Meet the mythical Greek dog who inspired the character of Fluffy in Harry Potter  

Have you watched the 2001 Harry Potter movie The Philosopher's Stone? If yes, then you probably remember the scene where Harry plays a flute to calm Fluffy, a three-headed dog and put him to sleep. Well, Fluffy is modelled after a three-headed dog from the Greek mythology. He is known as Cerberus, an ancient mythological dog with three heads who guarded the gate of Hades. This monstrous watchdog had a serpent's tail and snakes grew from his back.   

Who is Cerberus?  
Earlier Greek poets such as Hesiod (750–650 BC) and Pindar (522–443 BC) portrayed Cerberus as having fifty to one hundred heads. The first appearance of a three-headed Cerberus is in Laconia, Greece, in the mid-sixth century BC. Greek mythology depicts Cerberus as a terrifying 'hell hound. According to some sources, the three heads stood for the past, present and future. Others say they represented birth, puberty and old age. Wait, there's more! The deadliest feature of Cerberus was that he could instantly turn anybody into stone. He was also said to have harmful teeth and a razor-sharp bite. Have you heard of the poisonous plant wolf's bane? Wolf's bane is believed to have grown from the poison that Cerberus leaked into the ground. 

A family of multi-headed creatures 
The most potent and lethal monster in Greek mythology, Typhon, was Cerberus' father. The Gods were frightened of him because he was a giant fire-breathing dragon with bright red eyes, one hundred heads, and one hundred wings. Typhon caused terror and devastation everywhere he went. He intended to destroy the earth and block Zeus's (King of Gods) way to the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Echidna, a hybrid of a snake and a woman called the 'mother of all monsters,' was Cerberus' mother. She had a woman's head and body, dark eyes, and a serpent's lower body. What about his brothers and sisters? According to mythology, Cerberus had three other siblings: a two-headed hound called Orthus, a three-headed snake monster called Lernaean Hydra and a multi-headed (lion, goat and snake) monster called Chimera. Quite a family, for sure! 

The tale of Cerberus and Hercules  
The most well-known Cerberus tale revolves around this character from Greek mythology. Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns, commanded Hercules to catch and bring Cerberus alive. He travelled to the underworld and met the king, who promised that if he could capture Cerberus without using weapons, he would be permitted to leave with the hellhound. Hercules started fighting Cerberus with his bare hands on the shores of the river Acheron. The monster eventually gave up on Hercules after becoming exhausted and losing his breath due to the headlock of the great warrior!