Definition: Echidna is described by
Hesiod as a part-snake creature -- a mixed-breed animal that we now call a chimera (chimaera) -- who gave birth to most of the
monsters of Greek mythology. In the
Theogony, Hesiod says her parents are
Phorcys and
Ceto (Keto), children of
Pontus. Another pair of likely parents are Chrysaor (son born from
Medusa's decapitation) and Callirhoe (a naiad).
Typhon mated with Echidna. Their offspring include
- Orthus the hound of Geryon (Geryones),
- Cerberus the hound of Hades,
- Hydra of Lerna, and
- fire-breathing, lion-snake-goat creature called the Chimaera in Greek mythology.
When Echidna mated with Orthus she gave birth to
Herodotus describes a monster Hercules mated with who sounds just like Echidna, but Herodotus doesn't name her:
And in a hollow cave [Callirhoe] bare 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 with glancing eyes and fair cheeks, and half again 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. There, then, did 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.
Hesiod
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