HYDRA

Utterly unkillable nine-headed dog monster

A demon with nine indestructible serpent heads and deadly poisonous blood, HYDRA was another nasty spawning from TYPHON and ECHIDNA...

The Labors of Heracles
Episode 2: The Lernean Hydra

After defeating the NEMEAN-LION, it was off to the Lake of Lerna where the nine-headed serpent HYDRA lurked. This time HERACLES took his nephew Iolaus along for a bit of company.

He soon found that bashing the HYDRA's heads with his club did not do much good. Whenever a head was knocked out, it immediately grew back again. Time for a cunning plan.

Being somewhat swampy, Iolaus was able to gather reeds and twist them into firebrands. With a bit of ignition, they tried a slash-and-burn technique with great success. Cauterization seemed to do the trick where new heads were concerned and the monster was soon dispatched.

However, there was one left-over lopped-off head which refused to die. So HERACLES buried it and hoped no-one would notice.

Not one to waste anything, he dipped some of his arrowheads in pools of HYDRA's left-over venom. This made them very deadly indeed. One day he would regret doing that.

Next Episode: The CERYNEIAN-HIND...

Article last updated on 01 January 2013
Authors: Peter J Allen and Chas Saunders
References: Coming soon.

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