Heracles was ordered to seek out and destroy the monstrous and many-headed Hydra. The mythmakers agree that the Hydra lived in the swamps of Lerna, but they seem to have had trouble counting its heads. Some said that the Hydra had eight or nine, while others claimed as many as ten thousand. All agreed, however, that as soon as one head was beaten down or chopped off, two more grew in its place.
    To make matters worse, the Hydra's very breath was lethal. Even smelling its footprints was enough to kill an ordinary mortal. Fortunately, Heracles was no ordinary mortal. He sought out the monster in its lair and brought it out into the open with flaming arrows. But now the fight went in the Hydra's favor. It twined its many heads around the hero and tried to trip him up. It called on an ally, a huge crab that also lived in the swamp. The crab bit Heracles in the heel and further impeded his attack. Heracles was on the verge of failure when he remembered his nephew, Iolaus, the son of his twin brother Iphicles.
    Iolaus, who had driven Heracles to Lerna in a chariot, looked on in anxiety as his uncle became entangled in the Hydra's snaky heads. Finally he could bear it no longer. In response to his uncle's shouts, he grabbed a burning torch and dashed into the fray. Now, as soon as Heracles cut off one of the Hydra's heads, Iolaus was there to sear the wounded neck with flame. This kept further heads from sprouting. Heracles cut off the heads one by one, with Iolaus cauterizing the wounds. Finally Heracles lopped off the one head that was supposedly immortal and buried it deep beneath a rock

    Midas was said to be the son of Gordius and Cybele, or to have been adopted by Gordius. He was the king of Phygia and renowned for his wealth. According to the Greeks, his fabulous riches were the result of a kindness he showed to Silenus, the old goat-like tutor of Dionysius, the god of vegetation, wine and ecstasy. So pleased was Dionysus with this behaviour that he offered Midas whatever he wished. The king asked for whatever he touched to be turned into gold. At first Midas was overjoyed with the gift, but once he realised that even food and drink were being transformed on touching his lips, he was horrified. Out of pity Dionysus told him how to wash away his golden touch, which Midas did in the River Pactolus, thereafter famous for the gold dust to be found on its bed.
    Another myth told about Midas concerns a musical competition between the gods Apollo and Pan, the divine inventors of the lyre an pipes respectively. When the prize was awarded to Apollo, Midas incautiously expresses his surprise at the outcome and recieved from Apollo a set of ass's ears for his foolish presumption.

    Pandora was the Greek Eve, the bringer of all sorrows for mankind. She was the first woman and was created by Hephaistos, the smith god, on Zeus' orders in order to upset Prometheus, the Greek god of fire and friend of men. When she went to live among men, she was given a gift from the gods which was a sealed jar that contained all the misfortunes of existence. But soon Pandora's great curiosity overcame a natural fear of what might be inside, and she broke the seal, releasing sorrow, disease and conflict. As a result, the men who originally comprised the human race gained a mortal, female companion, but also untold woes. Appropriately, the name Pandora means "all gifts" - the bad as well as the good.

    The Sphinx, according to Greek mythology, was the daughter of Echidna, either by Typhon or by Orthus. A monster with the face and breasts of a woman, the body of a lion and the wings of a bird, she was sent as a curse on the city of Thebes by the goddess Hera. The Sphinx guarded the pass to the city and asked all who wished to pass a riddle. Those who failed to give the correct answer were eaten. The riddle was: "What walks on four legs in the morning, on three legs in the evening, and is weakest when in walks on four?" The correct answer is Man, because he walks on four legs as a baby and leans on a stick in old age. When Oedipus gave the correct answer, the Sphinx hurled herself over a cliff and died. As a reward for destroying the monster, Oedipus was made king of Thebes and married the widowed queen Jocasta, and so fulfilled his tragic destiny because the queen was his mother.
    The Greek Sphinx should not be confused with the Egyptian Sphinx, it was the protector of pyramids and the scourge of Ra the Sun God.