Greek PantheonMarsh
Lerna
The spring-fed marsh near Argos where Heracles and Iolaus killed the many-headed Hydra in the second labour, burning each neck and burying the immortal head under a rock.
About Lerna
Hydra in the marsh
Apollodorus 2.5.2: the second labor is the Lernaean Hydra, a many-headed water-snake in the swamp of Lerna, with one immortal head. Iolaus burns the necks; Heracles buries the immortal head under a rock and dips his arrows in the gall. Hera sent a crab; both beast and crab become constellations in later sky-lore. Lerna's springs were real. Mystery-cult gossip about Lerna is separate from this kill.
On the map
Lerna among other places of the Greek Pantheon.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- Apollodorus, Library 2.5.2
About this entry
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.
Coordinates mark where the myths place a site, or where the tradition locates it today. Mythic realms are left off the map or marked as symbolic placements.
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