Lerna

, a country of Argolis, celebrated for a grove and a lake, where, according to the poets, the Danaides threw the heads of their murdered husbands. It was there also that Hercules killed the famous hydra. Virgil , Æneid , bk. 6 , li. 803 ; bk. 12 , li. 517 .— Strabo , bk. 8 .— Mela , bk. 2 , ch. 3 .— Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 1 , li. 597 .— Lucretius , bk. 5 .— Statius , Thebiad , bk. 4 , li. 638 .— Apollo dor us , bk. 2 , ch. 15 .――There was a festival, called Lernæa , celebrated there in honour of Bacchus, Proser pine, and Ceres. The Argives used to carry fire to this solemnity from a temple upon mount Crathis, dedicated to Diana. Pausanias.