Editing Lerna (section)

{{Short description|Region in classical Greece}}
{{other uses}}
{{Infobox ancient site
| name           = Lerna
| native_name    = 
| alternate_name = 
| image          =Lerna1.JPG 
| alt   = 
| caption        =Stairs to an upper floor in the Early Helladic ''[[House of the Tiles]]'' 
| map_type       = Greece
| map_alt        = 
| map_caption    = 
| map_size       = 
| relief         = 
| coordinates    = {{coord|37|33|N|22|43|E|display=inline,title}}
| location       = [[Myloi, Argolis|Myloi]], [[Peloponnese (region)|Peloponnese]], Greece
| region         = 
| type           = Settlement
| part_of        = 
| length         = 
| width          = 
| area           = 
| diameter       = 
| circumference  = 
| volume         =  
| height         = 
| builder        = 
| material       = 
| built          = 2500 BCE
| abandoned      = 1250 BCE
| epochs         = [[Helladic period|Early Helladic II]] to [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenean]]
| cultures       = 
| dependency_of  = 
| occupants      = 
| event          = 
| excavations    = 
| archaeologists = 
| condition      = 
| ownership      = 
| management     = 4th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities
| public_access  = 
| designation1   = 
| other_designation =
| website        = [http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh351.jsp?obj_id=2381 Lerna]
| notes          = 
}}

In classical Greece, '''Lerna'''<ref>Corinthian Lerna was a summer resort near [[Corinth]].</ref> ({{langx|el|Λέρνα or Λέρνη}}) was a region of springs and a former lake located in the [[Lerna (municipal unit)|municipality of the same name]], near the east coast of the [[Peloponnesus]], south of [[Ancient Argos|Argos]]. 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 [[Argolid]] to the southern Peloponnese; this location may have resulted in the importance of the settlement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifact?object=Site&name=Lerna|title=Lerna (Site)|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=2017-10-02}}</ref>

Its site near the village [[Myloi, Argolis|Mili]] at the [[Argolic Gulf]] is most famous as the lair of the [[Lernaean Hydra]], the [[chthonic]] many-headed water snake, a creature of great antiquity when [[Heracles]] killed it, as the second of his [[Heracles#Labours of Heracles|labors]]. The strong [[Karst topography|Karstic]] springs remained; the lake, diminished to a silt lagoon by the 19th century, has vanished.

Lerna is notable for several archaeological sites, including an Early Bronze Age structure known as [[House of the Tiles]], dating to the [[Helladic period|Early Helladic period II]] (2500–2300 BC).