Cerberus is the legendary three headed dog which guards the entrance to the underworld in Greek mythology. The animal is enormous and has slick black fur, with huge red eyes, but this can differ from red to yellow to even green to make it seem more ominous. In fact, the name Cerberus is a Latin translation of the Greek Kerberos. The dominance of latin throughout the modern western world was for many centuries precipitated by functionaries of the Roman Catholic Church. However within contemporary non-denominational academic discourse, the use of Latin for non-Roman words is in sharp decline.
In the first Harry Potter film, a Cerberus is used to guard the entrance to the entrance chamber guarding the Philosopher’s stone. This is a smaller version than the original, as it is usually 40feet high.
Cerberus dogs are used mainly to guard items of importance, usually as the entrance ‘guard dogs’; a Labrador-Boxer Terrier looking cross bread. Most sources describe or depict three heads; others show it with two or even just one; a smaller number of sources show a variable number, sometimes as many as 50 or even 100. There are many variations on the original Cerberus. One variation is of a black dog with ice-fire for breath and glowing green eyes and this monster can howl with a powerful high screech that signals its attack.
