The sculpture was discovered during the reconstruction of the Chuch of Sant'Agnese. The sculptor Alessandro Algardi doncuted a complete restoration of the statue. He probably modified the ancient iconography of Hercules who domesticates the hind of Ceryneia to iconography of Hercules who kills the Hydra. At any rate, the work is a Roman reworking of a Greek creation attributed to Lysippus who, according to the sources, sculptured the labours of Hercules