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Hercules
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The gods were involved in some of the Greek dragon stories. Hercules slew many dragons, and he was a half-god (or demigod). One of these dragons was a hydra. The hydra had 8 heads. One was immortal, and when he would
one, two more would grow back in it's place. Hercules and his charioteer, Iolaus, kille the Hydra by burning of 7 of it's heads, then burying the eighth under a stone. He then dipped his arrows in the Hydra's venom,
making them fatally poisonous. The hydra term is used for a dragon with more then one head.
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In another story, the gods Poseidon and Apollo made an offer to king Laomedan to Troy to build impenetrable walls around the city for a price. Laomedon agreed, but when he didn't keep his side of the bargain, Poseidon
conjured up a huge sea serpent that attacked the city. An oracle told Laomedon that he could sacrifice his daughter to the dragon to please the gods. Laomedon was exceedingly greedy, so his daughter was chained to a rock
and left out as a snack for the dragon. Hercules happened to be passing through, so he offered to kill the dragon in exchange for some horses Laomedon had received from Zeus. Laomedon agreed, but again tried to go back on
his word. So after Hercules killed the serpent, a curse was brought down on troy that eventually lead to the Trojan War.
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In a third story involving Hercules and a dragon, Hercules had a task to steal three golden apples from a tree that haf been given to the god Hera. The apples were guarded by Ladon, a huge dragon with a hundred heads (hydra). Ladon
had curled himself around the tree so nobody could get at it. Hercules decided to gain the help of Atlas. Atlas had somehow offended the gods, and as a punishment, he was made to carry the world on his shoulders at all times (This shows
how smart the Greeks were for knowing the world was round). Hercules offered to take on the burden for an hour if Atlas would use the time to retrieve the golden apples. Atlas enthusiasticly agreed, and Hercules decided to rid Atlas of the
dragon problem by killing the hundred-head beast wiht one arrow. Atlas retrieved the golden apples, and seeing how good it felt not to have the world on his shoulders, went to Hercules and told him he was leaving, but would be back in a few
months. Hercules agreed, but he begged Atlas to take the world for a few minutes so that he could get some padding for his head. Atlas took the world, and Hercules took the apples and left. Hera was so saddened by the loss of her dragon, that
she made a place in the sky for it as the constellation Draco.
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For more information on Hydras, click here.
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