The superhero and the serpent waged a battle of mythic proportions. Mythic, of course, since the protagonist was Hercules and his opponent was the many-headed hydra, a venomous sea monster that had left the inhabitants of southern Greece utterly terrified.As recounted by Homer in the eighth century BC, Hercules finally prevailed, but only after cauterizing the serpent's neck wounds to prevent its multiple heads from regrowing, and only after burying its immortal central head under a boulder. Then Hercules did something that may have proven much more profound: He dipped the quivers of his arrows in the deadly hydra poison, opening up "a world not only of toxic warfare, but also of unanticipated consequences."So writes classical folklorist Adrienne Mayor, whose declaration may come as something of a surprise: "Hercules, one of the great heroes of Greek myth, actually invented the first biological weapon."From Hercules' poisoned arrows to early germ warfare and attacks with scorpion bombs and red-hot sand, she contends, cultures around the world have grappled with the revulsion and justification of using these unconventional weapons ever since they began creating their own myths and recording their histories.

Mayor has compiled a slew of examples in her new book, "Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World" (Overlook Press).


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