Lerna

place

Λέρνα

Swamp of the Hydra

Lerna was a marshy region near Argos, famed as the lair of the Lernaean Hydra and believed to contain one of the entrances to the underworld.

The Myth

The marshes of Lerna were considered bottomless — the emperor Nero reportedly tried to plumb their depth and failed. Dionysus descended to the underworld through the Alcyonian Lake at Lerna to retrieve Semele. Heracles slew the Hydra here for his second labour. The site also figured in the myth of the Danaids, condemned to carry water in leaking jars for eternity. Archaeologically, Lerna was an important Early Bronze Age settlement.

Parents

N/A

Children

N/A

Symbols

swampHydrabottomless lakeunderworld entrance

Fun Fact

The archaeological site at Lerna revealed one of the oldest monumental buildings in Europe — the "House of the Tiles," nearly 4,200 years old.