Editing Lerna (section)

==Myths==
The secret of the Lernaean spring was the gift of [[Poseidon]] when he lay with the "blameless" daughter<ref>Harrison, ''Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion'', 3rd ed. 1922:334; [[Jane Ellen Harrison]] credited [[Gilbert Murray]] 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 [[Aegisthus]], the usurper, Harrison observes. <blockquote> "The epithet άμύμων in Homer is applied to individual heroes, to a hero's tomb [''Odyssey'' xxiv.80], to magical, half-mythical peoples like the [[Phaeacia]]ns and Aethiopians [''Iliad'' x.423] who to the popular imagination are half canonized, to the magic island [''Odyssey'' xii.261] of the god [[Helios]], to the imaginary half-magical Good Old King [''Odyssey'' xix.109]. It is used also of the 'convoy' [''Iliad'' vi.171] 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 [[Daemon (classical mythology)|demonic]] rather than actually divine."</blockquote></ref> of [[Danaus]], [[Amymone]]. The geographer [[Strabo]] attests that the Lernaean waters were considered healing: 
<blockquote>Lake Lerna, the scene of the story of the Hydra, lies in [[Ancient Argos|Argeia]] and the [[Mycenae]]an 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 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.<ref>Strabo, ''Geography'' 8.6.8.</ref></blockquote>

Lerna was one of the entrances to the [[Underworld]], and the ancient Lernaean Mysteries, sacred to [[Demeter]], were celebrated there, along with a festival called the [[Lernaea (festival)|Lernaea]], which was also held in her honor. [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] (2.37.1) says that the mysteries were initiated by Philammon, the twin "other" of [[Autolycus]]. Heroes could gain entry to the netherworld via the Alcyonian Lake. [[Prosymnus]] aided [[Dionysus]] in his search for his mother [[Semele]] by guiding him to this entrance. For mortals the lake was perilous; Pausanias  writes:
<blockquote>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 [[Nero]], 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.<ref>Pausanias, 2.37.4.</ref></blockquote>

At Lerna, Plutarch knew (''Isis and Osiris''), Dionysus was summoned as "Bugenes", "son of the [[Bull (mythology)|Bull]]" with a strange archaic trumpet called a ''[[salpinx]],'' while a lamb was cast into the waters as an offering for the "Keeper of the Gate." The keeper of the gate to the [[Underworld]] that lay in the waters of Lerna was the [[Lernaean Hydra|Hydra]].