god
Hydra
the Hydra
also: Hydra, Hydra generatum canem, Lernaean Hydra
The many-headed serpent of the Lernaean swamp, offspring of Typhon and Echidna, slain by Hercules; in Cicero's quotation from the Trachiniae the three-headed hound Cerberus is called the offspring of the Hydra. The monster regrew two heads for each one severed.
Reading notes
- Tusculan Disputations §2.22 the three-headed hound, offspring of the Hydra
Cerberus, the watchdog of the underworld, here called the offspring of the Hydra; Hercules' twelfth Labor was to drag him up from the realm of the dead. In some genealogies Cerberus and the Hydra are siblings, children of Typhon and Echidna.