Search my site! (enter key word): Don't use "dragon" if you want to be specific.	Constellations: Hydra (water snake - female) Legend tells us that Hydra was a terrible monster that lived in the marshes of Lerna. The beast has numerous heads with the added horror that if a head was cut off, two would instantly grow back in its place. Hercules and his nephew Iolaus decided to hunt down Hydra and kill it. Hercules would cut off a head and Ioleus immediately burn the wound to prevent the heads from growing back. The central head of the monster was immortal, but Hercules overcame this obstacle by burying it under a rock. This is where I got the picture . Draco (the dragon) There are at least two stories about the Dragon. According to one the Dragon was one of the monsters fighting with the Titans, the elder gods, in the cosmic war in which the younger Olympian gods overturned their elders to take command of the universe. Towards the end of that war, the Dragon confronted the goddess Athena. She grabbed it by the tail and with a mighty hurled it into the sky. The Dragon was spinning in chaotic flight. It struck the dome of heaven and became twisted up in knots by the rotation of the sky. Because the Dragon struck the sky in the cold regions near the North Pole, it froze in place. And so we see it twisted up in the sky to this day. In the other story, Dragon is the dragon Ladon that guarded the legendary tree on which grew the beautiful apples of gold. The tree belonged to the goddess Hera. Hera planted the tree on the slopes of Mount Atlas and set the Hesperides to guard it. The Hesperides were the three daughters of the Titan Atlas. They were irresponsible girls who persisted in stealing the apples from the tree for themselves. So Hera set dragon Ladon to guard the tree. It was the Hercules who killed the Dragon. After the loss of the apples, Hera placed the Dragon into the sky as the constellation of Draco. This is where I got the picture . "Dragon" in Other Languages: Chinese lung French dragon German drache Greek drakon Italian drago Norwegian drage Spanish dragón Back to top ^ Previous page of facts < I intend no threat to any copyrights. If any of the pictures I have used are copyright and the artist does not want me to use them contact me and I'll remove them.