ABSTRACT
This was a huge many-headed snake that lived in the swamps of Lerna some miles to the south of Argos. According to the Theogony, it was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, and it was reared by Hera to become a danger to Herakles;61 although Hesiod offers no description, it is regularly described as many-headed in subsequent accounts and is shown as such in visual images from the eighth century BC onwards. As for the number of its heads, estimates vary from just a few to as many as fifty or a hundred.62 For obvious practical reasons, artists tend to portray it with relatively few heads. It was often said to have been exceptionally difficult to kill because as soon as one head was cut off, a new head, or more commonly two, would grow up in its place.63 Hydra, which simply means water-snake, is not a proper name in Greek and does not necessarily carry any connotation of monstrosity.
