Echidna
In Greek mythology, Echidna was a monster, half-nymph and half-snake, who lived alone in a cave. She is widely considered the "mother of all monsters", since many of the more famous monsters in Greek myth were said to be her offspring.
And in a hollow cave she bore another monster, irresistible, in no wise like either to mortal men or to the undying gods, even the goddess fierce Echidna who is half a nymph. , and half a huge snake, great and awful, with speckled skin, eating raw flesh beneath the secret parts of the holy earth. And there she has a cave deep down under a hollow rock far from the deathless gods and mortal men. Then, the gods appoint her a glorious house to dwell in: and she keeps guard in Arima beneath the earth, grim Echidna, a nymph who dies not nor grows old all her days.
Echidna was a drakaina, she has a face with glancing eyes and fair cheeks and a torso of a beautiful woman. Her body was of a serpent (sometimes having two serpent tails).
Homer calls the site of her cave "Arima, couch of Typhoeus", Typhoeus being another name for Echidna's mate Typhon.
Although for Hesiod, Echidna was an immortal and ageless nymph, according to Apollodorus, Echidna used to "carry off passers-by", until she was finally killed where she slept by Argus Panoptes, the hundred-eyed giant who served Hera.
§Echidna's family tree contains many monstrous creatures. The oldest genealogy relating to Echidna is found in Hesiod's Theogony, which is however unclear at several points. Echidna's parentage, as given in Hesiod's Theogony, is uncertain. Hesiod's "she" who "bore the goddess fierce Echidna", mentioned above, was probably meant by Hesiod to be the sea goddess Ceto, making Echidna's father (presumably) the sea god Phorcys, although the "she" might possibly refer to the naiad Callirhoe, making Chrysaor Echidna's father. Other authors give Echidna different parents. According to Epimenides , Echidna was the daughter of Styx and one Peiras (otherwise unknown to Pausanias), while according to Apollodorus, Echidna was the daughter of Tartarus and Gaia.
§Offspring[edit]According to Hesiod's Theogony the offspring of Echidna, by Typhon, were first Orthrus, the two-headed dog who guarded the Cattle of Geryon, second Cerberus, the multi-headed dog who guarded the gates of Hades, and third the Lernaean Hydra, the many-headed serpent who, when one of its heads was cut off, grew two more. The Theogony may also have given Echidna as the mother of the Chimera, a fire-breathing beast that was part lion, part goat, and had a snake-headed tail, though possibly the Hydra or even Ceto was meant as the mother of the Chimera instead. Hesiod next mentions the Sphinx and the Nemean lion as having been the offspring of Echidna's son Orthrus, and another ambiguous "she", read variously as the Chimera, Echidna herself, or even Ceto.
To this list of offspring of Echidna and Typhon, Acusilaus and Pherecydes of Leros add the Caucasian Eagle, that every day ate the liver of Prometheus.
Later authors mostly retain these offspring of Echidna and Typhon while adding others. Apollodorus, in addition to having as their offspring Orthrus, the Chimera (citing Hesiod as his source), the Sphinx, the Caucasian Eagle, and probably the Nemean lion (only Typhon is named), also has Ladon, the dragon which guarded the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides (according to Hesiod, the offspring of Ceto and Phorcys), and the Crommyonian Sow, killed by the hero Theseus (unmentioned by Hesiod). Hyginus in his list of offspring of Echidna (all by Typhon), retains from the above: Cerberus, the Chimera, the Sphinx, the Hydra and Ladon, while adding three new offspring: "Gorgon" (by which Hyginus means the mother of Medusa rather than Hesiod's three Gorgons, daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, of which Medusa was one), the Colchian Dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece and Scylla. Echidna is also sometimes identified as the mother by Heracles, of Scythes, an eponymous king of the Scythians, along with his brothers Agathyrsus and Gelonus.
And in a hollow cave she bore another monster, irresistible, in no wise like either to mortal men or to the undying gods, even the goddess fierce Echidna who is half a nymph. , and half a huge snake, great and awful, with speckled skin, eating raw flesh beneath the secret parts of the holy earth. And there she has a cave deep down under a hollow rock far from the deathless gods and mortal men. Then, the gods appoint her a glorious house to dwell in: and she keeps guard in Arima beneath the earth, grim Echidna, a nymph who dies not nor grows old all her days.
Echidna was a drakaina, she has a face with glancing eyes and fair cheeks and a torso of a beautiful woman. Her body was of a serpent (sometimes having two serpent tails).
Homer calls the site of her cave "Arima, couch of Typhoeus", Typhoeus being another name for Echidna's mate Typhon.
Although for Hesiod, Echidna was an immortal and ageless nymph, according to Apollodorus, Echidna used to "carry off passers-by", until she was finally killed where she slept by Argus Panoptes, the hundred-eyed giant who served Hera.
§Echidna's family tree contains many monstrous creatures. The oldest genealogy relating to Echidna is found in Hesiod's Theogony, which is however unclear at several points. Echidna's parentage, as given in Hesiod's Theogony, is uncertain. Hesiod's "she" who "bore the goddess fierce Echidna", mentioned above, was probably meant by Hesiod to be the sea goddess Ceto, making Echidna's father (presumably) the sea god Phorcys, although the "she" might possibly refer to the naiad Callirhoe, making Chrysaor Echidna's father. Other authors give Echidna different parents. According to Epimenides , Echidna was the daughter of Styx and one Peiras (otherwise unknown to Pausanias), while according to Apollodorus, Echidna was the daughter of Tartarus and Gaia.
§Offspring[edit]According to Hesiod's Theogony the offspring of Echidna, by Typhon, were first Orthrus, the two-headed dog who guarded the Cattle of Geryon, second Cerberus, the multi-headed dog who guarded the gates of Hades, and third the Lernaean Hydra, the many-headed serpent who, when one of its heads was cut off, grew two more. The Theogony may also have given Echidna as the mother of the Chimera, a fire-breathing beast that was part lion, part goat, and had a snake-headed tail, though possibly the Hydra or even Ceto was meant as the mother of the Chimera instead. Hesiod next mentions the Sphinx and the Nemean lion as having been the offspring of Echidna's son Orthrus, and another ambiguous "she", read variously as the Chimera, Echidna herself, or even Ceto.
To this list of offspring of Echidna and Typhon, Acusilaus and Pherecydes of Leros add the Caucasian Eagle, that every day ate the liver of Prometheus.
Later authors mostly retain these offspring of Echidna and Typhon while adding others. Apollodorus, in addition to having as their offspring Orthrus, the Chimera (citing Hesiod as his source), the Sphinx, the Caucasian Eagle, and probably the Nemean lion (only Typhon is named), also has Ladon, the dragon which guarded the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides (according to Hesiod, the offspring of Ceto and Phorcys), and the Crommyonian Sow, killed by the hero Theseus (unmentioned by Hesiod). Hyginus in his list of offspring of Echidna (all by Typhon), retains from the above: Cerberus, the Chimera, the Sphinx, the Hydra and Ladon, while adding three new offspring: "Gorgon" (by which Hyginus means the mother of Medusa rather than Hesiod's three Gorgons, daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, of which Medusa was one), the Colchian Dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece and Scylla. Echidna is also sometimes identified as the mother by Heracles, of Scythes, an eponymous king of the Scythians, along with his brothers Agathyrsus and Gelonus.