LIVIA STELA ARDELEAN

The evidence/ testimony of the legend is to be found on a votive slate in the custody of a museum in Viena and in the manuscript of a letter containing the detailed description of the area, sent to Emperor Franz Iosef by a messenger.

On coming across the thermal springs and the settlement around them, the Romans gave them the name of Hercules’ sacred springs and the settlement got its name of Herculesbad later, following a decree of the Austrian Emperor, thus becoming part of the toponymy of European settlements for good.

Before he could find a way of getting his ship above the waterfall/cataract, Hercules would have gone up the Cerna river and would have reached Herculane, where he met Corcoaia, an old woman who lived in the area of The Coroninii Plateau.

Seeing that he was exhausted, she would have told him to dip into the water of a spring which was further downhill so as to recover a bit. Then she also said that her two sons would dip into the water of the springs after they had finished their work in the field and that, afterwards they felt refreshed. She added that the local people would do the same when they were ill or when their animals either had some disease or were bitten by venomous snakes and that, on coming out of the water, their animals were completely healed.

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The old woman told Hercules about a dragon which came and bathed here in the valley and, when it would take off and shake its wings, drops of water would fall from the sky like a curtain of rain forming a waterfall in the mountain, called “Vânturătoarea Waterfalls”.

In the very same spot, Hercules is said to have met a villager who, learning that he was Hercules, asked for his help in order to kill a dragon whose den was near the springs of Cerna and who caused a lot of damage. Hercules listened to his request and set out on his search for the dragon.

Hercules decides to kill the dragon and lies in wait while using a girl from the village as bait. The moment the dragon came to take the girl tied to a pole, Hercules blocked his way and struck him hard with a club, but this bounces back from the scales of the dragon and hits the mountain cutting off half of its top. This is how The Cut-Off Mountain got its name.

As the gorge was narrow, the Dragon got stuck while Hercules went round the mountain and cut off its way. It is said that in that very narrow place in the gorge, Hercules propped himself against the wall so hard in order to give the final blow that his leg went deep into the rock leaving a footprint which we can see even today.

In pain and almost dying the Dragon tossed so hard that he managed to slip out of the gorge and took refuge in his den. The traces of the battle remained in the Dragon’s place: the mountain split into two, the round hollows in the walls of the rock and the vertical crevice left by the club, through which one can catch a glimpse of a patch of sky. Hercules followed the Dragon and gave him the final blow thus killing him while his blood gushed forth, giving birth to the springs “Izbucul Cernei”. The Dragon gave his last breath on a mountain top, in a place known today as “The Steam Cave”.

In the northern part of Herculane Spa, the oldest resort in Romania, attested since Roman times, stands the statue of Hercules, the legendary hero to whom this blessed place was dedicated.

In 1847 the statue of Hercules, donated by Prince heir Carol, is set up on the red marble fountain in the centre of the spa

http://out4awalk.com/aventura-in-valea-cernei-pe-urmele-lui-hercules/  

Baile Herculane, DESTINATII TURISTICE, ROMANIA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rpWI1xu9O0