In Greek and Roman mythology, Kerberos (aka Cerebus), "demon of the pit", is a three-headed hound who guards the gates of the underworld, Hades, to keep the living from entering and the dead from leaving. He is one of the offspring of Echidna (half-woman, half-snake) and Typhon (a giant). The poet Hesiod claimed that he has fifty heads, while later accounts describe him having three heads and a mane of snakes (and sometimes also the tail of a serpent or a dragon).
Only a few ever managed to sneak past Kerberos and travel between the realms. Orpheus lulled him to sleep by playing his lyre, and Heracles (aka Hercules), as the last of his 12 labors, dragged Kerberos from Hades and brought him to Eurystheus. In Roman mythology, the Trojan prince Aeneas and Psyche were able to pacify him with honey cake.
SOME RELATED READING:
- Black Dogs - Guardians of the Corpse Ways
- Black Dogs in Folklore
- Hellhounds, Werewolves and the Germanic Underworld
- Apparitions of Black Dogs
- Ghostly Black Dogs
On the Internet, Kerberos is one of a number of security servers that guard access to network resources. It’s also the name for an authentication protocol for use on networks, developed in the mid-’80s as part of MIT’s Project Athena. For more info check out the Kerberos FAQ.
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