A place in
Argolis, Greece, located 7 miles south of
Argos, Lerna is one of the largest prehistoric mounds in southern
Greece. Its importance during the
Bronze Age probably owed much to its geography, as it held a position along the route from the
Argolid to the
Peloponnese.
Lerna was
abandoned and reoccupied at least once in the Early or Middle
Helladic period, apparently, as various twentieth century archeological
digs have exposed the remains of houses built atop older and quite substantial fortifications. The most notable discovery was a very large two-story building; named the "
House of Tiles" because of its unusual terracotta roof. Evidence points to the settlement at Lerna
failing before or at some point during the Late Helladic period, perhaps due to the
Dorian influx from the north.
In Classical times Lerna was thought to be the home of the
Nereids, and was celebrated as the place where
Hercules killed the
Lernaean Hydra, his
Second Labor. Also in the vicinity of Lerna was the bottomless
Alcyonian Lake, through which the god
Dionysus gained access to the Underworld to
rescue his mother from the dead.