Echidna (mythology)

Echidna (Greek Ἔχιδνα ) is a figure of Greek mythology who was the mother of many monsters.

There are different stories of their lineage. Accordingly, she was the daughter of Phorkys, an old man of the sea, and the keto, a sea monster, or the Kallirrhoe and Chrysaor, who was sprung from his mother Medusa the body when Perseus these decapitated, or of Gaia and Uranus.

As " an unspeakable monster, half schönäugiges girl, half gruesome snake, huge, buntgefleckt and gluttonous " ( Hesiod, Theogony 295-332 ), it was apparently not only a terrible, but also a fertile monster. Typhon - had received the Gaia of Tartarus in order to take revenge on Zeus, so that here, if it is the same monster, possibly a sibling marriage was - her begot the two-headed Orthos, the three-headed hell -hound Cerberus and the Hydra, also referred to as the " Lernaean snake".

Also, Typhon fathered with her ​​Chimaira, the Sphinx, the Nemean Lion and the Phaia.

In English, echidnas are named after Echidna.