Hercules Killing the Hydra at The Louvre, Paris

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The legendary exploits of Heracles, renowned as the greatest Greek hero, whose Romanized name would later become Hercules, are a series of pivotal events that unfolded over 12 years at the behest of King Eurystheus. These extraordinary feats were woven together into a seamless narrative by the ancient Greeks, who attributed their creation to an epic poem penned by Peisander around 600 BC. Consumed by Hera's madness, Hercules brutally slaughtered his six sons and wife Megara. Upon regaining his sanity, he was overcome with remorse for his actions; King Thespius then purified him, after which Hercules traveled to Delphi seeking guidance on how to atone for his transgressions. Pythia, the revered Oracle of Delphi, advised him to serve King Eurystheus in Tiryns for 12 years, carrying out any tasks set before him; in return, he would be granted immortality. Though deeply disheartened by this prospect, Hercules reluctantly submitted to Eurystheus's authority. Eurystheus commissioned Hercules to complete a series of daunting tasks, which the hero accomplished with unwavering determination, yet Eurystheus refused to acknowledge two: the slaying of the Lernaean Hydra, as Iolaus had provided crucial assistance; and the cleansing of the Augeas stables, since Hercules had accepted payment for his services. Undeterred, Eurystheus assigned two additional tasks (fetching the Golden Apples of Hesperides and capturing Cerberus), which Hercules also successfully completed, thereby expanding the total number of labors to 12. The second labor involved vanquishing the Lernaean Hydra, a monstrous creature that Hera had deliberately created to destroy Hercules. Upon arriving at the swamp near Lake Lerna, where the Hydra resided, Hercules carefully covered his mouth and nose with a cloth to shield himself from the noxious fumes emanating from its lair. He then launched flaming arrows into the spring of Amymone, a deep cave that was the Hydra's sole source of escape from the surrounding villages. As he confronted the Hydra, wielding his trusty club or harvesting sickle (as depicted in early vase paintings), Hercules discovered that each time he severed one of its heads, two new ones would grow back. The Hydra's singular weakness lay in the fact that only one of its heads was immortal. Recognizing this vulnerability, Hercules called upon his nephew Iolaus for assistance; together, they devised a strategy to scorch the neck stumps with a firebrand after each decapitation. Hera, enraged by Hercules' progress, dispatched a massive crab to distract him; he effortlessly crushed it beneath his foot. With the Hydra's one immortal head finally severed using a golden sword gifted by Athena, Hercules buried it under a massive rock on the sacred way between Lerna and Elaius. He then dipped his arrows in the Hydra's poisonous blood, thereby completing his second task. In an alternative version of this myth, after cutting off one head, Hercules dipped his sword in its venomous blood and used it to scorch each subsequent head, preventing them from regrowing. Hera, incensed by Hercules' triumph over her creation, transformed the Lernaean Hydra into the constellation Hydra and the crab into Cancer. Hercules would later employ an arrow poisoned with the Hydra's venom to slay the centaur Nessus; Nessus's tainted blood was then applied to the Tunic of Nessus, allowing him to exact posthumous revenge. Strabo and Pausanias both reported that the putrid stench emanating from the river Anigrus in Elis was attributed to the Hydra's poison, which had washed off Hercules' arrows used against the centaur. This bronze sculpture, originally housed in the gardens of Rueil under the patronage of Louis XIV of Marly and Napoleon of Saint-Cloud, stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of Hercules' extraordinary exploits.