Further Resources: The Lernean Hydra

• Read the story of Hercules and the Lernean Hydra, as told by Apollodorus, the ancient writer who collected legends in his mythology handbook, the Library.

• The Temple of Zeus at Olympia was decorated with sculptures illustrating the Labors of Hercules. Look at the sculpture catalog entry for the Lernean Hydra metope.

• See the site catalog entry for Lerna.

• Read the record of Iolaus' Olympic victory in Pausanias.

• Find out more about the Olympic Games.

• Look at other vases with horses, chariots, and charioteers on them.

• Hercules' arrows, poisoned with the hydra's venom, were deadly to the centaurs he met during his fourth labor. Pausanias wrote that the hydra's venom polluted a Greek river, the Anigrus, after the centaurs washed their wounds in it.

• See the catalog entry for the Munich vase of Hercules and Iolaus in the chariot and for the Malibu vase of Hercules slaying the Lernean Hydra.

• Read Pausanias' quote about the hydra in context.

Go back to the Lernean Hydra page.

This exhibit is a subset of materials from the Perseus Project digital library and is copyrighted. Please send us your comments.