If you are a fan of Greek Mythology, you might have heard of Cerberus, the three-headed dog which guards the gates of the Underworld. We all know that the god of the Underworld is Hades. It was he who captured Persephone and made her his queen. Cerberus was referred to as “the hound of Hades” and you can say that he was sort of a household pet from hell.
So what does Cerberus do? He guards the gates of the Underworld. Many people think he defends it against intruders as normal dogs do. But it is the other way around. He guards the gates to prevent anyone from leaving. The three-headed dog is sweet to people who enter the Underworld, yipping and fawning at new visitors, but eats the dead people who want to leave. Who wouldn’t be scared of that?
Now, imagine if someone commanded you to capture this monster-dog? This was exactly what happened to Hercules when he was rendering services to King Eurystheus. Hercules spent some time with the king to atone for his past sins (he was driven mad and killed his family). Eurystheus then sent him off on quests, which weren’t really the adventure/exploration type, but more of “get killed and don’t come back” sort of task.
Hercules, being half-god, was able to do 11 of them. The twelfth task included the capture of Cerberus. Eurystheus did not say what to do with the hell dog once captured (he wasn’t expecting Hercules to come back alive). So he went on about his merry ways, and when word broke out that Hercules was on his way back with devil hound, he panicked and hid inside a giant clay pot. Ironically, you can see an ancient illustration of this last (and most famous) labor of Hercules in a… clay pot.
