Hercules and the Hydra - Paris, France - Epic Beings and Creatures on Waymarking.com

Located in the Louvre, this 17th century bronze sculpture depicts Hercules battling the Hydra. Hercules is naked and holding a large club- about to strike the multi-headed snake at his feet.

Wikipedia (visit link) informs us that:
"According to mythology, Hercules was the illegitimate son of Jupiter (Zeus) and Alcmene, the wisest and most beautiful of all mortal women. Juno (Hera) was enraged at Jupiter for his infidelity with Alcmene, and even more so that he placed the infant Hercules at her breast as she slept and allowed him to feed, which caused Hercules to be partially immortal, thus, allowing him to surpass all mortal men in strength, size and skill.

Juno held a spiteful grudge against Hercules and sent him into a blind frenzy, in which he killed all of his children and his wife. When Hercules regained his sanity, he sought out the Oracle at Delphi in the hope of making atonement. The Oracle ordered Hercules to serve Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, who sent him on a series of tasks known as the Labors of Hercules."

As for the Hydra, Wikipedia (visit link) adds:

"In Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra ... was an ancient serpent-like chthonic water beast, with reptilian traits (as its name evinces), that possessed many heads — the poets mention more heads than the vase-painters could paint, and for each head cut off it grew two more — and poisonous breath and blood so virulent even its tracks were deadly. The Hydra of Lerna was killed by Heracles as the second of his Twelve Labours. Its lair was the lake of Lerna in the Argolid, though archaeology has borne out the myth that the sacred site was older even than the Mycenaean city of Argos since Lerna was the site of the myth of the Danaids. Beneath the waters was an entrance to the Underworld, and the Hydra was its guardian.

The Hydra was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna (Theogony, 313), both of whom were noisome offspring of the earth goddess Gaia."

Time Period: Ancient Approximate Date of Epic Period: c.800 BC Epic Type: Mythical Exhibit Type: Figure, Statue, 3D Art

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