Hercules’ Second Labor – The Lernaean Hydra

366, Lot: 623. Estimate $300. Sold for $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MOESIA INFERIOR, Nicopolis ad Istrum. Macrinus. AD 217-218. Æ (25mm, 11.10 g, 6h). Statius Longinus, legatus consularis. Laureate and cuirassed bust right / Hercules left, about to strike Lernaean Hydra. H&J 8.23.14.2; Varbanov 3481. Near VF, natural green patina that is chipped in areas.

Hercules, made temporarily insane by the goddess Hera, murdered his wife and children. Once recovered, and distressed by his actions, Hercules consulted the Delphic Oracle to find a means of expiating his sin. As a punishment, Apollo replied that the hero would have to serve his cousin Eurystheus, the king Tiryns, a man whom Hercules despised, for a period of twelve years. Because Eurystheus also hated Hercules, he devised a series of ten feats of such difficulty that they would be either insurmountable or Hercules would die in the attempt. Because Hercules received assistance in completing two of the tasks, Eurystheus added two more, with each labor becoming more fantastic. Once he accomplished the Labors, Hercules was absolved of his guilt and preceded to perform many other heroic feats.

The Lernaean Hydra, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, was said to be the sibling of the Nemean Lion, the Chimaera, and Cerberus. Inhabiting the swamp near Lake Lerna in the Argolid, the creature possessed numerous mortal and one immortal head on its single body; should one head be removed, two more would grow in its place. When Hercules reached the swamp where the Hydra dwelt, he drew it out of its lair near the spring of Amymone. Thereupon, wielding a harvesting sickle, he attempted to decapitate the creature. When this proved unsuccessful, because of the Hydra’s regenerative ability, Hercules enlisted the assistance of his nephew Iolaus, who devised a plan: once Hercules had cut off one of the creature’s heads, Iolaus would cauterize the stump with a burning firebrand. The plan succeeded and the Hydra was destroyed. Hercules placed its one immortal head under a large rock on the sacred way between Lerna and Elaius and dipped his arrows in its poisonous blood.