The Labors of Heracles

Episode 2: The Lernean Hydra

After defeating the Nemean Lion, it was off to the Lake of Lerna where the nine-headed serpent Hydra lurked. This time Heracles took his nephew Iolaus along for a bit of company.

He soon found that bashing the Hydra’s heads with his club did not do much good. Whenever a head was knocked out, it immediately grew back again. Time for a cunning plan.

Being somewhat swampy, Iolaus was able to gather reeds and twist them into firebrands. With a bit of ignition, they tried a slash-and-burn technique with great success. Cauterization seemed to do the trick where new heads were concerned and the monster was soon dispatched.

However, there was one left-over lopped-off head which refused to die. So Heracles buried it and hoped no-one would notice.

Not one to waste anything, he dipped some of his arrowheads in pools of Hydra’s left-over venom. This made them very deadly indeed. One day he would regret doing that.

Next Episode: The Ceryneian Hind...