|
Dave's Mythical Creatures and Places |
Hydra
| Description | A serpent/dragon with multiple heads (generally 7 or 9 heads.) |
| Features | If cut off, the heads would grow back. The Hydra lived in the Lernean marshes, near Argolis (the region around Argos in Greece.) |
| Might Actually be | An exaggerated story about an octopus or giant squid. Octopus have 8 arms, which will grow back if cut off. Squid have 10 arms, 2 of which are longer and have flat ends with suckers on them. |
| Described By: | Greek
Mythology- The Hydra had 9 heads, and the middle one was immortal.
Hercules fought the Hydra with his club, but each time he knocked off a
head, two more would grow back. Finally, he used a torch to burn off
the new heads, and buried the immortal one under a rock. Arrows dipped in
the Hydra's blood were poisonous. Hercules accidentally shot Chiron
with one later on.
Topsell- discounted the existence of the Hydra, saying - "for that there shold be such a serpent with seven heads, I think it unpossible, and no more to bee beleeved and credited than that Castor and Pollux were conceived in an egge." |
| Links | Another
picture of a Hydra
The Story of Hercules and the Hydra: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Herakles/hydra.html |
