Lernaean Hydra in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Lernaean Hydra

8 passages from 7 ancient authors that tell of Lernaean Hydra, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. The Lernaean Hydra was a monster in Greek mythology. It had many heads and every time someone would cut off one of them, two more heads would grow out... For the story in one place, read our article on Lernaean Hydra.

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Theogony 305–334Echidna's offspring: Cerberus, the Hydra, the Chimaera and the Sphinx (305-334)Typhaon is joined in love to Echidna, and their offspring are Orthus, Cerberus, the Hydra and the Chimaera. The Hydra is nourished by Hera and killed by Heracles with Iolaus's help, and the Chimaera is killed by Pegasus and Bellerophon. Echidna and Orthus bear the Sphinx and the Nemean lion, which Hera rears, and the section ends with Ceto and Phorcys's youngest child, the serpent that guards the golden apples.

Apollodorus (1)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 2.5.1–6The Labours of Heracles (1-6): the Nemean Lion to the Stymphalian BirdsHeracles goes to Tiryns and serves Eurystheus, who sets him labours. He strangles the Nemean lion, kills the Lernaean hydra with Iolaus's help, takes the Cerynitian hind alive, and captures the Erymanthian boar after the fight with the centaurs at Pholus's cave, in which Chiron is wounded. He then cleans the stables of Augeas by diverting two rivers, and scares off the Stymphalian birds with Athena's castanets. Eurystheus refuses to count the hydra and the stables, because Iolaus helped and Augeas paid a wage.

Diodorus Siculus (1)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.11.1–4.13.4Heracles' labours I: the first sevenHera sends a frenzy on Heracles, and in it he shoots his children by Megara; when he recovers he goes to serve Eurystheus. The chapters give the labours of the Nemean lion, the Lernaean hydra, the Erymanthian boar (with the fight against the Centaurs at the cave of Pholus), the golden-horned hind, the Stymphalian birds, the stables of Augeas, and the Cretan bull.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.98–272Nessus and the death of HeraclesHeracles (Hercules), returning with Deianira, crosses the river Evenus, where the centaur Nessus offers to carry her across and tries to take her. Heracles shoots him with an arrow dipped in the hydra's poison, and the dying Nessus gives Deianira his blood-stained tunic as a love-charm. Years later, jealous of Iole, she sends the tunic to Heracles, who is burned by the poison, and tears at his flesh, and is raised to the sky from a funeral pyre on Mount Oeta.

Pausanias (1)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.37.1–6Lerna: the sacred grove, Philammon’s mysteries, the Hydra and the Alcyonian LakeThe grove at Lerna runs from Mount Pontinus to the sea between the rivers Pontinus and Amymone, with images of Demeter and Dionysus and a sanctuary of Athena founded by Danaus. Pausanias describes the Lernaean mysteries and how Arrhiphon showed a supposed Philammon text to be spurious, the plane-tree and spring of Amymone where the Hydra was bred, and the bottomless Alcyonian Lake, through which Dionysus is said to have descended to fetch Semele.

Nonnus of Panopolis (1)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 25.194–270Book 25: Heracles compared; the poet turns back to the warThe poet measures the labours of Heracles (the Lernaean hydra, the deer, the Cretan bull, Geryon and the rest) against the exploits of Dionysos and finds them small. He asks Homer's pardon, says he will not compare Dionysos with Achilles, and prays for inspiration to return to the Indian war.

Aratus (2)

Aratus, Phaenomena 571–737Risings and settings of the constellationsAratus tells which constellations set and which rise as each sign of the Zodiac rises, from the Crab to the Twins, among them Ophiuchus, Boötes, Orion, Cetus, Cepheus, Cassiepeia and Perseus. In explaining why Orion flees when the Scorpion rises, he tells how Orion offended Artemis in Chios and was killed by the Scorpion. The section ends by turning to the Moon's phases as a guide to the month.
Aratus, Phaenomena 421–570The Hydra, the celestial circles and the ZodiacAratus gives storm signs from the Centaur and the Altar, then describes the Centaur, the Beast he holds and the Hydra with the Crater and the Raven, and sets aside the five wandering planets as too hard to treat. He then describes the circles of the sky: the Milky Way, the northern and southern tropics, the equator and the oblique circle of the Zodiac. The twelve signs of the Zodiac are listed in order from the Crab, and half of the belt is always above the horizon.