LA RISCOPERTA DELLA TESTA IMMORTALE DELL'IDRA DI LERNA

Abstract

This paper offers a case study for the reconstruction of the historical reality lying behind myths, through the integration of history, archaeology and geology, exarnining in this light the fight of Heracles and the Hydra of Lema. Such a multidisciplinary approach has recently proved to be very effective, especially in the case of myths connected to geological phenomena. The systematic correspondence between the cult site, its relative myth and the local active fault allows to backtrack the origins of some sanctuaries to natural phenomena, so that they could be defined "fault-related sanctuaries". [...]