Heracles. The Second Labor: the Lernaean Hydra
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Heracles and the Lernaean HydraAfter his victory over the Nemean Lion, Eurystheus immediately gave Heracles his next task — to defeat the Lernaean Hydra. The Hydra, too, turned out to be an offspring of Typhon and Echidna. The monster lived in a swamp near the city of Lerna and looked like a long serpent with nine dragon heads, one of which was immortal.
This time, Heracles decided to set out in search of the Hydra on the golden chariot of his stepfather Amphitryon. But none of his friends wanted to serve as his charioteer and travel to a swamp cursed by the gods. Only one agreed — a young man, son of Iphicles and nephew of Heracles, named Iolaus. He handled horses very well, and together they quickly reached the spring of Amymone, beyond which stretched an endless swamp thick with poisonous fumes.
Iolaus and the golden chariotHeracles left the horses and Iolaus by the spring and went on alone to find the monster and its lair. He moved carefully through the swamp, but it proved more treacherous than it first appeared. Poisonous bubbles of fumes rose from the marsh and clouded the hero's mind. Step by step, he pressed deeper, trying to find solid ground beneath his feet, until, making one wrong step, he sank into the swamp's poisonous mire. His body was quickly swallowed by the muck, and there seemed to be no chance of escape. Realizing he was doomed, Heracles called out to Iolaus to throw him the chariot's reins. The boy rushed over and helped the hero pull himself out of the trap.
Heracles sinks into the swampSuddenly the boy cried out, having spotted the terrifying many-headed monster ahead. The Hydra slithered toward them, hissing horribly, its forked tongues flicking from its many mouths. Heracles began to retreat toward the shore, fending off its attacks with the sword given to him by Hermes. But the moment the hero reached the shore, the creature turned and slithered away.
The sword Hermes gave HeraclesTo draw the Hydra out, Heracles told Iolaus to make a torch and set fire to the reeds at the northern edge of the swamp, where the wind was blowing from. The boy did so, lighting the reeds, and the fire quickly spread across the entire swamp. The reeds crackled and hissed no less than the Hydra itself, and the smoke and blaze soon filled the whole marsh. The monster crawled out of its lair and tried to flee into the forest, but several arrows did their work, and the hero, catching up to the beast, began his battle with it.
Fire in the swampThe Hydra tried to bite Heracles, but he proved too quick. He hacked off its heads one by one with his sword, pinned its body to the ground, and tried to finish it off. But the monster would not yield — it coiled around the hero's leg, and every severed head grew back almost instantly. Its venomous fangs sank into his armor of lion's hide, and the creature searched for any exposed spot on his body, but could not land a blow. Yet Heracles, too, could not manage to finish the Hydra off for good. Its last, immortal head always remained whole, while the rest kept growing back and hurling themselves into the fight again.
Heracles and Iolaus fight the HydraThen Heracles called out to Iolaus. The boy rushed over, torch in hand, and began searing the stumps where the heads had been cut. At last, the tide of battle turned, and only the immortal head remained. The hero buried it and covered it with an enormous boulder, so that it could never again dig itself free and regrow.
Gathering up the severed heads, Heracles and Iolaus raced back to Eurystheus by chariot. The king, terrified once again, was too afraid even to look at the heads, and refused to count the labor as complete, since Heracles had not accomplished it alone. He then ordered him to go and capture the Ceryneian Hind.
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