Hydra
A monstrous water serpent with multiple heads that grew two more whenever one was cut off. Slaying the Hydra was Heracles's second labor.
The Myth of Hydra
The Lernaean Hydra was a serpentine water monster raised by Hera specifically to be a challenge for Heracles. It dwelt in the swamps of Lerna, guarding an entrance to the underworld, and its very breath was lethal poison.
When Heracles attacked the Hydra as his second labor, he discovered the terrible truth: for every head he cut off, two more grew in its place. The battle seemed hopeless. Making matters worse, Hera sent a giant crab to bite at Heracles's feet as he fought.
Heracles's nephew Iolaus devised the solution. After Heracles severed each head, Iolaus cauterized the stump with a burning torch, preventing regeneration. Finally, Heracles cut off the Hydra's one immortal head and buried it beneath a heavy rock. He dipped his arrows in the monster's venomous blood, creating the most deadly weapons in Greek mythology.
Parents
Typhon and Echidna
Symbols
Fun Fact
A "hydra" problem is one that multiplies when you try to solve it — cut off one head and two grow back.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Lernaean Hydra
🐉 creatureMany-headed water serpent
The Hydra was a gigantic water serpent with multiple heads — when one was severed, two more grew in its place, making it seemingly impossible to kill.
Typhon
🐉 creatureMost powerful monster who challenged Zeus
Typhon was the most fearsome monster in Greek mythology — a giant with serpent heads who nearly overthrew Zeus and would have ruled the cosmos.
Iolaus Serpent
🐉 creatureserpents,regeneration
The multi-headed water serpent of Lerna whose heads regenerated when cut — the Hydra — whose blood Heracles used to poison his arrows, causing indirect deaths for generations afterward.
Python
🐉 creatureSerpent of Delphi slain by Apollo
Python was the enormous serpent that guarded the oracle at Delphi before Apollo arrived, slew it, and claimed the site for his own.
Sybaris
🐉 creaturemonsters
A monstrous serpent-dragon that terrorised the region around Delphi until slain by a young hero
Scylla
🐉 creatureSix-headed sea monster
A terrifying sea monster with six heads on long necks, each with three rows of teeth. She lived in a cliff cave opposite the whirlpool Charybdis, creating an impossible choice for sailors.
Ophiotaurus
🐉 creaturehybrid creatures
A creature half bull and half serpent whose entrails, if burned, could grant power to overthrow the gods
Echidna
🐉 creatureMother of all monsters
Echidna was half woman, half serpent — called the Mother of All Monsters for bearing the most fearsome creatures of Greek mythology.
Amphisbaena
🐉 creatureserpents
A two-headed serpent with a head at each end, able to move in either direction with equal speed
Typhon
🐉 creatureFather of all monsters
The most fearsome monster in Greek mythology, who challenged Zeus for supremacy of the cosmos. Typhon was the father of many of mythology's most dangerous creatures.
Medusa
🐉 creatureSnake-haired Gorgon whose gaze turned men to stone
A winged Gorgon with serpents for hair whose gaze could turn any living creature to stone. Once beautiful, she was cursed by Athena and later beheaded by Perseus.
Minotaur
🐉 creatureBull-headed monster of the Labyrinth
A monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull, imprisoned in the Labyrinth beneath Crete. The Minotaur was fed Athenian youths until Theseus slew it.