Lernaean Hydra
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.
The Myth of Lernaean Hydra
The Lernaean Hydra dwelt in the swamps of Lerna near Argos, guarding an entrance to the underworld. One of its nine heads was immortal and could not be destroyed by any weapon. For his second labour, Heracles attacked the Hydra, but discovered that for every head he severed, two more grew back. Hera sent a giant crab to distract him, but Heracles crushed it. His nephew Iolaus devised a solution: as Heracles cut each head, Iolaus cauterised the stump with fire, preventing regrowth. The immortal head Heracles buried under a massive rock. He dipped his arrows in the Hydra's venomous blood, making them lethal — the same poison that later killed the centaur Nessus and ultimately destroyed Heracles himself through the shirt of Nessus.
Parents
Typhon and Echidna
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. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Hydra
🐉 creatureMulti-headed serpent of Lerna
A monstrous water serpent with multiple heads that grew two more whenever one was cut off. Slaying the Hydra was Heracles's second labor.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sybaris
🐉 creaturemonsters
A monstrous serpent-dragon that terrorised the region around Delphi until slain by a young hero
Cerastes
🐉 creatureserpents
A horned serpent of the Libyan desert that buried itself in sand to ambush prey
Amphisbaena
🐉 creatureserpents
A two-headed serpent with a head at each end, able to move in either direction with equal speed
Ophiotaurus
🐉 creaturehybrid creatures
A creature half bull and half serpent whose entrails, if burned, could grant power to overthrow the gods
Drakon Hesperios
🐉 creatureserpents,guardian
The immortal serpent that never slept, coiled around the tree of golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides at the western edge of the world.
Aspis
🐉 creatureserpents,death
A legendary venomous serpent of ancient Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean, noted in Greek sources for a bite that caused painless death through sleep.
Centaur
🐉 creatureCentaur whose dying gift killed Heracles
Nessus was the centaur whose poisoned blood, given as a false love charm, ultimately destroyed the invincible Heracles.