

IMPORTANCE Kerberos (or Cerberus) was the gigantic hound which guarded the gates of H ades. He was posted to prevent ghosts of the dead from leaving the underworld. He can be found on the banks of the river Styx, where he had the task of eating any mortals who attempted to enter, and any spirits who attempted to escape.  MODERN REFERENCES ANDROID Cerberus helps you find your lost/stolen Android device. Cerberus is a complete anti-theft application.

HARRY POTTER

Fluffy is a large, vicious, t hree-headed dog who was once cared for by Rubeus Hagrid. Fluffy's greatest weakness is the inability to resist falling asleep to the sound of music, especially a harp (which would be similar to the lyre that was believed to put Cerberus to sleep.).

Fluffy was generally vicious, quite fierce, and extremely strong, though he possibly acted somewhat more tame around certain people, like Hagrid, who was able to get Fluffy into the third floor corridor. T hree-headed dogs are very rare creatures in the wizarding world, and it is unknown if each head serves a different purpose.

media type="youtube" key="HGoJuT12pV8?rel=0" height="360" width="480" align="center"

SOURCES [] [|http://www.perseus.tufts.edu] [] [] []