Irlandos at 10:37, February 11, 2006

2006-02-11T10:37:08Z

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In [[Greek mythology]], '''The Lernaean Hydra''' was an ancient nameless serpent-like chthonic water beast that possessed numerous heads—the poets mention more heads than the vase-painters could paint—and poisonous breath ([[Hyginus]], 30). The Hydra of Lerna was killed by [[Heracles]] as one of his [[The Twelve Labours|Twelve Labours]]. Its lair was the lake of [[Lerna]] in the [[Argolid]], though archaeology has borne out the myth that the sacred site was older even than the [[Mycenae]]an city of [[Argos]], for Lerna was the site of the myth of the [[Danaids]]. Beneath the waters was an entrance to the Underworld and the Hydra its guardian (Kerenyi 1959, p. 143).

The Hydra was the offspring of [[Typhon]] and [[Echidna]], noisome creatures of the Goddess, who became [[Hera]]. It was said to be the sibling of the [[Nemean Lion]], yet another creature of the archaic Goddess, and thus seeking revenge for Heracles' slaying of it. As such, it was said to have been chosen as a task for Heracles so that Heracles would likely die.

Upon reaching the swamp near [[Lerna|Lake Lerna]], where the Hydra dwelt, Heracles covered his mouth and nose with a cloth to protect himself from the poisonous fumes and fired flaming arrows into its lair, the spring of [[Amymone]], to draw it out. He then confronted it, wielding a harvesting sickle in some early vase-paintings; Ruck and Staples (p. 170) have pointed out that the chthonic creature's reaction was botanical: upon cutting off each of its heads he found that two grew back, an expression of the hopelessness of such a struggle for any but the hero, Heracles.

The details of the confrontation are explicit in [[Apollodorus]] (2.5.2): realising that he could not defeat the Hydra in this way, Heracles called on his nephew [[Iolaus]] for help. His nephew then came upon the idea (possibly inspired by [[Athena]]) of using a burning firebrand to scorch the neck stumps after decapitation, and handed him the blazing brand. Heracles cut off each head and Iolaus burned the open stump leaving the hydra dead; its one immortal head Heracles placed under a great rock on the sacred way between Lerna and Elaius (Kerenyi 1959 p 144), and dipped his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood, and so his second task was complete.

In an alternative version, [[Hera]]'s crab was at the site to bite his feet and bother him, hoping to cause his death. Hera set it in the Zodiac to follow the Lion ([[Eratosthenes]], ''Catasterismi'')

When [[Eurystheus]], the agent of ancient [[Hera]] who was assigning to Heracles [[The Twelve Labours]], found out that it was Heracles' nephew who had handed him the firebrand, he declared that the labour had not been completed alone and as a result did not count towards the ten labours set for him. The mythic element is an equivocating attempt to resolve the submerged conflict between an ancient ten Labours and a more recent twelve.

==Sources==

* Jane Ellen Harrison (1903) ''Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion''
* Robert Graves (1955) ''The Greek Myths''
* Carl Kerenyi (1959) ''The Heroes of the Greeks''
* Walter Burkert (1985) ''Greek Religion''
* Carl Ruck and Danny Staples (1994) ''The World of Classical Myth''

{{Credit wikipedia}}

[[category:Twelve labours of Herakles|Hydra]]
[[Category:Dragons|Hydra]]

Lernaean Hydra - Revision history

Irlandos at 10:37, February 11, 2006