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The oldest extant Hydra narrative appears in Hesiod's Theogony, while the oldest images of the monster are found on a pair of bronze fibulae dating to c. 700 BC. In both these sources, the main motifs of the Hydra myth are already present: a multi-headed serpent that is slain by Heracles and Iolaus.
Heracles as a boy strangling a snake (marble, Roman artwork, 2nd century CE). Capitoline Museums in Rome, Italy. Fear of Hera's revenge led Alcmene to expose the infant Heracles, but he was taken up and brought to Hera by his half-sister Athena, who played an important role as protectress of heroes.
Hercules' wife, thinking he would have an affair with her, was so desperate as to believe that a centaur's blood was a love potion and dipped Hercules' clothes with it. As it was truly poison, Hercules screamed in agony and begged his cousin (the one who helped him in killing the Lernaean Hydra) to burn him on a funeral pyre .
Baby Hercules strangling a snake sent to kill him in his cradle (Roman marble, 2nd century CE, in the Capitoline Museums of Rome, Italy). The Latin name Hercules was borrowed through Etruscan, where it is represented variously as Heracle, Hercle, and other forms. Hercules was a favorite subject for Etruscan art, and appears often on bronze mirrors.
Apollo killing Python. A 1581 engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book I. In Greek mythology, Python (Greek: Πύθων; gen. Πύθωνος) was the serpent, sometimes represented as a medieval-style dragon, living at the center of the Earth, believed by the ancient Greeks to be at Delphi.
Heracles slaying the Nemean lion. Detail of a Roman mosaic from Llíria (Spain).. The Nemean lion (/ n ɪ ˈ m iː ə n /; Ancient Greek: Νεμέος λέων, romanized: Neméos léōn; [1] Latin: Leo Nemeaeus) was a monster in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea.
Cerberus had several multi-headed relatives. His father was the multi snake-footed Typhon, [11] and Cerberus was the brother of three other multi-headed monsters, the multi-snake-headed Lernaean Hydra; Orthrus, the two-headed dog that guarded the Cattle of Geryon; and the Chimera, who had three heads: that of a lion, a goat, and a snake. [12]
Hercules and the Dragon Ladon, from the workshop of Giambologna, early 17th century (Walters Art Museum). Ladon (/ ˈ l eɪ d ə n /; Ancient Greek: Λάδων; gen.: Λάδωνος Ladonos) was a dragon in Greek mythology, who guarded the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides.