Lernaean Hydra
creatureThe 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.
The Myth
Dwelling in the swamps of Lerna near Argos, the Hydra guarded an entrance to the underworld. One of its heads was immortal and could not be destroyed by any weapon. For his second labour, Heracles confronted the beast but quickly discovered that cutting its heads only multiplied them. His nephew Iolaus devised a solution: after each decapitation, he cauterised the stump with a burning torch, preventing regrowth. The immortal head Heracles buried under a heavy rock. He dipped his arrows in the Hydra's venomous blood, creating weapons so potent they would later cause his own death.
Parents
Typhon and Echidna
Children
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Hydra gave us a family of English words — hydrant, hydraulic, hydrogen, hydrate — all from the Greek hydor (water).
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth: