Echidna
Mother of Monsters
ih-KID-nuh
Half beautiful woman, half speckled serpent, mate of Typhon and mother of the monsters the heroes are remembered for killing.
The Story
Hesiod puts her in a cave under the earth, deathless and ageless, fair-cheeked above the waist and a vast mottled snake below. She does not raid, curse, or bargain; she is in the mythology almost entirely as a source.
The list of her children is the list of the great labours: Cerberus, the Hydra, the Chimera, the Sphinx, the Nemean Lion, Orthrus. Kill one and you are a hero; she simply produced them.
Did You Know?
- The egg-laying, spine-covered echidna of Australia is named for her, on the reasoning that a mammal that lays eggs is two creatures at once.
- Hesiod calls her deathless and ageless for all her days, so she is presumably still down there.
- Different sources give her four different sets of parents. Nobody could agree where a thing like that would come from.