439:, for the terracotta tiles that sheathed its roof (an early example of tile roofing). This building was destroyed by fire at the end of the Early Helladic II period. In the following period (Lerna IV = Early Helladic III) the site of the "House of the Tiles" was covered by an earthen tumulus and not built upon again, whether through respect or fear, until, at the end of the Middle Helladic period, shaft graves were cut into the tumulus, suggesting that the significance of the monument had been forgotten. Lerna was used as a cemetery during the Mycenaean age (Late Helladic period), but was abandoned about 1250 BCE.
54:
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47:
336:, who had ropes made several stades long and fastened them together, tying lead to them, and omitting nothing that might help his experiment, was able to discover any limit to its depth. This, too, I heard. The water of the lake is, to all appearance, calm and quiet but, although it is such to look at, every swimmer who ventures to cross it is dragged down, sucked into the depths, and swept away.
410:
34:
466:) was characteristic of this phase: eventually they became filled with waste matter, bones, potsherds, even whole pots. The pottery, markedly discontinuous with Lerna III, shows a range of new forms, and the first signs— regular spiral grooves in bases and parallel incised lines— marking the increasing use of the
500:, which was a freshwater lagoon, separated by barrier dunes from the Aegean. In the Early Bronze Age Lake Lerna had an estimated diameter of 4.7 km. Deforestation increased the rate of silt deposits and the lake became a malarial marsh, of which the last remnants were drained in the nineteenth century.
435:, for the construction of a new settlement, known as Lerna III in the site's stratigraphy. Lerna III lacks signs of continuity with the previous occupation. It was strongly fortified by a double ring of defensive walls with towers and was the site of a two-storey palace or administrative center known as
295:
territory; and on account of the cleansings that take place in it there arose a proverb, 'A Lerna of ills.' Now writers agree that the county has plenty of water, and that, although the city itself lies in a waterless district, it has an abundance of wells. These wells they ascribe to the daughters
459:
Lerna IV (Early
Helladic III) marked a fresh start, not as a fortified seat of central authority this time, but as a small town, with houses of two and three rooms with walls of crude brick set upon stone foundations; several had central circular hearths. Narrow lanes separated houses. A great
442:
Ceramics of Lerna III include the hallmark spouted vessels that archaeologists name "sauceboats", with rims that sweep upwards into a curved spout, as well as bowls with incurving rims, both flat-bottomed and with ring bases, and wide saucers, sometimes with glazed rims, more pleasant for the
481:
Lerna V is continuous with the preceding phase, distinguished largely by new styles in pottery with the sudden, peaceful introduction of matte-painted ware, the thick-slipped Argive version of gray Minyan ware, and a vigorous increase in the kinds of imported wares, coming from the
598:, to the imaginary half-magical Good Old King . It is used also of the 'convoy' sent by the gods, which of course is magical in character; it is never, I believe, an epithet of the Olympians themselves. There is about the word a touch of what is magical and
447:
have swelling curves. Painted decoration is sparse; stamped sealing form decorative patterns on some pieces, or rolled scribed cylinders have been used to make banded patterns. Remarkably, banded patterns made with the self-same seal have been found at Lerna,
296:
of Danaus, believing that they discovered them ... but they add that four of the wells not only were designated as sacred but are especially revered, thus introducing the false notion that there is a lack of water where there is an abundance of it.
426:
in Greece (ca. 180 m by 160 m across), which accumulated during a long
Neolithic occupation. The crest of the mound was levelled and extended in the Early Bronze Age (Early Helladic II period, ca. 2500–2200 BC), as at
470:. Painted linear decoration in dark glaze on the pale body is characteristic of Lerna IV. Caskey identified early examples of the ware that in Middle Helladic contexts would be recognized as
390:
Lerna was occupied in
Neolithic times, as early as the fifth millennium BCE, then was abandoned for a time before the sequence of occupation from the Early to Late Bronze Age (Early
874:
869:
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with the observation concerning that "blameless" (άμύμων) was an epithet of the heroized dead, who were venerated and appeased at shrines. Zeus even applies the epithet to
456:. The burning of the House of Tiles brought the Third Period at Lerna to a decisive close; a low round tumulus marked its undisturbed, apparently sacrosanct site.
739:
The "quite extraordinary respect paid to its ruins" is noted in Caskey 1960:301, who concludes "that a foreign invasion created widespread havoc in this region."
213:. Even though much of the area is marshy, Lerna is located on a geographically narrow point between mountains and the sea, along an ancient route from the
332:
There is no limit to the depth of the
Alcyonian Lake, and I know of nobody who by any contrivance has been able to reach the bottom of it since not even
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711:
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with imported obsidian and chert attest to cultural continuity over this long stretch of time, with reduction in the supply of obsidian from
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The walls of the building were just under a meter thick, and the entire structure was 12 m wide by 25 m long; only the great
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590:"The epithet άμύμων in Homer is applied to individual heroes, to a hero's tomb , to magical, half-mythical peoples like the
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889:
783:
90:
854:
Eberhard
Zangger, "Prehistoric Coastal Environments in Greece: The Vanished Landscapes of Dimini Bay and Lake Lerna"
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while a lamb was cast into the waters as an offering for the "Keeper of the Gate." The keeper of the gate to the
490:. A new custom of burying the dead in excavations within the houses or between them is universal at the period.
599:
548:
635:
Britt
Hartenberger and Curtis Runnels, "The Organization of Flaked Stone Production at Bronze Age Lerna"
46:
406:
testifying to reduced long-distance trade at the end of Early
Helladic III, corresponding to Lerna IV.
594:
and
Aethiopians who to the popular imagination are half canonized, to the magic island of the god
251:
Lerna is notable for several archaeological sites, including an Early Bronze Age structure known as
217:
to the southern
Peloponnese; this location may have resulted in the importance of the settlement.
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20:
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Modern geological techniques such as core drilling have identified the site of the vanished
830:. Archaeopress, British Archaeological Reports, International Series N° 1337/2005, 179-186.
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springs remained; the lake, diminished to a silt lagoon by the 19th century, has vanished.
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by guiding him to this entrance. For mortals the lake was perilous; Pausanias writes:
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474:, and, among the few examples of imported pottery, a winged jar characteristic of
312:(2.37.1) says that the mysteries were initiated by Philammon, the twin "other" of
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in 1952, whose efforts initiated the series of publications of Bronze Age Lerna,
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698:"Violent destruction appears... to have occurred about the same time at Lerna,
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Hesperia: The
Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens
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661:.3 (July 1960:285-303); Caskey, the excavator, offers an overview of Lerna.
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316:. Heroes could gain entry to the netherworld via the Alcyonian Lake.
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689:, 28 m. in diameter, compares with its scale (Caskey 1960:288).
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many-headed water snake, a creature of great antiquity when
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attests that the Lernaean waters were considered healing:
201:) was a region of springs and a former lake located in the
718:. Stratigraphic evidence for this period is inadequate at
409:
287:
Lake Lerna, the scene of the story of the Hydra, lies in
33:
875:
Populated places disestablished in the 2nd millennium BC
870:
Populated places established in the 3rd millennium BC
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4th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities
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The site of Lerna is one of the largest prehistoric
344:), Dionysus was summoned as "Bugenes", "son of the
267:The secret of the Lernaean spring was the gift of
861:
304:, and the ancient Lernaean Mysteries, sacred to
413:Stairs to an upper floor in the Early Helladic
386:Early Helladic fortification wall of Lerna III
654:, "The Early Helladic Period in the Argolid"
508:The lake is called "the Lake of Darkness" in
371:Excavations at the site were initiated under
271:when he lay with the "blameless" daughter of
573:Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion
534:Corinthian Lerna was a summer resort near
348:" with a strange archaic trumpet called a
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825:
408:
381:
379:I-V, inspiring many other publications.
359:that lay in the waters of Lerna was the
828:The head of the Hydra of Lerna (Greece)
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770:
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842:Carlos Parada, "Greek Mythology link":
300:Lerna was one of the entrances to the
517:Nero in the arts and popular culture
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895:Populated places in ancient Greece
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587:, the usurper, Harrison observes.
228:is most famous as the lair of the
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900:Former populated places in Greece
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240:killed it, as the second of his
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880:1952 archaeological discoveries
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398:period). On-site techniques of
910:25th-century BC establishments
793:Wiencke, Martha Heath (1998).
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602:rather than actually divine."
324:in his search for his mother
205:, near the east coast of the
203:municipality of the same name
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503:
7:
460:profusion of unlined pits (
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890:Mycenaean sites in Argolis
220:Its site near the village
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16:Region in classical Greece
778:. Peter Smith Publisher.
443:drinker's lips. Jars and
394:through Late Helladic or
340:At Lerna, Plutarch knew (
308:, were celebrated there.
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826:Piccardi, Luigi (2005).
776:The Heroes of the Greeks
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488:Crete (Middle Minoan IA)
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257:Early Helladic period II
642:.3 (July 2001:255-283).
905:Former lakes of Greece
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21:Lerna (disambiguation)
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553:www.perseus.tufts.edu
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189:In classical Greece,
575:, 3rd ed. 1922:334;
19:For other uses, see
730:" (Caskey 1960:301)
577:Jane Ellen Harrison
478:, perhaps Troy IV.
102: /
61:Shown within Greece
28:
670:(Caskey 1960:289),
626:Pausanias, 2.37.4.
437:House of the Tiles
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416:House of the Tiles
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253:House of the Tiles
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795:"Mycenaean Lerna"
279:. The geographer
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155:Early Helladic II
106:37.550°N 22.717°E
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549:"Lerna (Site)"
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468:potter's wheel
400:flint-knapping
373:John L. Caskey
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230:Lernaean Hydra
199:Λέρνα or Λέρνη
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915:Sacred lakes
856:: (Abstract)
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226:Argolic Gulf
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207:Peloponnesus
190:
188:
472:Minyan ware
367:Archaeology
209:, south of
109: /
85:Coordinates
78:Peloponnese
864:Categories
592:Phaeacians
571:Harrison,
558:2017-10-02
498:Lake Lerna
433:Orchomenus
357:Underworld
302:Underworld
170:Management
165:Site notes
125:Settlement
819:0018-098X
708:Zygouries
615:Geography
585:Aegisthus
579:credited
513:King Lear
504:Etymology
454:Zygouries
396:Mycenaean
318:Prosymnus
314:Autolycus
310:Pausanias
293:Mycenaean
143:Abandoned
774:(1999).
724:Prosymne
656:Hesperia
637:Hesperia
613:Strabo,
484:Cyclades
429:Eutresis
392:Helladic
322:Dionysus
291:and the
269:Poseidon
238:Heracles
234:chthonic
159:Mycenean
146:1250 BCE
138:2500 BCE
80:, Greece
70:Location
885:Argolis
728:Mycenae
716:Corinth
600:demonic
536:Corinth
463:bothroi
351:salpinx
306:Demeter
277:Amymone
246:Karstic
224:at the
215:Argolid
178:Website
151:Periods
135:Founded
130:History
97:22°43′E
94:37°33′N
817:
782:
700:Tiryns
687:Tiryns
682:tholos
617:8.6.8.
596:Helios
515:; see
495:sacred
450:Tiryns
445:hydria
424:tumuli
326:Semele
320:aided
289:Argeia
281:Strabo
273:Danaus
242:labors
232:, the
850:Lerna
844:Lerna
704:Asine
522:Notes
404:Melos
377:Lerna
361:Hydra
263:Myths
211:Argos
195:Greek
191:Lerna
182:Lerna
74:Myloi
27:Lerna
815:ISSN
780:ISBN
726:and
720:Asea
486:and
476:Troy
452:and
431:and
346:Bull
334:Nero
222:Mili
122:Type
807:doi
685:at
157:to
866::
813:.
803:67
801:.
797:.
722:,
710:,
706:,
702:,
659:29
640:70
551:.
363:.
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809::
788:.
561:.
538:.
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193:(
23:.
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