The Labors of Herakles
The Hydra ("water-snake") was a monster with many heads. She lived beneath a plane tree near the spring called Amymone. This spring was near the seaside city of Lerna. She was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, and the sister of Kerebos. Hera raised the Hydra to torment Herakles. The Hydra had a dog-like body. Its breath was poisonous. The head in the middle of the monster was immortalit could not die. Eurystheus ordered Herakles to kill this monster. Herakles and his nephew Iolaos (the son of his brother Iphicles) drove to the swamp near Lerna in Herakles' war chariot. Iolaos was Heracles' charioteer and his lover.