Second Labor: Heracles Kills the Hydra
Returning to Tiryns, Heracles expected praise for his victory
After his victory against the Nemean Lion, Heracles returned to Tiryns, surprising King Eurystheus with his survival. Clad in the lion's pelt, Heracles’s wild appearance terrified the king, who subsequently forbade him from entering the city and communicated with him through a herald. Eurystheus then revealed Heracles’s next labor: slaying the Lernaean Hydra.
The Hydra's Lair
The Hydra, a monstrous serpent with multiple venomous heads, resided near the spring of Amymone, the source of Lake Lerna. Hera, Zeus's wife and Heracles’s enemy, had nurtured the Hydra specifically to kill him. The creature, offspring of the monsters Typhon and Echidna, possessed a deadly venom and the ability to regenerate two heads for every one severed. Its breath was toxic, and even its blood was poisonous. One of its heads was immortal, making the task seemingly insurmountable.
Heracles journeyed to Lerna accompanied by his nephew Iolaus, his charioteer and squire. Nearing the Hydra’s lair, Heracles found the swamp eerily silent, littered with dead animals, victims of the Hydra’s poisonous fumes. Protecting himself with a cloth mask, Heracles located the Hydra’s den and lured the beast out with flaming arrows.
A Monstrous Battle
The ensuing battle was fierce. Every time Heracles severed a head, two more grew in its place. To worsen matters, Hera sent a giant crab, Carcinus, to attack Heracles. Though Heracles managed to kill the crab, the Hydra’s heads multiplied, making the fight increasingly difficult. Frustrated and exhausted, Heracles retreated to his camp.
Discouraged by the seemingly endless battle, Heracles discussed his predicament with Iolaus. As Iolaus prepared their meal, he noticed how fire cauterized the meat, giving him an idea. He suggested cauterizing the Hydra’s neck stumps after each decapitation to prevent regeneration. Heracles agreed, although hesitant to put Iolaus in danger.
During the night, Athena, the goddess of wisdom and warfare, favored the heroes. Some accounts say she whispered the cauterization strategy to Iolaus, while others claim she spoke directly to Heracles. Upon waking, Heracles discovered a golden sword, a gift from Athena, which he accepted alongside his trusty club.
The next day, Heracles and Iolaus returned to the Hydra’s lair. Armed with his club, Athena's sword, and Iolaus’s flaming torch, Heracles engaged the multi-headed monster. With each severed head, Iolaus swiftly cauterized the wound, preventing regeneration. Slowly but surely, they reduced the Hydra’s heads until only one remained – the immortal head.
Heracles, realizing the futility of attacking the immortal head with conventional weapons, unsheathed Athena's golden sword. With a final, decisive blow, he severed the immortal head. Although still living, the head was now powerless. Heracles buried it deep underground beneath a heavy boulder, effectively neutralizing the threat.
Sophie
A Tainted Victory
Victorious, Heracles dipped his arrows in the Hydra's venomous blood, creating a potent weapon for future battles, albeit one that would eventually lead to his demise. Hera, enraged by the Hydra’s defeat, placed both the Hydra and Carcinus among the stars as constellations.
Returning to Tiryns, Heracles expected praise for his victory. Instead, Eurystheus, claiming that Iolaus's assistance invalidated the labor, refused to acknowledge it. He declared that Heracles would have to complete an additional task, adding to the already daunting ten labors. Thus, despite his triumph over the Hydra, Heracles faced continued hardship and injustice, a recurring theme in his legendary trials. The second labor, though successful, ended in a bittersweet victory, foreshadowing the challenges that lay ahead.
