Cerberus gave the name "Cerberus" to a genus of Asian snakes, which are commonly called "dog-faced water snakes" in English. Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus (; "Kerberos" ), often called the "hound of Hades", is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. Cerberus was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon, and usually is described as having three heads, a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from parts of his body. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, one of Heracles' twelve labours. Descriptions of Cerberus vary, including
Gate deities of the underworld afterlife is finished and the sun rises on the world in the form of a sacred scarab (Khepri, deification of the morning sun). The British egyptologist George Hart thus outlined, in his "Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses" (1986), the evocative names of these deities and their positions in the netherworld as described in the funeral papyri known to scholars: Gate deities of the underworld The Gate deities of the underworld were ancient Egyptian minor deities charged with guarding the gates of the Egyptian underworld. The Egyptians believed that in the netherworld, the Duat, there were various gates, doors and