![]() ![]() With the intervention of Heracles’s divine wife, the youth goddess Hebe, Iolaus’s vigor and strength are restored to what they were in his youth. He appeared to be more of a trusted advisor and close friend than the more servile role he is sometimes seen as playing. Iolaus continued to appear in the legends of his uncle. It does show, however, that Iolaus was far more than just the hero’s chariot driver. The refusal to allow the victory against the Hydra to count as a completed task was, of course, a ploy by Hera and Eurystheus to put Heracles in even more danger. The monster had been killed with the help of Iolaus, so Eurystheus and Hera decreed that Heracles had not completed the task to their satisfaction.Īlthough the Hydra was destroyed, and although Heracles had gotten aid with some of his other tasks, too much of the credit for the fight could be given to Iolaus for it to count as a victory for Heracles. One of the tasks that Heracles had supposedly failed was the slaying of the Hydra. Because of this, he would have to undertake two more labors, for a total of twelve, before earning his freedom and absolution for his crimes. Instead, however, he was told that two of his quests had been completed in the wrong way. After many dangerous and trying adventures, he believed his servitude would be over. Heracles continued with his labors, spending another eight years in the service of King Eurystheus. Before leaving, Heracles dipped his arrows in the monster’s blood to imbue them with its deadly venom. The Hydra’s main head was immortal, so Heracles buried it in a place where no one would ever dig it up. Heracles and Iolaus attacked the Hydra as a team and slowly began to gain ground against the monster.Įventually, only one head remained. Working quickly, Iolaus was able to burn the wounds before the Hydra could regrow a new head in its place. When Heracles sliced off one of the Hydra’s heads, Iolaus used the torch to cauterize the stump. Iolaus, who was probably a teenager at the time, bravely jumped into the battle. As he watched his uncle battle the monster, he came up with an idea to defeat the Hydra. Iolaus watched the fight from a short distance away, holding a torch that he had used to guide their way through the dark swamps. Although he fought well, he could not outpace the Hydra’s ability to regrow its severed heads. Heracles was a skilled and fearless fighter, but the battle against the Hydra nearly proved to be beyond his capabilities. The extent of this regeneration grew over time until the standard story was that for every head that was cut off, two more would regrow from the stump. While ancient sources did not agree on exactly how many heads the Hydra had, most confirmed that they regenerated if they were destroyed. Its venom was so potent that the fumes could kill a person if they even walked too close to the monster’s lair. The Hydra was an enormous, multi-headed serpent. While most accounts claimed that it could not be truly killed, Heracles was sent to defeat it. The Hydra was a monster that lived in the swamps of Lake Lerna, near Argos. This was the second of the labors assigned to Heracles by King Eurystheus. ![]() Iolaus is most well-known for his role in the fight against the Lernean Hydra. Iolaus was the son of Heracles’s twin brother, Iphicles. His nephew Iolaus was his chariot driver, companion and, according to some sources, his lover. When Heracles set out on his twelve labors, he did not travel alone. Iolaus is known for his help in killing the Lernean Hydra, but there is far more to his story than the fight against a single monster! Heracles, Iolaus, and the Hydra According to some writers, he was a lifelong companion who continued to help his family even after Heracles had died. Iolaus was the hero’s nephew who accompanied him on many more adventures than just the fight against the Hydra. Instead, his teenaged chariot driver figured out how to defeat the Hydra. This help did not come in the form of another great hero, a king, or a god. ![]() The second labor would not be counted because Heracles had received help in completing it. One of these was the slaying of the Lernean Hydra, a monster with deadly venom and the ability to regenerate whenever it was injured. He completed all of them but to his dismay was told that two would not be counted. In that time, he was given ten nearly impossible and highly dangerous tasks. To atone for the crime of killing his children under the influence of madness, the hero had to commit himself to ten years of servitude. ![]() The twelve labors of Heracles are one of the most famous quests in all of mythology. ![]()
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