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Hydra
Lake Lerna
Danger Level: 9/10
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Abilities
RegenerationVenomous BreathImmortal Central Head
Lore & Legend
The Lernaean Water-Snake
Hesiod places the Hydra among Typhon and Echidna's brood. The second labor of Heracles is to kill the many-headed water-snake of Lerna; for each head cut, two grow, until Iolaus cauterizes the necks. The central head is called immortal and is buried under a rock.
The spring at Amymone is the local hook: a swamp monster tied to Argive hydrology, later moralized as a labor.
Primary Sources
“She was raised by Hera, goddess of the white arms, out of anger at Heracles, and the Hydra of Lerna was evil.”