The Hydra of Lerna
I, Agathon, the great zoologist of olympia am your host, and today I am going to tell you about one of the scariest things there ever was in greek mythology. The Hydra. It is a terrifying creature with nine heads, each one of them reproducing two more if cut off. To add to that, the middle head is immortal, and can not be harmed.
The Hydra was born to Typhon, a great giant that was buried in a volcano by Zeus, and Echidna, a monster. It was nurtured by Hera, wife to Zeus, and goddess of marriage and family, who had her hopes up that the Hydra would someday kill Hercules. The place where the Hydra lived later became sacred ground and was revered by the worshippers of Dionysus and Demeter.
After many years of studying, I have realized one of the Hydra’s weaknesses. Fire. As you know, Hercules, with the help of Iolaus, his nephew, eventually managed to burn each stump of the head he cut off, so that two more would not sprout out.
But first, Hercules tried to drive the Hydra from her lair using flaming arrows. This was extremely ineffective, and Hera sent a giant crab to delay him. Hercules finally managed to crush the crab, the Hydra charged out at them, and then Iolaus had the idea of using fire. After disposing of eight of the heads, Hercules and Iolaus buried the ninth immortal head. Hercules dipped his arrows in the blood of the creature as he left to make them deadly and poisonous.
The Lernean Hydra lived in a grove of plane trees, close to the lake of Lerna, about five miles from the city of Argos. It would haunt the swamps, and kill the villagers that lived near by. It also guarded the gates to the underworld.
I think that the Hydra is like flowing water that can not be stopped, except with unlimited time, and smart brains. Fighting It is similar to a dam, where you have to block up every single little trickle with rocks and leaves, instead of throwing a huge log in front of the water. Thank You for reading this, and i hope that you learned something about the Lernean Hydra. Ta leme!
