Lernaean Hydra

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Image:Hydra 04.jpg 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 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 Mycenaean 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 was 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 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 (Kerenyi1959 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.

In another version Template:Fact, Heracles defeated the Hydra by remembering the words of his wise teacher, Chiron, who had said, "We rise by kneeling; we conquer by surrendering; we gain by giving up." All his other weapons having failed, Heracles remembered his mentor's words and knelt down in the swamp and lifted up the monster by one of her heads into the light of day, where she began to wilt. Heracles then cut off each of her heads, dipping his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood at the same time. However, none re-grew. After he had severed all nine heads, a tenth one appeared; Heracles recognised this as a jewel and buried it under a rock.

Heracles later used an arrow dipped in the Hydra's poison blood to kill the centaur Nessus; and Nessus's tainted blood applied to the Tunic of Nessus eventually killed Heracles himself.

Today "Hydra-like problem" or "hydra" refers to a multifaceted problem that seems incapable of step-by-step solution, or to one that worsens upon conventional attempts to solve it, for example, attempts to suppress a particular piece of information resulting in it being disseminated even more widely.

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Origin

Image:Gustave Moreau 003.jpg When the sun is in the sign of Cancer, the constellation Hydra has its head nearby. Also close by, beneath the sun, is the constellation of Cancer, the crab. Mythographers relate that the Lernaean Hydra and the crab were put into the sky after Heracles slew them.

It is uncertain as to what the cauterising of the snake heads means, but it may derive from talesTemplate:Fact concerning a battle connected to Lerna, possibly indicative of setting fire to parts of the enemy (possibly the corpses) so as to disperse them.

Lerna features in another myth as a fountain from Poseidon created in memorial of the daughter of Danaos (who represents the Danae, who appear in earlier works, such as the Illiad, as a seafaring group from elsewhere), which may be a myth of a failed attack on the native population by Danae, which the Danae later repeated successfully.

The Greek word for arrow, which is toxon, is closely related to the Greek word for poison, which is toxis, thus the poison arrows that Heracles created from the Hydra's blood. Associations with the Nemaean lion may derive from recreating the surrounding narrative to suit an order in which the tale of the Hydra follows that of the lion.

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Other appearances

The Hydra of Greek mythology was sited at Lerna: it did not pop up as an adversary elsewhere; nevertheless, in contemporary market-driven video-game culture, "Hydra" may be applied to any number of serpentlike many-headed menaces that are not "killed" by a single direct hit:

  • The Hydra appears as a boss in the PS2 game God of War, where the playable character, Kratos, fights it onboard a ship in the Aegean Sea. The Hydra in the game has three heads - the largest one is able to heal the other two. Kratos fights the two smaller heads first, then kills the dominant head by impaling it on the ship's prow.
  • See also Yamata no Orochi, an ancient Japanese mythological many-headed serpent. It looks like the Lernaean Hydra.
  • The Hydra appears as a unit in the Warlock castle of Heroes of Might and Magic II, the Fortress army in Heroes of Might and Magic III, and as a fourth-tier Chaos unit in Heroes of Might and Magic IV.
  • In the game Chrono Cross, there are two alternate worlds. In one, the Hydra have been hunted to extinction and no longer reside in their home, the Hydra Marshes. In the other world, a single Hydra remains. The reason for the Hydra's extinction is that their poison is deadly when used in battle, and the only antitode is Hydra Humour, a substance refined from the creature's bodily fluids. Besides being a major boss, the Hydra plays a major part in the storyline of the game.
  • In Tenacious D's "Wonderboy," Jack Black says "There's the Hydra. Pull out your broadsword. Slice his throat. Grab his scrote."
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Sources

Template:Commonscat

  • {{cite book 
| first = Jane Ellen | last = Harrison
| authorlink = Jane Ellen Harrison
| title = Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion
| year = 1903
}}
  • {{cite book 
| first = Robert | last = Graves
| authorlink = Robert Graves
| title = The Greek Myths
| year = 1955
}}
  • {{cite book 
| first = Carl | last = Kerenyi
| authorlink = Carl Kerenyi
| title = The Heroes of the Greeks
| year = 1959
}}
  • {{cite book 
| first = Walter | last = Burkert
| authorlink = Walter Burkert
| title = Greek Religion
| publisher = Harvard University Press
| year = 1985
}}
  • {{cite book 
| author = Ruck, Carl and Staples, Danny
| title = The World of Classical Myth
| year = 1994
}}Template:Link FA

bg:Лернейска хидра ca:Hidra de Lerna da:Hydra de:Hydra (Mythologie) el:Λερναία Ύδρα es:Hidra de Lerna fr:Hydre de Lerne hr:Lernejska Hidra it:Idra di Lerna he:הידרה lt:Lernos hidra nl:Hydra (mythologie) ja:ヒュドラ no:Hydra (gresk mytologi) pl:Hydra Lernejska pt:Hidra de Lerna ro:Hidra ru:Лернейская гидра fi:Hydra sv:Hydra zh:九头蛇

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