Echidna’s Family Tree

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Family

• Typhon(spouse),Cerberus(child),Chimera(child),Colchian Dragon(child),Ladon(child),Lernaean Hydra(child),Nemean Lion(child),Orthrus(child),Sphinx(child)— Consort

  Typhon and Echidna produced a brood of monsters including Cerberus, the Chimera, the Lernaean Hydra, the Nemean Lion, the Sphinx, Orthrus, Ladon, and the Colchian Dragon — terrors that defined Greek heroic mythology.

• Ceto(parent),Phorcys(parent),Euryale(sibling),Gorgons(sibling),Graeae(sibling),Ladon(sibling),Medusa(sibling),Stheno(sibling)— Consort

  Phorcys and Ceto, ancient sea deities, produced a brood of monsters: the Gorgons (Medusa, Euryale, Stheno), the Graeae, Echidna, Scylla, and the dragon Ladon.

  ⚠ Hesiod Theogony 295-303 does not explicitly name Echidna's parents; the antecedent of 'she' is debated. Apollodorus (Bibliotheca 2.1.2) gives Tartarus and Gaia as Echidna's parents instead.

• Orthrus(spouse),Nemean Lion(child),Sphinx(child)— Consort

  Orthrus fathered the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion by his own mother Echidna, as told in Hesiod's Theogony.

  ⚠ This parentage is textually uncertain. The relevant passage in the Theogony (326-332) uses ambiguous pronouns, and scholars debate whether 'he' refers to Orthrus or Typhoeus. Many editors prefer Typhoeus as the father.

Slain by

• Argus Panoptes

  Argus Panoptes slew Echidna while she slept in her cave, according to Apollodorus. Hera's hundred-eyed servant caught the Mother of All Monsters off guard and ended her existence.