Hercules grabbed Cerberus by the throat and dragged him to Mycenae through a crack in the surface of the earth. Having accomplished this, Hercules dispatched Cerberus to guard one of the secret groves of Demeter but the dog eventually made his way back to Hades where he still guards the entrance. In another legend, Orpheus makes the same journey to the underworld to bring back his lover, Eurydice. He manages to soothe Cerberus with his lyre.
In Dante's Inferno, Cerberus was the tormenting genius of the third circle. There the gluttonous and unrestrainable souls could be found immersed in turbid water. Hail and snow poured down through the dark air upon their grimacing faces. Cerberus took care to see that each soul received its due share of torment:
Cerberus, a monster fierce and strange, with three throats, barks dog-like over those that are immersed in it. His eyes are red, his beard greasy and black, his belly wide, and clawed his hands; he clutches the spirits, flays and piecemeal renders