The mother of Kypselus (Cypselus) and the wife of Eetion.
Labda was a daughter of the ruling family of the city of Corinth, the Bacchiadae, and was forced to marry below her social station because she was lame.
When her son Kypselus was born, the Oracle at Delphi predicted that the boy would overthrow the Bacchiadae and establish a new ruling dynasty in Corinth; members of the Bacchiadae plotted to kill Kypselus but Labda hid Kypselus in a chest and he lived to fulfill the prophecy by ousting the Bacchiadae and becoming the new tyrant of Corinth.
The third king of the city of Thebes; the son of Polydoros (Polydorus), father of Laius and grandfather of Oedipus.
The twelve Labors forced upon Herakles (Heracles) by his cousin, Eurystheus.
Herakles was the son of Zeus and Alkmene (Alcmene); Zeus's infidelity to his wife, Hera, prompted her to punish and harass Herakles throughout his life; Zeus promised Hera that the next son born in the lineage of Perseus would be the ruler of Argos; Zeus intended that son to be Herakles but Hera used her influence on the goddess of childbirth, Eileithyia (Eilithyia), to delay Alkmene's labor and Eurystheus, Herakles's cousin, was born first and thus became the ruler of Argos.
Herakles was enslaved to Eurystheus for twelve years and during that time he was required to perform twelve Labors; the Labors were variously recorded in ancient artwork but the actual numbering of the Labors is attributed to the Greek grammarian, Apollodorus Dysklus (circa 140 BCE).
The Twelve Labors were:
1)The Killing the Lion of Nemea;
2) Killing the Hydra;
3) Capturing the Keryneian (Ceryneian) Hind;
4) Capturing the Boar of Mount Erymanthus;
5) Cleaning the Stables of Augeas;
6) Killing the Stymphalosian Birds;
7) Capturing the Kretan (Cretan) Bull;
8) Capturing the Mares of Diomedes;
9) Retrieving the Belt of Hippolyte;
10) Taking the Cattle of Geryon (Geryones);
11) Retrieving the Golden Apples of the Hesperides and
12) Bringing Kerberos (Cerberus) from the Underworld.
Stylized double axes; a product of art from the Minoan civilization which dominated the northeastern Mediterranean area from circa 2000-1500 BCE.
Literally, the Greek word, labyrinth, means a maze (an unnecessarily complicated building) or any spiral body (a sea shell).
The most famous labyrinth in history is, of course, the maze of King Minos on the island of Crete; there are several ancient descriptions of what Minos's labyrinth looked like and what function it served but the most fair and accurate speculation was made by the historian, Plutarch (45-120 CE).
1) The labyrinth was a vast maze designed by the master builder, Daedalus (Daidalos), for King Minos and was used to torment and kill the sacrificial victims which Minos demanded every year from Athens as repayment for the murder of his son Androgeus; Minos had waged war on Athens to avenge the death of his son and peace was won only with the promise that Athens would send seven young men and seven young women every year to Minos in order to be slain by the fierce, half-bull/half-man,Minotaur; the young victims were placed in the labyrinth with the ungodly Minotaur where they were eventually caught and brutally killed; the tradition continued for twenty-seven years until the hero, Theseus, went to Crete as one of the sacrificial victims and successfully killed the Minotaur; or
2) The labyrinth was a maze-like prison that Minos used to detain the young Athenian hostages which he took every nine years as retribution for the murder of his son Androgeus; Minos would hold memorial games for his slain son and award the Athenian youths as prizes for the winners of the various events; the term, labyrinth, has come to mean any maze or baffling puzzle.
LAH kehs ees
One of the Fates; she and her sisters are the daughters of Zeus and Themis; her sisters are: Klotho (Clotho) and Atropos.
The Fates determine the life and death of all mortal beings.
Lachesis is known as the Disposer of Lots; she determines the length of the thread of life; Klotho spins the thread of life; Atropos cuts the thread when the proper time has come for death.
The three sisters are also called the Moirai to denote their descent from the original goddess of Fate, Moira.
Theogony, lines 218 and 905
Shield of Herakles, line 257
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 24, line 209
Iliad (Fagles), book 24, line 248
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 24, line 251
LAH don
The dragon with one hundred heads who guarded the Garden of the Hesperides; Ladon was killed by Herakles (Heracles) during his Eleventh Labor.
LAH don
A river god; one of the many sons of Tethys and Okeanos (Ocean).
Zeus gave the Rivers, Apollon and the Okeanids the special obligation of having the young in their keeping.
Theogony, line 344
LAH don
The Ladon River; a tributary of the Alpheios (Alpheius) River in Arkadia (Arcadia).
LAH don
The Ladon River; a tributary of the Peneios (Peneus) River in Thessaly.
A summer dress made of lightweight material.
LAH er tees
The father of Odysseus; the son of Arkeisios (Arceisios).
When Odysseus returned from the siege of Troy after a twenty year absence, Laertes was old and feeble but when Odysseus needed his father's help to forcefully reclaim his home and property, Athene (Athena) gave Laertes new vigor and he became strong and fierce.
Odyssey (Lattimore), book 1, lines 189 and 430; book 2, line 99; book 4, lines 110 and 738; book 14, lines 9, 173 and 451; book 15, lines 353 and 483; book 16, lines 118, 119, 139 and 302; book 19, line 144; book 22, lines 185 and 336; book 24, lines 134, 206, 270, 327, 366, 375, 498 and 513
Odyssey (Loeb), book 1, lines 189 and 430; book 2, line 99; book 4, lines 111 and 738; book 9, lines 14, 173 and 451; book 15, lines 353 and 483; book 16, lines 118, 138 and 302; book 19, line 144; book 22, lines 185 and 336; book 24, lines 134, 206, 207, 270, 327, 365, 375, 498 and 513
Odyssey (Fagles), book 1, lines 219 and 490; book 2, line 109; book 4, lines 124 and 831; book 14, lines 11, 200 and 513; book 15, lines 393 and 540; book 16, lines 132, 133, 157 and 335; book 19, line 161; book 22, lines 200 and 354; book 24, lines 147, 227, 299, 365, 405, 416, 550 and 566
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 1, lines 231 and 484; book 2, line 107; book 4, lines 121 and 789; book 14, lines 11, 203 and 533; book 15, lines 434 and 584; book 16, lines 138, 161 and 360; book 19, line 170; book 22, lines 203 and 379; book 24, lines 152, 232, 307, 380, 402, 426, 552 and 570
LEH lafs
Lailaps was an unstoppable hound which could catch any prey he pursued; he was owned by King Minos of the island of Crete and eventually given to Prokris (Procris) who was the daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens.
After Prokris married a man named Kephalos (Cephalus), the young husband was abducted by the goddess Eos (Dawn) and he became her consort and the father of a son named Phaethon; understandably, Prokris became jealous of Kephalos's affair with Eos so, to ease Prokris's anger, the goddess, Artemis, gave Lailaps to Prokris as a gift; Artemis also gave Prokris a spear that would strike any prey at which it was thrown; Prokris gave Lailaps and the spear to Kephalos as an act of reconciliation but she was still unsure of Eos's intentions; acting on her suspicions, Prokris secretly followed Kephalos when he went hunting; when Kephalos heard a noise in the bushes he hurled the spear at what he thought was an animal but hit Prokris, killing her; Kephalos was forced to flee Athens and ended up at the city of Thebes where he was absolved of his blood guilt.
When Herakles's (Heracles's) stepfather, Amphitryon, was given the task of hunting down a deadly fox which had been terrorizing the people of Thebes, he enlisted the help of Kephalos and his trusty hound; just as Lailaps was about to catch the fox, Zeus intervened and turned Lailaps and the fox into stone near a hill called Teumessus and thus the fox was thereafter named the Teumesian Fox.
The name Lailaps can be interpreted to mean Storm, Tempest or Hurricane.
The Epigoni, fragment 2
les tree gon NEES
The giant cannibals encountered by Odysseus on his way home to Ithaka (Ithaca).
The encounter with the Laistrygones was one of the most devastating events that Odysseus had to endure after leaving the conquered city of Troy.
After anchoring in a narrow, cliff-faced harbor, Odysseus sent three men ashore to scout for civilized inhabitants; the shore party met a young girl who took them to her father's home where they encountered a giant woman who summoned her husband, Antiphates.
Antiphates snatched up one of the men and began to prepare him as dinner; the other two men raced back to the ships to warn Odysseus but, before the ships could escape the narrow harbor, thousands of giants rushed to the steep shore and began pelting the ships with "man-sized" boulders; the ships were broken to pieces and the crew members were speared like fish by the Laistrygones; Odysseus's ship was the only one to escape the harbor.
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 10, lines 80+
Odyssey (Fagles), book 10, lines 88+
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 10, lines 85+
The son of Labdakos (Labdacus); a king of the city of Thebes and the father of Oedipus.
As a young man Laius fled Thebes and took refuge with Pelops and kidnapped Pelops's son; as punishment for this crime, Apollon told Laius that if he should have a son, that son would kill him; when Laius and his wife, Iokaste (Jocasta), had a son, they made one of their servants take the infant to Mount Kithaeron (Cithaeron), pierce his ankles and leave him for the beasts and elements to devour; the servant could not carry out the murderous act and gave the child to a shepherd from a neighboring province.
The child was finally presented to the king of Corinth where he was named Oedipus and raised as part of the royal household; the name Oedipus means "swollen foot" and was derived from the injury to the boy's ankles.
After Oedipus became a man, he left Corinth and, in unconscious obedience to the prophecy of Apollon, killed Laius when he met the arrogant king on the road.
The son of Zeus and Taygete; founder of the city of Sparta.
According to the traveler and historian, Pausanias, Lakedaemon was the forth king of the area and he was responsible for renaming the district Lakonia (Laconia) after himself; he named the principal city of the kingdom after his wife, Sparta, and the nearby mountain was named after his mother, Taygete.
His name may also be spelled as Lakedaimon or Lacedaimon.
Pausanias, Description of Greece, book 3, chapter 1
The primary name for the city of Sparta or the district of Lakonia (Laconia).
Sparta was an ancient city in southern Greece on the Peloponnesian Peninsula and the primary city of the district of Lakonia (Laconia); located by the river Eurotas and originally settled by the Dorians.
According to the traveler and historian, Pausanias, the people of Lakonia were first united under an aboriginal king named Lelex and his subjects were called Leleges; after the death of Lelex, his son Myles assumed the throne; his other son, Polykaon (Polycaon), was exiled; Myles's son Eurotas built a trench to drain the swampy region that dominated the area and the river that was formed after this massive undertaking was named after him; with no male heir to succeed Eurotas, the kingdom was left to Lakedaemon who was the son of the god Zeus and Taygete; Lakedaemonia married Sparta, the daughter of Eurotas; Lakedaemon renamed the kingdom after himself, the principal city after his wife and the nearby mountain was named after his mother; thus we have the district Lakonia (Laconia), the city Sparta, the river Eurotas and the mountain Taygete.
After the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), Sparta was the undisputed dominant power of the Greek mainland, Ionia and Asia Minor; the people of Sparta were very proud and the city was known as the "city with invisible walls" because they sincerely believed that if they could not defend their city with the strength of their army, and not stone walls, they did not deserve to be free.
The city was never adorned with elaborate temples or impressive architecture because the people and government believed in simplicity and practicality rather than superficial displays of wealth and culture; even today, we use the term Spartan to denote something that is very basic, i.e. no frills or ornaments.
As if he was speaking directly to us in the twenty-first century, the historian, Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War (Introduction, section 10), stated that if Sparta was deserted and all that remained was the temples and the foundations of buildings, it would be difficult to imagine the power and influence the city once wielded. He also said that if the city of Athens was viewed in the same way, it would appear twice as powerful as it had once been.
There are several references in Greek literature that exemplify the Spartan ideals:
1) The historian, Herodotus (Histories, book 7, chapters 133-137), relates the story of how the Persian king, Darius, had sent ambassadors to Sparta and Athens to demand earth and water as a symbolic tribute and submission to the Persian king; the Athenians threw the Persian heralds into The Pit, which was the punishment meted out to criminals; the heralds received similar treatment in Sparta.
A group of enraged Spartans threw the Persian heralds into a well and told them that they could get all the earth and water they wanted at the bottom of the well; the Athenians thought no more of the matter because they soundly defeated the Persians at the battle of Marathon; the Spartans, however, became more and more distressed at their rash behavior; their sacrifices in a shrine of Talthybius, which pertained to heralds, were repeatedly unfavorable.
Ten years later, the city fathers asked for volunteers to go to the new Persian invader, Xerxes, to confess the disgraceful crime against the heralds and offer themselves for execution; two men of property and of high birth volunteered (Sperthias and Bulis) and surrendered themselves to Xerxes; the new Persian king surprised everyone, including his generals and advisors, by not executing the Spartan volunteers; instead, he took the Spartans on a tour of his assembled army and navy and let them return to Sparta unharmed; the purpose of this maneuver was to allow the Spartans to marvel at his strength and be cowed into submission rather than fight a pointless war; he seriously misjudged the Spartans because they would never surrender without a fight and any fight they entered would end either when they were victorious or when there were no Spartans left to fight.
2) Another example of Spartan idealism can also be taken from Herodotus (Histories, book 3, chapter 46):
The people of the island of Samos were being oppressed by an unfit ruler named Polykrates (Polycrates) so they sent an emissary to Sparta to ask for assistance; the emissary from Samos gave a long and detailed plea for assistance to the Spartan ephors and was astonished to be told that he should come back the next day and restate his appeal; the emissary was advised that the Spartans were not like the Athenians and that he should simplify his request if he expected any help; the following day when the emissary addressed the ephors, he held up an empty grain sack and said simply, "The sack is empty," one of the ephors replied, "We can see that it's a sack, there was no need to say that."
3) As an example of Spartan dominance after the Peloponnesian War, Xenophon relates an interesting story in Anabasis (book 7, chapter 1) where six thousand battle-hardened mercenary soldiers were confronted by a few red-cloaked Spartan officers and told that they could not stay in the city of Byzantium; the weary and hungry mercenaries obeyed the Spartans even though they could have easily pushed them aside but they knew that such an act would never be forgotten or forgiven by the Spartans; the mercenaries were angry but they complied with the Spartan demand and left the city without delay; the Spartans were the masters of all Greece and their authority was questioned only by fools.
The Spartans, like all Greek nations, were fiercely independent and this tendency was probably the cause of their eventual decline and subjugation; by circa 300 BCE, the Spartans had been effectively surrounded by unsympathetic hostile forces and they were effectively cut off from their sources of slaves and commerce.
The loss of Spartan independence did not come with one fatal attack or incident but with the slow decline of their influence throughout the Aegean area and, more importantly, on the Peloponnesian Peninsula.
After 200 BCE, the Spartans were quickly reduced to a minor Greek influence and finally, in 146 BCE, they became subjects of the Roman Empire.
The name is also spelled as Lakedaimon or Lacedaimon.
Pausanias, Description of Greece, book 3, chapter 1
A district of ancient Greece on the southern-most part of the Peloponnesian Peninsula.
The primary city of Lakonia was Sparta; bounded on the east by the Gulf of Lakonia and on the west by the district of Messenia; also called Lakedaemon (Lacedaemon).
According to the traveler and historian, Pausanias, Lakonia (Laconia) was named after the forth king of the area, Lakedaemon; before Lakedaemon, the people were called the Leleges after the original king, Lelex; Lakedaemon renamed the area Lakonia (Laconia) after himself, the principal city of the kingdom was named after his wife, Sparta, and the nearby mountain was named after his mother, Taygete.
Pausanias, Description of Greece, book 3, chapter 1
An Athenian general whose name literally means, Eager-for-a-Fight.
The eleventh letter of the Greek alphabet; uppercase: Λ; lowercase: λ.
The ancient Greeks did not have lowercase letters in their alphabet; the lowercase letters were not invented until the ninth century CE, i.e. about eleven hundred years ago.
Letters of the Greek alphabet were also used as numerals; the letter lambda represented the number 30 and was written as a simple λ or as lambda followed by an acute accent, λ'.
A flesh-eating she-monster.
A Lamia might be compared to the Roman Strix in that she was said to be a blood sucking demon; in a tamer sense, she was invoked to frighten children.
The name may also rendered as Lamos or Laimos.
A ceremony in Athens to honor Athene (Athena), Hephaistos (Hephaestus) and Prometheus; Lampadedromia literally means Torch-Race.
Lighted torches were carried by runners from the outskirts of the city to the Acropolis; after the first Persian War (490 BCE), the Goat-God, Pan, was also honored in this ceremony because when the Athenian messenger, Phidippides, was running to Sparta to ask the city's aid, Pan met him on the road and promised to assist the Athenians in the pending battle with the Persian army of King Darius on the plains of Marathon; the Athenians and their allies defeated the Persians without the aid of the Spartans.
Histories, book 6.105
LAM pos
One of the chariot horses of the Trojan hero, Hector; his other horses were: Aithon (Aethon), Podargos (Podargus) and Xanthos (Xanthus).
There are several ways in which the name Lampos is transliterated in The Iliad; Robert Fagles names him Silver Flash; Robert Fitzgerald uses the name Dapple; the Richmond Lattimore and Loeb Classical Library translations simply use the literal name but spell it differently: Lattimore spells it as Lampos and Loeb spells it as Lampus.
The names of Hector's other horses are rendered in the various translations as:
1) Aithon:
Blaze (Fagles)
Dusky (Fitzgerald)
Aithon (Lattimore)
Aethon (Loeb)
2) Podargos:
Whitefoot (Fagles and Fitzgerald)
Podargos (Lattimore)
Podargus (Loeb)
3) Xanthos:
Golden (Fagles)
Tawny (Fitzgerald)
Xanthos (Lattimore)
Xanthus (Loeb)
It is interesting to note that in The Odyssey the name Lampos is also used as the name of one of the chariot horses of the goddess of the Dawn, Eos; in that case Fagles renders the name as Blaze instead of Silver Flash; likewise in The Odyssey, Fitzgerald renders the name as Firebright instead of Dapple.
The Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon defines Lampos simply as Bright.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 8, line 185
Iliad (Fagles), book 8, line 210
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 8, line 211
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 23, line 246
Odyssey (Fagles), book 23, line 280
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 23, line 276
LAM pos
One of the chariot horses of the goddess of the Dawn, Eos; her other horse was named Phaethon.
When Odysseus was finally reunited with his wife, Penelope, the goddess Athene (Athena), prolonged the night so that the two lovers could be together; Athene also held back Eos and would not let her yoke her colts, Lampos and Phaethon, to her chariot.
There are several ways in which the name Lampos is transliterated in The Odyssey; Robert Fagles calls him Blaze; Robert Fitzgerald calls him Firebright; the Richmond Lattimore and Loeb Classical Library translations simply use the literal name but spell it differently: Lattimore spells it as Lampos and Loeb spells it as Lampus.
The name of Eos's other horse, Phaethon, is variously rendered as:
Aurora (Fagles)
Daybright (Fitzgerald)
Phaethon (Lattimore and Loeb)
It is interesting to note that in The Iliad the name Lampos is also used as the name of one of the chariot horses of the Trojan hero, Hector; in that case Fagles renders the name as Silver Flash instead of Blaze; likewise in The Iliad, Fitzgerald renders the name as Dapple instead of Firebright.
The Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon defines Lampos simply as Bright.
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 23, line 246
Odyssey (Fagles), book 23, line 280
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 23, line 276
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 8, line 185
Iliad (Fagles), book 8, line 210
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 8, line 211
The people who were most notable for their successful capture of the tyrant of the Chersonese, Miltiades.
Miltiades became tyrant of the Chersonese by the divine command of the Oracle at Delphi circa 540 BCE; he effectively defended the peninsula from invaders and, being an aggressive man, waged war on the Lampsakenes but Miltiades was captured in battle and taken as a hostage.
The ruler of Lydia, Kroesus (Croesus), sent a message to the Lampsakenes and told them that if Miltiades was not released he would destroy them "even like a pine tree"; the Lampsakenes were unsure exactly what Kroesus meant by that statement but finally came to realize that once a pine tree is cut down, unlike other trees, it will not put out shoots and thus utterly dies; the Lampsakenes took Kroesus at his word and released Miltiades unharmed.
Histories, book 6.37
A son of Herakles (Heracles) and Omphale.
The brother of Nausikaa (Nausicaa) and the son of the king of the Phaiakians (Phaeacians), Alkinoos (Alcinous) and Queen Arete.
His name literally means Man-Taming.
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 7, line 170; book 8, lines 117, 119, 130, 132, 141, 153, 207 and 370
Odyssey (Fagles), book 7, line 202; book 8, lines 137, 138, 151, 153, 163, 176, 238 and 414
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 7, line 183; book 8, lines 124, 125, 138, 149, 161, 219 and 398
A son of Eteocles who defended the city of Thebes against the Epigoni; he killed Aegialeus and was killed by Alkmaeon (Alcmaeon).
His name literally means Man-Taming.
lah oh dah MEE ah
The daughter of Bellerophontes (Bellerophon).
Laodameia was the consort of Zeus and the mother of the Trojan ally, Sarpedon; she was killed by Artemis "in anger."
Iliad (Lattimore), book 6, line 199
Iliad (Loeb), book 6, line 198
Iliad (Fagles), book 6, line 233
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 6, line 234
A daughter of Akastos (Acastus) who committed suicide so that she could join her husband, Protesilaus (Protesilaos), in the Underworld.
Protesilaus was allowed to return from the dead for a brief visit with Laodameia but she could not bear to live without him; when Protesilaus returned to the Underworld, Laodameia committed suicide.
As is common with many of the Greek myths, there is a bit of confusion involved with the names of various individuals; the name of Protesilaus's wife is no exception; in The Kypria, which is part of the Epic Cycle, Polydora is said to be the wife of Protesilaus.
The Kypria, fragment 17
lah oh DEE kee
One of the three daughters of Agamemnon who was offered to Achilles if he would put away his anger and return to the battle with the Trojans.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 9, lines 145 and 287
Iliad (Fagles), book 9, lines 174 and 348
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 9, lines 174 and 349
lah oh DEE kee
The wife of Helikaon and the most beautiful of the daughters of King Priam; she was impersonated by the goddess, Iris, who tried to persuade Helen to watch the battle from the walls of Troy.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 3, line 124; book 6, line 252
Iliad (Fagles), book 3, line 148; book 6, line 299
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 3, line 143; book 6, line 295
laoh KOON
The Trojan prophet who tried to warn King Priam that the Wooden Horse was a trick and not a peace offering.
When the Greeks appeared to withdraw from the city of Troy after a ten year siege, they left a large Wooden Horse, with soldiers hidden inside, that they hoped the Trojans would take into their city as a peace offering; once the Wooden Horse was inside the walls of Troy, the soldiers were to emerge from the hollow horse and attack the Trojans as they slept.
Laokoon tried to warn the Trojans but his pleas were scorned; a giant serpent rose from the sea and killed Laokoon and one (or both) of his sons; Priam assumed that Laokoon was killed because he was giving false prophecy and not because the Immortals wanted the prophet silenced so that Troy could be conquered and despoiled.
The Sack of Ilium, fragment 1
laoh KOON
The son of Portheus; since Laokoon was born to a serving woman, he was the half-brother of Oineus (Oeneus), Agrios (Agrius) and Melas; Oineus eventually became the king of Kalydon (Calydon).
When Jason was assembling his crew for the Quest for the Golden Fleece, Oineus's young son Meleagros (Meleager) was insistent on becoming an Argonaut; Meleagros was very strong for his age but Oineus felt that he was simply too young to go with Jason without supervision; Oineus asked Laokoon to accompany Meleagros and thus Meleagros and Laokoon became Argonauts.
The Argonauts were a company of the greatest heroes and adventurers in ancient Greece; the Argonauts were assembled by Jason to assist him in retrieving the Golden Fleece from the land of Kolchis (Colchis); their name was derived from their ship, the Argo (Argo + nautes = Argo-seamen); the Quest for the Golden Fleece can be assumed to have occurred circa 1285 BCE; although we are not given the specific ages of the Argonauts, we might assume that Laokoon was the oldest man to go on the Quest for the Golden Fleece.
Argonautika, book 1, lines 191 and 192
laoh KOON
A group of sculptures dating from Hellenistic times (323-31 BCE) depicting the prophet, Laokoon, and his sons being devoured by a giant serpent; the sculpture was carved by Athenodorus, Polydoros (Polydorus) and Agesander.
After ten years of warfare, the Greeks decided to withdraw their army and leave a Wooden Horse for the Trojans as a feigned peace offering; the clever plan was for the Trojans to take the horse into the city and, after a night of celebration, be caught off guard by the Greek soldiers concealed in the body of the hollow horse; the Laokoon Sculpture Group depicted the moment when the Trojans were debating as to whether or not to take the so called Trojan Horse into the city; Laokoon, as a seer, recognized the deception and wanted to burn the horse; the lord of the Sea, Poseidon, wanted the Greeks to capture Troy so he sent the sea serpent to silence Laokoon; King Priam of Troy saw the death of Laokoon as a just punishment for giving false prophecies and took the horse into the city; at that moment, Troy was doomed to destruction.
The above image is a wooden reproduction of the original sculpture showing Laokoon and his sons being killed by one of Poseidon's sea serpents.
laoh MEH dee ah
One of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris collectively known as the Nereids, i.e. the daughters of the Nereus.
Other than a passing reference to her name, the only Nereid to receive any individual attention in the ancient literature was Thetis; as the mother of Achilles and one of the few goddesses to refuse the amorous intentions of Zeus, Thetis was unique; when the Immortals needed the Nereids, they called upon Thetis to rally her sisters for whatever task was needed.
The Nereids and the Argonauts - After Jason and the Argonauts had taken the Golden Fleece from Kolchis (Colchis), Medeia (Medea), the daughter of King Aietes (Aeetes), helped Jason murder her half-brother Apsyrtos (Apsyrtus) in a rather cowardly way; Zeus swore revenge for such a dastardly act but his sister/wife Hera wanted to protect the Argonauts until Jason and Medeia could be absolved of their crime by the Dread-Goddess Kirke (Circe); Hera called upon Thetis to gather the Nereids so they could quiet the waters of the sea so the Argonauts could safely navigate to Kirke's island; Thetis plunged into the sea and called to her sisters; her call was answered and the Nereids helped save the Argonauts.
The Nereids at the funeral of Patroklos (Patroclus) - In the last year of the Trojan War, Achilles's companion Patroklos was killed; Achilles took Patroklos's death very hard and called out to his mother Thetis for consolation; Thetis and the Nereids rose from the sea and graced the dead body of Patroklos with their divine presence.
The Nereids at the funeral of Achilles - The death of Achilles was one of the most dramatic events of the Trojan War; as the son of Thetis, his death had particular significance to the Nereids; at the funeral of Achilles, Thetis, the Nereids and the Muses all came to pay their respects.
Theogony, line 257
laoh MEH don
The son of Ilus and the father of the last king of the city of Troy, Priam.
When Laomedon was the king of Troy, Zeus commanded Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and Apollon to serve him for one year; Poseidon built the walls of Troy and Apollon tended Laomedon's herds; when their service was over, Laomedon refused to pay for their services and threatened to sell them into slavery; Apollon seemed more inclined to forgive the insult but Poseidon would not forgive or forget; when the final battle for Troy was fought, Poseidon fought fiercely on the side of the Argives and helped topple the walls that he had built.
Prior to the fall of Troy, Herakles (Heracles) stopped at the city after the completion of his Ninth Labor (Retrieve the Belt of the Amazon Queen, Hippolyte); he saved Laomedon's daughter, Hesione, from one of Poseidon's ketos, i.e. sea monsters.
Iliad (Lattimore), book 5, lines 269, 640 and 649; book 6, line 23; book 7, line 453; book 20, lines 236 and 237; book 21, lines 443 and 451
Iliad (Loeb), book 5, lines 269, 640 and 649; book 6, line 23; book 7, line 453; book 20, lines 236 and 237; book 21, lines 443 and 452
Iliad (Fagles), book 5, lines 297, 736 and 746; book 6, line 26; book 7, line 525; book 20, lines 273 and 274; book 21, lines 508 and 515
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 5, lines 312, 728 and (misspelled as Laoemedon)638; book 6, line 24; book 7, line 541; book 20, line 269; book 21, lines 519 and 527
lap ee THEH
The residents of Thessaly near Mount Pelion.
When King Pirithous was having the wedding feast for his daughter, Hippodamia, the neighboring Centaurs raided the festivities and tried to kidnap Hippodamia; a war between the Lapithae and Centaurs resulted and the Lapithae eventually drove the Centaurs from the area of Mount Pelion.
Shield of Herakles, line 178
lah REE sah
The name implies a Citadel and was used generally as a common name for many cities and districts.
lah REE sah
An inland city in the district of Thessaly.
Larissa is the capitol of Thessaly and located by the river Peneios (Peneus) in the fertile plain known as Pelasgiotis; the city got its name from the Nymph, Larissa; the area around Larissa has been occupied since the early Stone Age and the surrounding region (Thessaly) was named after a descendant of Herakles (Hercules) named Thessalos; men from Larissa are mentioned in The Iliad as combatants at Troy with Hippothoos (Hippothous) and Pylaios (Pylaeus) as commanders of the spear-fighting Pelasgians.
Larissa was first governed by a family named the Aleuadae who claimed their heritage from a man named Aleuas the Red who in turn claimed his linage directly from Thessalos; the Aleuadae did not assert their authority over all of Thessaly until the late seventh century BCE and the first documented historical reference to an official ruler of Larissa is from circa 590 BCE when an Aleuadae named Eurylochus fought in the First Sacred War for possession of the revenues from Delphi; the Aleuadae were also mentioned by the lyric poet, Pindar, circa 498 BCE; during the 480 BCE Persian invasion led by Xerxes I, the Larissians surrendered to the Persians without a fight and the rest of Thessaly soon became vassals of the Persian king.
The Aleuadae were ousted briefly at the end of the Peloponnesian War (circa 404 BCE) but regained power with the assistance of the Persian king, Cyrus the Younger circa 402 BCE; by 357 BCE, Larissa appealed to Thebes and Macedon to help them against a tyrant named Simus but, after Phillip II came to their rescue (circa 344 BCE), Thessaly and Larissa became subject to the Macedonians until their conquest by the Romans in 196 BCE.
Approximate East Longitude 22º 25' and North Latitude 39º 37'
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, line 841; book 17, line 301
Iliad (Fagles), book 2, line 953; book 17, line 347
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 2, line 1010; book 17, line 336
The Great Eoiae, fragment 16
lah REE sah
The Nymph for which the city of Larissa, Thessaly was named.
A sarcophagus.
lah TEE nos
Latinos, Agrios (Agrius) and Telegonos (Telegonus) were the sons of Odysseus and the Dread Goddess, Kirke (Circe).
After the Trojan War was over and the walls of Troy were toppled, Odysseus and his men began their arduous voyage home to Ithaka (Ithaca); one of the adventures they had on their way home took place on the island of Aiaia (Aeaea) which was the home of Kirke.
At first Kirke was hostile and tried to enchant the sailors with her potions but Odysseus, with the assistance of the god Hermes, was able to subdue Kirke and make her do his bidding; the goddess not only entertained Odysseus and his crew but gave them invaluable advice as to how to proceed on their perilous voyage home; Odysseus actually made two trips to Kirke's island and it was during those visits that the children were conceived.
Theogony, line 1013
Catalogues of Women, fragment 2
A district in southeastern Attica; Laurium is noted for its rich ore deposits; the area is mostly comprised of barren hills but was a source of silver for the Athenians from the time of the Trojan War (circa 1250 BCE).
The politicians of Attica used the rich silver deposits from Laurium to finance their war with the Persians and these same riches gave them the needed revenues to rebuild Athens and the entire Attic Peninsula after the Persians were defeated and forced to retreat in 480 BCE; the silver mines of Laurium were nothing more than slave labor camps and the wealth derived from Laurium is still a topic of disgrace for the otherwise noble heritage of Attica.
Dysnomia; a daughter of Eris (Discord).
Theogony, line 230
lee ah GO ree
One of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris collectively known as the Nereids, i.e. the daughters of the Nereus.
Other than a passing reference to her name, the only Nereid to receive any individual attention in the ancient literature was Thetis; as the mother of Achilles and one of the few goddesses to refuse the amorous intentions of Zeus, Thetis was unique; when the Immortals needed the Nereids, they called upon Thetis to rally her sisters for whatever task was needed.
The Nereids and the Argonauts - After Jason and the Argonauts had taken the Golden Fleece from Kolchis (Colchis), Medeia (Medea), the daughter of King Aietes (Aeetes), helped Jason murder her half-brother Apsyrtos (Apsyrtus) in a rather cowardly way; Zeus swore revenge for such a dastardly act but his sister/wife Hera wanted to protect the Argonauts until Jason and Medeia could be absolved of their crime by the Dread-Goddess Kirke (Circe); Hera called upon Thetis to gather the Nereids so they could quiet the waters of the sea so the Argonauts could safely navigate to Kirke's island; Thetis plunged into the sea and called to her sisters; her call was answered and the Nereids helped save the Argonauts.
The Nereids at the funeral of Patroklos (Patroclus) - In the last year of the Trojan War, Achilles's companion Patroklos was killed; Achilles took Patroklos's death very hard and called out to his mother Thetis for consolation; Thetis and the Nereids rose from the sea and graced the dead body of Patroklos with their divine presence.
The Nereids at the funeral of Achilles - The death of Achilles was one of the most dramatic events of the Trojan War; as the son of Thetis, his death had particular significance to the Nereids; at the funeral of Achilles, Thetis, the Nereids and the Muses all came to pay their respects.
Theogony, line 257
The young man from the city of Abydos who was in love with the priestess of Aphrodite (goddess of Love), Hero.
Each night Leander would swim across the narrow waters of the Hellespont from Abydos to the city of Sestos and secretly meet with his beloved Hero; Leander used the city lights of Sestos to guide him as he swam but one cloudy night he lost his way and drowned before he could reach the shore; when Hero heard of Leander's fate, she threw herself into the sea and joined her lover in his watery tomb.
Leander's nightly feat of swimming the Hellespont became legend and has been imitated many times; the most famous person to swim the Hellespont was Lord Byron in 1810 CE; as an indicator of just how popular this swim has become, there is actually a website called swimhellespont.com.
A city in the district of Boeotia; the site of the oracular cave of Trophonius.
Approximate East Longitude 22º 88' and North Latitude 38º 43'
LEE dah
The daughter of Thestios and the consort of Zeus; the mother of Kastor (Castor) and Polydeukes (Polydeuces or Pollux), Timandra, Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra) and Helen; she was the wife of the king of Sparta, Tyndareus.
Zeus came to Leda in the guise of a swan and seduced her; it's not clear if Tyndareus or Zeus was the father of Leda's children but Kastor, Polydeukes and Helen are assumed to be the children of Zeus while Klytemnestra and Timandra are assumed to be the daughters of Tyndareus; the tragic lives of her children compelled Leda to kill herself.
Hymn to the Dioskuri, line 3
The Nymph who, in union with the river Kephisos (Cephisus), was the mother of the beautiful and vain man named Narkissus (Narcissus).
A vase or clay jar, elliptical in shape with a narrow neck topped by a flanged lip with a vertical handle joining the shoulder and spout, typified by its tapered bottom which is supported by a flat base; the lekythos was intended to hold oils and also used to make offerings to the dead.
The earliest lekythoi were rather squat in shape and had a Corinthian influence and were attributed to the Gorgon Painter and his pupils.
At the beginning of the sixth century BCE an ovoid shaped lekythos was introduced and called a Deianeira lekythos; the body was more elongated, there was a characteristic ring at the neck and the mouth had a calyx shape.
At the middle of the sixth century BCE, a new shape of lekythos began to appear; the primary difference in the shape was the addition of a distinctive shoulder which clearly separated the body from the neck.
At the end of the sixth century BCE, the body of the lekythoi became more cylindrical with a foot-type base; this style of lekythos retained features from the previous incarnations but had a more elegant and refined look.
Later versions of the lekythoi did not differ from earlier designs and seem to have been variations on a theme rather than radical improvements.
LEEM nos
A large island in the northern Aegean Sea mid-way between the Greek mainland and Asia Minor and almost due west of the location of ancient Troy.
Lemnos is 186 square miles (482 square kilometers) in area and was the place where Hephaistos (Hephaestus) landed when he was hurled from Mount Olympos (Olympus) by Zeus.
The historian, Herodotus, relates the story that when the Pelasgians were driven from Attica they kidnapped a number of Athenian women and took them to Lemnos; the women were defiant and taught their children to act and speak like Athenians; the Pelasgians would not accept such rebellious attitudes and killed the captive mothers and children and thus the term Lemnian Deeds became an enduring insult to the honor and manhood of the inhabitants.
Lemnos was also a stopping point for Jason and the Argonauts when they were on their way to the Euxine (Black Sea); Jason fell in love with the ex-king's daughter, Hypsipyle, and fathered twin sons with her.
Approximate East Longitude 25º 21' and North Latitude 39º 54'
The Lenaea was an Athenian festival in honor of Bacchus (a.k.a. Dionysos, god of Wine) which featured dramatic contests; the Lenaea was held in the month of Gamelion and was a four day festival from the twelfth to the fifteenth day of the month, which would be approximately the second week of January by our calendar.
The third Agiadai king of the city of Sparta who ruled circa 870-840 BCE.
Sparta traditionally had two kings who ruled jointly; one king was required to be a descendant of King Agis I and the other was required to be a descendant of King Eurypon (respectively known as the Agiadai and the Eurypontidai).
Very little is known about Leobotas and the dates given for his rule are extrapolations and should be used only as approximations.
The son of Pero and Melampous (Melampus); Leodokos was the half-brother of Talaos and Areios; all three young men were Argonauts.
The Argonauts were a company of the greatest heroes and adventurers in ancient Greece; the Argonauts were assembled by Jason to assist him in retrieving the Golden Fleece from the land of Kolchis (Colchis); their name was derived from their ship, the Argo (Argo + nautes = Argo-seamen); the Quest for the Golden Fleece can be assumed to have occurred circa 1285 BCE.
His name may also be rendered as Leodokus or Leodocus.
Argonautika, book 1, lines 118-121
The thirteenth Agiadai king of the city of Sparta who ruled circa 590-560 BCE.
Sparta traditionally had two kings who ruled jointly; one king was required to be a descendant of King Agis I and the other was required to be a descendant of King Eurypon (respectively known as the Agiadai and the Eurypontidai).
Very little is known about Leon and the dates given for his rule are extrapolations and should be used only as approximations.
The sixteenth Agiadai king of the city of Sparta who ruled from 490-480 BCE.
Sparta traditionally had two kings who ruled jointly; one king was required to be a descendant of King Agis I and the other was required to be a descendant of King Eurypon (respectively known as the Agiadai and the Eurypontidai).
Beginning with Leonidas I, the names and dates for the Spartan kings became a part of the historical record and are generally accepted as factual; prior to Leonidas I, the dates for the Spartan kings are extrapolated back from historical times to approximate the time periods in which each king ruled.
Leonidas I is the most famous Spartan king because he fought to the death against the Persian army at Thermopylae in 480 BCE; after the Persian king, Xerxes, had advanced down the eastern coast of Greece, Leonidas made his stand at the narrow passage of Thermopylae; Leonidas led an army made up of Greeks from different districts of the Peloponnesian Peninsula but the command and the responsibility was strictly Spartan.
When the Greeks saw the Persians approaching, the Phokians (Phocians) and the Lokrians (Locrians) wanted to withdraw but Leonidas commanded that they stand and fight; the Persians thought that if the Greeks saw the sheer size of their army they would retreat, so the Persians waited for five days before they mounted their first attack.
Initially the Persians sent their allies, the Medes and the Kissians (Cissians), to dislodge the Greeks but they were beaten back with heavy losses; King Xerxes then sent his chosen troops, the Immortals, against the Greeks but they too were slaughtered (the Greeks used a tactic that the Persians had never encountered before: the Greeks would stop fighting and turn to flee from the Persians; the Persians would shout and rejoice thinking that they had won the battle and then chase after the fleeing Greeks without re-forming into their fighting formations; the Greeks would then turn back to the fight and, with the Persians caught off guard, plow into the Persian attackers with no mercy).
With no chance of winning a frontal assault, the Persians were at a loss as to how to defeat Leonidas until a Greek traitor named Ephialtes of Malis showed the Persians a mountain trail that would lead them behind the Greek defenses; Leonidas and most all of the defenders were killed in the resulting sneak attack.
Histories, book 7.207+
The twenty-seventh Agiadai king of the city of Sparta who ruled from 254-236 BCE.
Sparta traditionally had two kings who ruled jointly; one king was required to be a descendant of King Agis I and the other was required to be a descendant of King Eurypon (respectively known as the Agiadai and the Eurypontidai).
The eleventh Eurypontidai king of the city of Sparta who ruled circa 625-600 BCE.
Sparta traditionally had two kings who ruled jointly; one king was required to be a descendant of King Eurypon and the other was required to be a descendant of King Agis I (respectively known as the Eurypontidai and the Agiadai).
Very little is known about Leotychidas I and the dates given for his rule are extrapolations and should be used only as approximations.
The sixteenth Eurypontidai king of the city of Sparta who ruled 491-469 BCE.
Sparta traditionally had two kings who ruled jointly; one king was required to be a descendant of King Eurypon and the other was required to be a descendant of King Agis I (respectively known as the Eurypontidai and the Agiadai).
A unit of money equal to one-hundredth of a drachma; one drachma was equal to one days pay for a fully equipped mercenary; thus, a lepton was a very small amount of money.
A marshy region south of the city of Argos on the Peloponnesian Peninsula; most notable as the abode of the Hydra, a large multi-headed snake, which was slain by Herakles (Heracles) during his Second Labor.
The father of Naubolos and the son of Proetus; the great-grandson of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and Amymone (the daughter of Danaus).
Argonautika, book 1, lines 133-138
One of the smaller Dodecanese Islands with an area of 21 square miles (54 square kilometers); located off the southwestern coast of Turkey and northwest of the island of Kos (Cos).
A Greek island in the northeastern Aegean Sea, with an area of 632 square miles (1,637 square kilometers).
The island was the home of such notables as: Sappho and Terpander; first settled by the Aeolians but became subservient to Athens until the Peloponnesian War, circa 421 BCE.
When the island was re-conquered by the Athenians, the entire population narrowly escaped execution by a last-minute reprieve.
The Rural Dionysia was a festival consisting of series of wine feasts, processions and dramatic performances in honor of Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus, god of Wine); the Rural Dionysia was held in the second half of the month of Poseideion which was the sixth month of the Attic year and would approximately correspond to the third week of November to the third week of December of our calendar.
There was also a Spring festival called the Great Dionysia (City Dionysia) which was notable for the performance of dithyrambs (a wild and irregular choral song or chant), tragedies, comedies and satyr plays (ribald dramas with a chorus of satyrs).
LEE thee
Forgetfulness; a daughter of Eris (Discord).
Theogony, line 227
lee TOW
The consort of Zeus; mother of Apollon and Artemis; the daughter of the Titans, Koios (Coeus) and Phoibe (Phoebe).
Leto has a page in the Immortals section of this site ... click on her photo to view that page.
One of the Ionian Islands located near the western coast of Greece in the Ionic Sea due north of the island of Ithaka (Ithaca); 114 square miles (295 square kilometers) in size.
lef KEE pea dees
A name referring to the daughters of Leukippus (Leucippus) who were Nymphs worshiped at Sparta.
lef KEE pus
The father of Hilaeira and Phoibe (Phoebe) who were Nymphs worshiped at Sparta.
lef KEE pus
The mortal man who pursued the Nymph Daphne disguised as a woman; when the Nymphs who accompanied Daphne realized his deception, they killed him.
lef KEE pus
The son of Perieres; it is not clear as to whether Leukippus was the father of Arsinoe or whether Apollon and Leukippus's wife were her parents; regardless, Arsinoe and Apollon are reputed to be the mother of Asklepios (god of Healing) and Eriopis.
Catalogues of Women, fragment 63
The sea goddess, the deified Ino, who gave Odysseus a veil as a life-preserver after a storm destroyed his raft; she was known as the White Goddess.
Odyssey (Lattimore), book 5, line 333
Odyssey (Loeb), book 5, line 334
Odyssey (Fagles), book 5, line 368
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 5, line 346
A Greek town in ancient Boeotia.
The Thebans defeated the Spartans there in 371 BCE; the battle was important because it ended the Spartan domination of Greece which followed the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE).
The vocabulary of language, trade, a social class or person; in Greek the word Lexikos means, of words.
The modern name of Mount Parnassos (Mount Parnassus); a mountain in central Greece north of the Gulf of Corinth and near Delphi; 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) in height.
One of the seven surviving tragedies by the Athenian playwright Aeschylus.
Cast of Characters:
Orestes - Son of Agamemnon and Klytemnestra
Pylades - Friend of Orestes
Electra - Sister of Orestes
Klytemnestra (Clytaemestra) - Wife of Aegisthus and queen of Argos
Aegisthus (Aigisthos) - King of Argos
Kilissa (Cilissa) - The nurse
This play is the second in the Oresteia trilogy dealing with the revenge meted out by Orestes for the murder of his father, Agamemnon.
The other two plays in this trilogy are 1) Agamemnon and 3) The Eumenides.
Orestes secretly returns home with revenge and murder on his mind; he intends to kill his mother and her new husband because they killed his father in a most cowardly way; before he can do the terrible deed, he must go to the grave of his father and gather his courage; while at the grave he encounters the Libation Bearers and his sister Elektra; his sister and the other women of the household have come to pay their respects to Agamemnon by pouring a libation on the earth that covers his dead body; Elektra prays for her father, the death of those who killed him and for her long lost brother to return; all three prayer are answered in the course of the play.
Orestes confronts her mother and Aegisthus; he tells them that they deserve what they are about to receive and, with the goddess Athene guiding his hand, kills them both.
This play is very moving and Elektra will lay hold to your heart with her sincere piety and unyielding lust for vengeance.
The name of this play may also be rendered as Choephori.
If you wish to read this play I suggest The Complete Greek Tragedies, Aeschylus I, edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, ISBN 0226307786; you can find this book at your library in the 800 section or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site.
The name of the South-West Wind.
There are two types of Winds:
1) The divinely created winds, i.e. Boreas (North Wind), Notos (South Wind), Zephyros (West Wind) and the Etesian winds; and
2) The ill-favored winds that were created by the monster, Typhoeus, when Zeus imprisoned him under the earth.
The divinely created winds nourish and bless the earth but the winds of Typhoeus are wild and destructive; Libos would be one of the winds created by Typhoeus.
Theogony, lines 869-880
The Library of Alexandria in Egypt was established either under Ptolemy I (323-283 BCE) or during the reign of his son Ptolemy II (283-246 BCE); the Library was the repository of the accumulated knowledge of the ancient world.
The Library of Alexandria, sometimes called the Royal Library, was home for a vast collection of manuscripts and was an enticement for educated men and women throughout the ancient world.
Apollonius of Rhodes, who was the director of the Library of Alexandria circa 250 BCE, wrote The Argonautika (Argonautica) detailing the adventures of Jason and the Argonauts and their Quest for the Golden Fleece; we can assume that Apollonius drew heavily on information found in the Library.
The famous mathematician Eratosthenes was invited by Ptolemy III in 236 BCE to become the Library director; also, the texts of the poet Homer were studied and preserved by the librarians of the Library of Alexandria and, due to the efforts of men like Zenodotus, Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrake (Samothrace), we have our earliest commentary and criticism of Homer's classic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey.
The ultimate fate of the Library of Alexandria is not known but there are several individuals who have been blamed for destroying that precious recourse:
1) Julius Caesar supposedly burned the Library in 47-48 BCE while fighting the Egyptians who has sided with his Roman rival, Pompey; this claim is not documented and an account of the destruction of the Library is not mentioned in Caesar's memoirs; it would seem that Julius Caesar cannot be blamed for the destruction of the Library.
2) Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria has been accused of burring the Library in 391 CE as part of an anti-pagan purge in Alexandria; Theophilus received permission from the Roman Emperor Theodosius to destroy the Serapeum which was a pagan temple in Alexandria; it was said that the Library of Alexandria was burned in the religious frenzy which accompanied the destruction of the Serapeum; this report is not confirmed and in fact seems to be contradicted by later chronicles describing the conversion of the Serapeum into a Christian church; it is doubtful if Theophilus was responsible for the destruction of the Library even though Edward Gibbon, in his landmark history entitled The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, placed the blame on Theophilus.
3) Caliph Omar of Damascus has also been accused of burning the Library of Alexandria in 638 CE; he supposedly said that the contents of the Library should be destroyed because "they will either contradict the Koran, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous"; however, there was no confirmation of this event in the historical record until hundreds of years after the "fact."
It's curious to note that Edward Gibbon, in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, dismissed the destruction of the Library of Alexandria as an event of no great import; in Chapter 51, Gibbon implies that the contents of the Library of Alexandria were nothing more than a collection of misinformation and superstitious bunk.
The vast collections which were in the Library of Alexandria were somehow destroyed, moved to a different location or simply lost in the turmoil which frequently plagued the ancient world; although the artifacts of ancient Egypt have been the quest of treasure hunters and archeologists for thousands of years, there are conservative estimates that only one fifth of Egypt's ancient relics have been unearthed; it is not unreasonable to assume that manuscripts from the Library of Alexandria are yet be found.
A small group of islands in the east-central Adriatic Sea near the coast of modern Herzegovina.
Argonautika, book 4, lines 563
The people who lived on the Liburnian Islands, near the coast of modern Herzegovina, in the east-central Adriatic Sea.
To the ancient Greeks, all of Africa west of Egypt was considered to be Libya.
When the Argonauts were stranded in Libya, the half-fish, half-man shaped god, Triton, appeared to them and told them that Libya was "the home of wild beasts."
After Perseus had beheaded the Gorgon, Medusa, he flew over the Libyan desert and the drops of Medusa's blood which fell on the sand became seeds for a brood of serpents.
Argonautika, book 4, lines 1513-1517
Catalogues of Women, fragment 45
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb) book 4, line 85; book 14, line 295
Odyssey (Fagles) book 4, line 94; book 14, line 332
Odyssey (Fitzgerald) book 4, line 92; book 14, line 342
A Nymph; the daughter of Epaphos (Epaphus) and Memphis; the consort of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and the mother of Agenor.
The Logoi; Logoi can be translated as Lies, Stories or Fables but the meaning is clear no matter which name you choose for these sons of Eris (Discord).
Theogony, line 229
An epithet for Artemis generally meaning "she who lives in the marshes."
The name of one of the Graces meaning Love-Marsh; also the name of a frog.
Famine or Starvation; one of the sons of Eris (Discord).
Theogony, line 227
Works of Days, line 299
A city on the central-eastern coast of the island of Rhodes.
A system of writing, not yet deciphered, inscribed on clay tablets, pottery and other objects found at Minoan sites on the island of Crete and other Greek islands.
An ancient system of writing representing a very early form of Greek; deciphered by the Englishman, Michael G. F. Ventris (1922-1956) chiefly from clay tablets found at Knossos (Cnossus) on the island of Crete and at the seaport city of Pylos on the Peloponnesian Peninsula.
A poet; perhaps the son of Amphimarus and Ourania (Urania).
Linus is said to be the innovator of melody and rhythm; he was the music teacher of Orpheus, Herakles (Heracles), and Iphikles (Iphicles); during one of the lessons, Linus struck Herakles as punishment for his inattention and the youthful Herakles flew into a rage and beat Linus to death with a stool; this scene is the subject of several Red Figure vases from the early fifth century BCE.
The death of Linus was commemorated at harvest time by the singing of the dirge called the Song of Linus or Linus Song; Herodotus believed that the Song of Linus originated in Egypt and dated from the time of the first Egyptian king, Min; the king's son, Maneros, died an untimely death and a song was dedicated to his passing; the refrain from the song in the Semitic language was "ai lenu," i.e. alas for us, and was translated into Greek as "ailinos" and thus became the proper name, Linus.
Histories, book 2.79
The main entrance to the citadel of Mycenae is commonly called the Lion Gate and is surmounted by the distinctive lion figures which give the gate its name; the lions are on either side of a Minoan Column and have characteristics which resemble an Egyptian motif; the gate has been dated from circa 1240 BCE which would roughly correspond to Agamemnon's return from Troy; the lions above the gate are considered to be the oldest monumental relief in Europe.
The largest of the Aeolian Islands located off the northern coast of Asia Minor in the Euxine (Black Sea).
The personification of Prayers; the daughters of Zeus.
If a person does not call upon the Litai in times of need, they report to Zeus and recommend that he send Ate (Blindness) to hurt and punish the unbeliever; Ate is swift but the Litai are old and slow; they always come after Ate has inflicted her curses but they can heal and renew the spirit of anyone who calls upon them.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 9, line 502
Iliad (Fagles), book 9, line 609
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 9, line 610
Consisting or relating to stone.
A unit of weight based on a silver coin used on the island of Sicily; seventy-two coins equaled one pound.
The Little Iliad is one of the fragmentary remains of the Epic Cycle.
The Little Iliad relates several events that were alluded to in The Iliad and The Odyssey but not given in detail:
1) The construction of the Wooden Horse is attributed to Epeius;
2) After the death of Achilles, Odysseus and Aias (Ajax) both wanted his god-forged armor; the exact way in which the dispute between Odysseus and Aias was resolved is unclear but Odysseus took possession of Achilles's armor and eventually gave it to the son of Achilles, Neoptolemus (Neoptolemos); before his death, Aias apparently acted so badly that Agamemnon refused to cremate his body but instead buried him in a coffin;
3) Neoptolemus took Andromache, the wife of Hector, as a slave and threw Hector's son, Astyanax, from the walls of Troy;
4) Another curious event mentioned in The Little Iliad is the capture and enslavement of Aineias (Aeneas); the preferred story about Aineias is that he escaped the fall of Troy and founded Rome but according to The Little Iliad, Aineias was captured by Neoptolemus and taken as a "prize surpassing all the Danaans";
5) the death of Alexandros (Paris) is attributed to Philoktetes (Philoctetes) after he recovered from the snake bite he received on the island of Lemnos.
The information found in The Little Iliad may be described as "tidbits" but when taken as part of the continuing story of the fall of Troy the fragments are tantalizing and revealing: for example, Neoptolemus is shown to be as bloodthirsty as his father, Achilles.
For the complete translations of the Epic Cycle, including The Little Iliad, I recommend the Loeb Classical Library volume 57, ISBN 0674990633; you can sometimes find this book at the library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site.
A son of King Midas of Phrygia.
As the king of Phrygia, Lityerses was purported to have forced his subjects to work as hard as he did in the fields or be beaten or killed for their laziness.
A collection of historical profiles by the Greek writer Plutarch.
Plutarch was a Greek but he studied in Rome and it's obvious from Lives that he intended to preserve the wisdom (and folly) of ancient Greece so that the Romans could learn from the achievements of the Greek political and military leaders and see the common threads which connected the declining Greek culture with the emerging Roman civilization.
Lives was written circa 105-115 CE and generally divided into four groups:
1) Biographies which he wrote at the suggestion of friends;
2) Great men he personally found inspiring as role-models;
3) Great men whose lives he thought might serve as warnings for right thinking people; and
4) Legendary or mythical men.
There are numerous translations of Lives and most are readable; I personally recommend the Loeb Classical Library series or the Penguin Classics book The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives by Plutarch translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert (ISBN 0140441026); you can sometimes find this book at the library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site.
An epithet of Artemis in relation to the goddess of childbirth, Eileithyia (Eilithyia).
Logoi can be translated as Lies, Stories or Fables but, since they are sons of Eris (Discord), the meaning usually has a negative connotation.
Theogony, line 229
The word Logos had many subtle meanings but the basis of every usage was always simply, Word.
A sub-group of the Greeks made up of three tribes: 1) the Opuntian, 2) the Epiknemidian (Epicnemidian) and 3) the Ozolian; they also colonized southern Italy and were called the Zephyrian or the Epizephyrian.
Either of two districts in the central part of ancient Greece.
The larger Lokris was located on the southern mainland on the Gulf of Corinth west of Delphi.
The smaller Lokris was located on the coast of the eastern mainland adjacent to the northern part of the island of Euboea.
Three protective walls built between 459 and 457 BCE which extended from the city of Athens to the port facilities of Piraeus and Phaleron.
Even before Athens and Sparta began the protracted conflict which became known as the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), the Spartans began making military incursions into Attica; the Athenians were very dependent on their naval fleet to protect their commercial and colonial assets and needed a way to insure their ability to access their seaports; three walls were built to provide safe access from the city to the port facilities.
The walls are referred to as Northern, Middle (Southern) and Phaleric; the Northern Wall was approximately 4.1 miles (6.61 km) in length and ran from Piraeus to the City Wall of Athens at the western side of Nymph Hill; the Middle Wall was approximately 4.13 miles (6.62 km) in length and ran from Munychia (Mounychia) to the City Wall of Athens near the Museum Hill; the Phaleric Wall was approximately 2.67 miles (4.3 km) in length and angled to the south from the City Wall of Athens near where the Ilissus River runs under the wall and connected with the wall surrounding the port facility at Phaleron.
Northern and Middle walls ran parallel to one another for most of their length and had a cross-wall and gate before reaching the City Wall of Athens; the walls were 12 feet (3.65 m) thick and made of quadrangular blocks resting on a natural stone foundation; an indeterminate number of towers were placed along the walls and were made of large square blocks held together with iron clamps; there were two roads running parallel to the Northern Wall, one road was outside the wall and the other was between the Northern and Middle Walls; the outside road was straight and level which means that it was undoubtedly used as the primary route to Piraeus when there was no threat of attack.
After the end of the Peloponnesian War (404 BCE), the Spartans forced the Athenians tear down the walls so that they could have access to Athens if the Athenians showed any sign of resistance to Spartan hegemony; remnants of the walls could be seen as late as 1900 CE but, with the expansion of modern Athens, few traces of the walls or its foundations are still visible.
The following map will give you a rough idea of how the walls connected from the City Wall of Athens to the ports.
A robe worn over other garments.
The title of Hades (lord of the Underworld).
A group of people who existed in a state of languorous forgetfulness induced by eating the fruit of the lotus plant.
After leaving the island of the sorceress Kirke (Circe), and mourning the crewmen who had been eaten by the monster Skylla (Scylla), Odysseus found himself in the land of the Lotus Eaters.
After a brief rest, Odysseus sent three men to seek out the inhabitants of the land and see if they were eaters of bread, i.e. civilized people; the three men encountered the Lotus Eaters and found them to be peaceful and in no way hostile; they gave Odysseus's men the honey sweet fruit of the lotus and the soldiers fell into a state of lethargic bliss and lost all desire to return to their ships.
When Odysseus found his men in such a state, he forcibly carried them back to the ships and tied them to their rowing benches; the sails were quickly set and Odysseus fled the land of the Lotus Eaters so that no one else would eat the lotus fruit and forget the way home.
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 9, lines 84, 91, 92 and 96; book 23, line 311
Odyssey (Fagles), book 9, lines 95, 103 and 108; book 23, line 355
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 9, lines 92, 98 and 101; book 23, line 349
This term is used to identify the northern portion of the Nile river valley of Egypt.
The Nile flows from south to north and the designation of Lower Egypt signifies the part of the Nile river valley which is closest to the Mediterranean Sea; you might also consider that, since water flows downhill, the terminal point of every river is lower in elevation than its source and this would make the northern Nile the "lower" part of the river; the southern portion of the Nile river valley is conversely called Upper Egypt.
Another name for Apollon meaning either Ambiguous or Speaker depending on the root word from which you assume the name was derived (loxos or logos respectively); in the play, Ion by Euripides, we perhaps get a hint as to the true meaning of the name Loxias; one of the sons of Apollon was abandoned by his mother Kreusa (Creusa) and raised by the attendants of the temple of Apollon at Delphi; when Kreusa and her husband Xuthus happen to meet this orphaned boy at Delphi he says that he has no name but that he is called Loxias because he does not know who his parents were; this would imply that the name, Loxias, actually means Ambiguous.
A name for Bacchus (a.k.a. Dionysos, god of Wine) as the Deliverer.
An ancient kingdom in western Asia Minor.
Lydia was named after Lydus and ruled by the descendants of Herakles (Heracles) for 505 years from the rule of Agron until the time of Kandaules (Candaules).
Kandaules was a vain and boastful man with a beautiful wife; his obsession with his wife's beauty caused him to make a foolish mistake; he allowed his bodyguard, Gyges, to see his wife naked, which was an untenable breach of social morality; when Kandaules's wife found out that she had been exposed, she forced Gyges into the no-win situation of either killing Kandaules or admitting his crime; admitting his crime would have been certain death and killing Kandaules might result in a popular revolt; Gyges chose to kill Kandaules and declare his right to rule Lydia.
Gyges proposed that the matter be left to the Oracle at Delphi and he would rule or step down as the oracle commanded; the oracle proclaimed him king with the stipulation that in five generations his descendants would lose power; his descendants ruled Lydia until the time of Kroesus (Croesus) when it was reduced to a fiefdom of the Persian Empire during the reign of Xerxes; Kroesus, the fifth generation descendant of Gyges, was made into a slave of the Persian king.
A work by Xanthos (Xanthus) on the history of Lydia.
The son of Atys and the founder of the Lydian race.
The king of Arkadia (Arcadia) who entertained a stranger who might have been Zeus but Lykaon was unsure.
Lykaon offered his guest human flesh to eat as a test to see if he was a man or a god, i.e. if he could detect the deception, he was indeed a god but if he was unaware that he was being fed human flesh, he was a mortal; the stranger was Zeus and Lykaon was punished by either: 1) being killed outright, or 2) being turned into a wolf; Lykaon had a daughter named Kallisto (Callisto).
An epithet of Apollon as the Giver of Light.
The name of the gymnasium in the eastern suburb of Athens named after the sacred grove of Apollon where Aristotle lectured his students during the day and the general public in the evenings (circa 335 BCE).
An ancient country in southwestern Asia Minor located on the southernmost tip of the continent.
The principal city of Lykia was Xanthos (Xanthus); the first Greeks to settle Lykia were under the leadership of Sarpedon after he had been forced to flee the island of Crete by his brother Minos; before Sarpedon arrived, the land was called Milyas but his people called themselves the Termilae.
Another exile, Lykus (Lycus), arrived and took control of the province and the land was renamed Lykia (Lycia) after him.
Histories, book 1.173
An Anatolian language of Lykia (Lycia) written in the form of the Greek alphabet.
An epithet of Apollon as the Wolf-Slayer.
lee KHO fron
The son of Periander and Melissa of Corinth.
Lykophron was one of three children but the names of his older brother and sister are unknown; when the children were quite young, Periander murdered Melissa so the children were raised without a mother; Melissa's murder occurred circa 600 BCE.
Lykophron's elder brother was somewhat dimwitted so Lykophron was designated to inherit the leadership of Corinth when Periander either died or retired; as the children were growing up, they were unaware that Periander had murdered their mother.
When Lykophron was seventeen, Periander allowed his sons to visit their grandfather Prokles (Procles), Melissa's father, in nearby Epidaurus; as the boys were leaving Epidaurus, Prokles asked them if they knew who had murdered their mother; he implied, without actually saying so, that their father had murdered their mother; Lykophron understood what Prokles was saying and when he returned to Corinth he would not speak to his father; Periander finally became so irritated with Lykophron's aloofness that he made Lykophron leave home; Periander asked his older son what Prokles had said or done to make Lykophron act in such a way but it took some time for the slow-witted boy to remember what his grandfather had said.
Periander assumed that Lykophron would soon come to his senses and beg forgiveness but Lykophron was strong willed and moved in with a friend instead of returning home; Periander threatened Lykophron's friend and he was turned out into the streets; after another friend took Lykophron in, Periander made a proclamation that anyone who spoke or associated with Lykophron would be subject to a fine to be paid to the god, Apollon.
Three days later, Periander saw Lykophron in the streets; the boy was unwashed and hungry; Periander took pity on his son and tried to reason with him; he reminded Lykophron of all the riches he was destined to inherit and that it was better to be a prince than a beggar; Periander more or less admitted that he had killed Lykophron's mother but said that the blame and punishment should not be passed on to his sons; he begged Lykophron to return home but Lykophron was unmoved by his father's pleas and simply said that Periander had violated his own proclamation by speaking to him and now owed a fine to Apollon.
Periander realized that Lykophron was beyond all reason and had him taken to the island of Kerkyra (Corcyra) where he would be out of sight and less of an embarrassment; Kerkyra was a colony of Corinth but there was enmity between them despite their kinship; eventually Periander became too old to manage the affairs of Corinth so he sent a messenger to Lykophron and asked him to return to Corinth because the older boy was too dimwitted to take over the responsibilities of leadership; Lykophron refused to answer the message; Periander then sent his daughter, Lykophron's sister, to beg him to return; she used some very good arguments but Lykophron said he would never return to Corinth as long as his father was alive; when Periander heard Lykophron's answer, he decided that he would leave Corinth and live on Kerkyra so that Lykophron could return to Corinth and become the new tyrant; Lykophron agreed to this arrangement and was making plans to go to Corinth but the people of Kerkyra did not want Periander living on their island and killed Lykophron.
Periander was so outraged at the murder of his son that he took three hundred boys from the leading families of Kerkyra and was going to send them to King Alyattes of Sardis to be castrated and serve as eunuchs; when the ship carrying the boys landed on the island of Samos, the people learned the fate of the boys and urged them to take sanctuary in the Temple of Artemis; the Samians refused to allow the Corinthians to remove the boys from the temple so the Corinthians surrounded the temple and were intent on starving the boys out; the Samians hastily organized a festival where their young boys and girls would dance to the Temple of Artemis with honey and sesame cakes so that the boys inside could snatch the cakes and have food; the Corinthians saw the hopelessness of the situation and left Samos without the boys; the Samians returned the boys to their homes on Kerkyra.
Histories, book 3.48-53
Pausanias, Corinth, 18.8
lee KOHR gos
The son of Dryas and a renowned fighter several generations before the Trojan War.
The most notable fight that Lykurgos fought was with a fierce man named Areithoos (Areithous) who carried no weapon other than an iron club and was aptly called Club-Fighter; when Lykurgos had to fight Areithoos, he maneuvered him into a narrow pass where he could not swing his club and killed him with a stab to the mid-section; Lykurgos took Areithoos's armor and passed it on to another fierce fighter named Ereuthalion; when Nestor of Pylos was a young man, long before he became king of Pylos and fought in the Trojan War, he was with an army facing the Arkadians (Arcadians); the Arkadian champion, Ereuthalion, stepped forward wearing the armor of Lykurgos and challenged any man from Pylos to stand against him in single combat; although he was the youngest man there, Nestor fought and killed Ereuthalion; Nestor later said that Ereuthalion was the tallest and strongest man he had ever killed.
When Diomedes encountered Glaukos (Glaucus) on the battlefield at Troy, he asked who Glaukos was and why he dared to stand against him; Glaukos looked so regal in his golden armor Diomedes thought Glaukos might be a god; Diomedes said that he would never fight one of the Immortals because of what had happened to Lykourgos when he disabused Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus, god of Wine); Diomedes recounted the story of how Lykurgos had raged down the slopes of Mount Nysos with an ox-goad and scourged the Nymphs who cared for young Dionysos; the Nymphs dropped their wands to the ground and fled for their lives; Dionysos was so terrified of Lykurgos that he jumped into the sea to escape the murderous brute; the goddess, Thetis saved Dionysos but the assault was not unnoticed or unforgiven by the other Immortals; Zeus blinded Lykurgos as a just punishment but Lykurgos did not live long with his affliction because all the Immortals hated him for what he had done to Dionysos.
His name may also be rendered as Lykourgos or Lycourgos.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 6, lines 130 and 134; book 7, lines 142, 144 and 148
Iliad (Fagles), book 6, lines 150 and 162; book 7, lines 163, 167 and 171
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 6, lines 153 and 160; book 7, lines 165, 168 and 173
lee KOHR gos
One of the sons of Aldus; brother of Amphidamas, Kepheus (Cepheus) and Auge; the father of the Argonaut, Ankaios (Ancaios).
His name may also be rendered as Lykourgos or Lycourgos.
Argonautika, book 1, line 164
lee KOHR gos
The originator of the Spartan law code and founder of what may be regarded as the Spartan way of life.
The times in which Lykurgos lived are not truly known and, as Plutarch notes, all claims are disputed; Lykurgos was said to have lived at the time of the first Olympiad (776 BCE) and negotiated the traditional temporary cessation of hostilities between the Greek cities during the Olympic Games; he is also said to have lived at the time of Homer (circa 750 BCE) and to have actually met Homer; it is also reported that there were two men named Lykurgos and that their deeds were blended into the accomplishments of one single man; the oldest date ascribed to Lykurgos is by Xenophon where he asserts that Lykurgos lived in the first generation after Herakles (Heracles) which would place him just prior to the Trojan War (circa 1250 BCE); the truth will never be known.
Plutarch reports that Lykurgos lived during the eleventh generation after Herakles and directly descended from the hero; as the second son of Eunomus and the half brother of Polydektes (Polydecktes), Lykurgos was not a direct heir to the throne of Sparta; Polydektes became king after the death of Eunomus but died at an early age; when Polydektes died, Lykurgos became king but, when he learned that Polydektes's wife was pregnant, he announced that if the unborn child was a male then the kingship would fall to the infant and he (Lykurgos) would assume the role of regent (prodikoi) until the boy came of age; Polydektes's widow made overtures to Lykurgos that, if her child was a male, she would kill the baby, marry Lykurgos and then he could become king; Lykurgos thought she was reprehensible for suggesting such a plan but pretended to go along with her; when the male child was born, Lykurgos presented the infant to the Spartan magistrates as their next king in the lineage of Herakles; he named the child Charilaus, which means People's Joy.
Polydektes's widow and her brother, Leonidas, mounted a slander campaign against Lykurgos and suggested that he might kill young Charilaus in order to assume the throne; this made Lykurgos uneasy so he decided to leave Sparta until Charilaus came of age and had a son to succeed him on the throne; Lykurgos first traveled to Crete where he observed their government and laws; generally speaking, he found Cretans to be simple and severe; he next traveled to Asia Minor where, by comparison to the Cretans, the people lived in luxury and unhealthy extravagance; while in Ionia (Asia Minor), Lykurgos encountered The Iliad and is credited as the first person to widely distribute the poem on the Greek mainland; the Egyptians claim that Lykurgos visited their country and borrowed from them their practice of separating the military from the other classes of society; Plutarch reports that only one historian, Aristokrates (Aristocrates), says that Lykurgos traveled as far west as Iberia and as far east as India but regardless of where and how far Lykurgos traveled, the important thing is that he returned to Sparta with new and interesting ideas about society its laws.
Lykurgos was welcomed home but he knew that merely changing the laws would not achieve a long lasting cure for the stagnation that had infected the Spartans; he consulted the Oracle at Delphi and the Pythia (priestess) proclaimed that he was beloved by the gods and more like a god than a man, she told him that his new laws would be the best in the world; the Pythia also advised Lykurgos as to how the new government should be structured and gave him a series of unwritten laws referred to as rheta.
Lykurgos began to secretly discuss his ideas with his friends and waited until he was sure he had enough support to make his ideas palatable and workable; he assembled a group of thirty armed men and went to the market one morning where they successfully cowed the men who he thought would oppose him; at first, King Charilaus fled for his safety but soon realized that Lykurgos did not intend to abolish the kingship or depose the kings; Charilaus joined Lykurgos and cooperated with the instillation of the new government.
The first change Lykurgos made was to create a Council of Elders comprised of twenty eight men; the two kings and the Elders would have an equal vote on all matters of state; making the kings coequals with the Council of Elders insured that the kings could never become tyrants; after the kings and Elders agreed on new legislation, their proposals would then be brought before the men of Sparta for final approval; the ideas presented by the kings and Elders would be voted on and if an issue became muddled or distorted, the Elders and kings could adjourn the meeting without a vote; this mechanism insured that the laws would be concise and minimal; Lykurgos believed that the meetings of the Elders and the men of Sparta should not be conducted in an elaborate hall because he felt that any indulgence of luxury or display of art would distract from the business of the state.
Lykurgos appointed the first group of Elders but from then on they were elected by the men of Sparta in a very curious but democratic way; when an Elder died, a public assembly would be called to chose a replacement; the candidates had to be over sixty years of age and were not entitled to give speeches or campaign; several select men would be placed behind a wall where they could hear but not see the public assembly; lots would drawn and each candidate would walk through the assembled crowd where cheers and shouts would signal their approval; the men behind the wall would record the loudness of each response and, not knowing which candidate had entered first or last, proclaim the victor simply as number one, number two, etc.
The second important innovation that Lykurgos instigated was the redistribution of the land; privately owned land was almost completely abolished and made communal property; each plot of land was sized to provide enough food to insure good health and vigor but produce no surplus; most of the land belonged to the city of Sparta but a portion was set aside for "genuine" Spartans.
When it came time to dispose of the concept of personal property, Lykurgos came up with a very clever political solution; gold and silver coins were withdrawn and iron coins were introduced as the official currency; to further the process, each iron coin was given a very small value, this had the effect of discouraging the purchase of frivolous goods and severely limited trade with other Greek cities and foreigners; this innovation was followed by the last blow to luxury and personal wealth, all citizens were required to eat their meals in community halls which were divided into small companies; the food served was simple and nourishing and, by not allowing people to eat privately, the separations which once divided the rich from the poor were effectively abolished; all citizens, including the kings, were required to attend the common meals.
The new laws were not welcomed by all Spartans and an angry mob attacked Lykurgos in the street; during the attack, Lykurgos was blinded in one eye (or perhaps only temporally blinded); when the angry crowd saw the injured eye, they surrendered the young man who injured Lykurgos for punishment but Lykurgos did him no harm because he thought the young man, Alkander (Alcander), was not mean spirited, just hasty and angry; Alkander became Lykurgos's servant and, after a brief time, came to realize that Lykurgos was a gentle and innovative man with simple habits and un-wearying industry.
Lykurgos believed that the key to having a strong city was to have a separate and rigidly structured military; in order for a new man to be included in a military company, he had to be unanimously voted in by the soldiers of that company; the bonds formed between men in the military gave them unquestioned confidence in one another, thus making the Spartan phalanx an unyielding barrier to any opposing enemy.
It should not be assumed that Lykurgos was a man of little or no religious faith; when he received the oracle from Delphi encouraging him to institute his laws, he took it as a divine confirmation and not simply as an excuse to do whatever he wanted to do; if the oracle had commanded him not interfere with the laws of Sparta, he would have also obeyed that directive with unquestioned devotion; Lykurgos supported the worship of the Immortals and gave his approval to all of Sparta's religions festivals; the ability and willingness to engage in military actions was not a renouncement of piety or reverence; unlike other Greek cities, Lykurgos allowed the dead to be buried inside the city but, of course, there were still laws governing such things; only men and women who had distinguished themselves could have their names on their grave markers and mourning was only allowed for eleven days.
Perhaps the most bizarre law instituted by Lykurgos was the one forbidding the laws to be written down; at first, this might seem like a trick or ploy to circumvent laws that did not suit powerful individuals but, upon reflection, it might easily be regarded as the most ingenious idea Lykurgos ever had; in accordance with this unwritten mandate, laws were to be kept simple and easy to understand, there would be no quibbling as to the wording of the laws and, most importantly, there would be no class of lawyers to stand between the citizens and the interpretation of the laws; for example: all citizens were required to attend the communal meals but there were bound to be occasions when someone could not attend for one reason or another; in this example, the un-attendee would present their excuse and it would be judged to be valid or not; Plutarch cites a case where King Agis was fined for his refusal to accept a reprimand for not attending a communal meal.
When it came to making laws and regulations for the Spartan women, Lykurgos was as imaginative as he was subtle; women were not to dress in extravagant clothing or indulge in frivolous endeavors; Lykurgos believed that women were paramount to the future of the Spartans and insisted that they be fit and strong so that they could have healthy children; women were to be modest and yet dress without covering too much of their bodies; marriages were a combination of cooperation and domination; husbands were only allowed to see their wives secretly because Lykurgos believed that that type of interaction promoted desire and the married couple would not grow tired of each other by too much contact.
Children were the property of the state and unhealthy or deformed infants were left out in the wilderness to die; boys were taken from their families at age seven and required to live in a group house with other boys their own age; the boys were expected to steal extra food and were punished if they were caught; when the boys became young men, they were taken as lovers and students of older men; the older men were mentors for their young students and were often punished when their students showed weakness or lack of aggressiveness; the boys were tested in all forms of physical endurance and required to become astute observers; all men were trained to be concise when they spoke and silent at all other times; Lykurgos believed that men of few words needed few laws.
When men became warriors, they would let their hair grow long; Lykurgos observed that handsome men looked more so with long hair and ugly men looked more fierce; unmarried men were subjected to jests and ridicule; married men with no sons, regardless of their military prowess, were treated with blatant disrespect because they had not fulfilled their obligation to society by producing future warriors for the city; adult men were constantly engaged in training or teaching, they were not allowed to engage in any form of mechanical art or do anything that earned them money; the Spartan slaves, the Helots, did all the menial labor and freed the Spartan men to enjoy their leisure and pursue their military training.
Lykurgos discouraged foreign travel and allowed very few foreigners into Sparta because he did not want negative influences to taint the Spartan way of life; if Spartan representatives were required to travel, they did so in small groups and their minimal presence was effective because the other Greek cities and foreign nations appreciated the fact that when they were dealing with a single Spartan they were, in fact, dealing with the military might of the entire Spartan population.
Lykurgos was a simple and sincere man and Plutarch believed that the institution of the so called, Secret Service (krupteia), was initiated long after Lykurgos was dead; the Secret Service was comprised of Spartan warriors who would go into the countryside where they would secretly and indiscriminately kill Helots; an explanation for this dastardly practice might be linked to the uprising of the Helots following the earthquake of 464 BCE; Sparta was almost conquered by the combined forces of the Helots and the Spartan's southern enemies, the Messenians; as revenge for the Helot revolt, and to make sure it didn't happen again, the Spartans used the Secret Service to perpetually weed out the strongest Helot men and keep the remainder in a constant state of fear.
The last noble thing that Lykurgos did for Sparta was to sacrifice his life so that his laws would be kept and obeyed; he announced that he was returning to Delphi to consult the oracle and made every citizen promise that they would not change the laws until he returned; Lykurgos asked the oracle if his laws were good and if they would promote the prosperity of the city; the Pythia answered that Sparta would be held in the highest honor as long as the laws were obeyed; after hearing those words, Lykurgos quit eating and died soon afterwards; a tomb was erected for Lykurgos in Sparta but it is doubtful if his remains were ever placed in it, thus he never returned from Delphi and the citizens were bound by their oath to never change the laws.
The laws of Lykurgos were in place for five hundred years and, during that time, Sparta was an honored and feared city; finally, the reintroduction of gold and silver into the economy caused the Spartans to lose their ideals of austerity and community; with their new wealth and prosperity, the Spartans fell prey to greed, luxury and, eventually, military defeats.
His name may also be rendered as Lykourgos or Lycourgos.
Plutarch's Lives, Lykurgos
Histories, book 1, 65-66
The king of the city that eventually became known as Thebes who assumed the throne after the suicide death of his brother, Nykteus (Nycteus).
Lykus and Nykteus were sons of one of the Spartoi, i.e. the soldiers born from the dragon's teeth sewn by Kadmos (Cadmus); Lykus's niece, Antiope, had been seduced by Zeus and given birth to twin sons, Amphion and Zethos (Zethus); Antiope's father, Nykteus, was so disgraced by what he perceived as his daughter's base behavior that he killed himself in shame but before he died he made his brother, Lykus, promise that he would eventually punish Antiope for having children of such questionable parentage.
Antiope took her children and fled to the city of Sikyon (Sicyon); Lykus, after he became king of Thebes, captured Sikyon and put Antiope in prison; when Antiope finally escaped, she was re-united with her sons, Amphion and Zethos, who were now grown men; the twins avenged their mother's harsh treatment by deposing Lykus and killing his wife, Dirke (Dirce), by tying her to the horns of a bull.
The son of Pandion and the brother of King Aegeus of the city of Athens.
Lykus was forced to flee Athens by Aegeus and settled in the southern portion of Asia Minor which came to be known as Lykia (Lycia); Lykus and Aegeus lived one generation before Herakles (Heracles) or circa 1200 BCE).
Histories, book 1.173
A son of Aegyptus and the husband of Hypermnestra.
Aegyptus tried to force the marriage of his sons to the daughters of his brother, Danaus; Danaus fled Egypt with his daughters and took refuge in Argos but, through a series of unexplained events, the girls were eventually forced into marriages with Aegyptus's sons; Danaus was enraged and commanded his daughters to murder their husbands on their wedding night.
Lynkeus had the good fortune to marry Hypermnestra; she truly loved Lynkeus and did not resent the marriage; she defied her father and spared Lynkeus's life; the other daughters did as their father had ordered and stabbed their husbands to death in their wedding bed; as punishment for this heinous crime, when the girls finally went to the Underworld, they were condemned to forever pour water into a leaky vessel.
His name may also be rendered as Lygkeus or Lygceus.
One of the sons of Aphareus and Arene; Lynkeus and his brother, Idas, became Argonauts.
Both brothers were noted for their great strength but Lynkeus was said to have eyesight so keen that he could see things under the earth; he and Idas were the cousins of Phoibe (Phoebe) and Hilaeira and were perhaps involved in the death of Kastor (Castor).
When Kastor and his twin brother, Polydeukes (Polydeuces or Pollux), tried to kidnap Phoibe and Hilaeira, a fight arose and Kastor was killed; it is unclear as to exactly how Kastor was killed or exactly who killed him but the more "romantic" versions of the story insist that Kastor was killed when he and Polydeukes were fighting for possession of the young girls, Phoibe (Phoebe) and Hilaeira.
Argonautika, book 1, lines 151-155
One of the daughters of Anteia and Proetus; her sisters were Iphianassa and Iphinoe.
LEE reh
A multi-stringed musical instrument; a typical lyre was made with a wooden sounding board and two curved arms joined by a yoke with four to ten strings, similar to the harp or kithara (cithara); lyric poets, by definition, wrote poems that were to be sung to the accompaniment of the lyre.
The origin of the lyre, as it was used by the lyric poets in ancient Greece, has an interesting history; the very first lyre was invented by the god Hermes on the day he was born; he used a mountain-turtle shell covered with ox hide as the soundboard and sheep gut for the strings; when Hermes attracted the ire and amusement of the god Apollon, the young upstart appeased the older god by playing his newly made lyre; Apollon was so impressed that he forgave the infant Hermes and became his lifelong friend; Hermes gave Apollon the lyre as a gift to seal their friendship and thereafter the songs of the lyric poets were dedicated to Apollon.
The lyre that Hermes made had seven strings but, through the ages, the lyre was degraded down to four strings and remained so until the early seventh century BCE when an innovative poet from the island of Lesbos named Terpander restored the lyre to the original configuration of seven strings; with this innovation, Terpander created a new musical environment for the lyric poet and brought the instrument to new heights of respectability.
Hymn to Hermes, lines 41-54
The term Lyric Poetry is quite literal and designates poetry written to be sung to the accompaniment of the lyre; the lyric poets flourished from roughly 700 BCE until 400 BCE.
There were two lyric poets who seem to have achieved immortality: 1) Pindar must be considered the most important poet of his time because of the sheer number of intact poets which survive, and 2) Sappho was one of the most celebrated lyric poets of the ancient world; she was mentioned and quoted by other poets, philosophers and historians well into the Roman period.
The works of other notable lyric poets also survive in fragments but they can be studied and enjoyed nonetheless.
The lyric poets might be compared to modern folk singers in that they were solo performers and, generally speaking, sang their own compositions; their styles and subject-matter ranged from the frivolous to the epic; bawdy drinking songs and love ballads mixed easily with sincere lamentations to the gods.
To name just a few of the lyric poets:
Alkaeos (Alcaeus) - 620 BCE
Alkman (Alcman) - seventh centry BCE
Anakreon (Anacreon) - circa 520 BCE
Archilochus - early seventh century BCE
Bacchylides - circa 500 BCE
Hipponax - late sixth century BCE
Ibykos (Ibycus) - late sixth century BCE
Kallinos (Callinus) - late seventh century BCE
Korinna (Corinna) - 500 or 400 BCE
Mimnermus - fl. 650 BCE
Pindar - circa 518-438 BCE
Sappho - 620?-565? BCE
Semonides - late seventh century BCE
Simonides of Keos (Ceos) - 456?-468 BCE
Solon - circa 638-558 BCE
Stesichorus - early sixth century BCE
Theognis - mid-sixth century BCE
Tyrtaeus - seventh century BCE
Xenophanes - born circa 570 BCE
There are several excellent collections of lyric poetry that I can personally recommend; if you want to read a sampling of this poetic style, I suggest 7 Greeks by Guy Davenport or Greek Lyric, an Anthology in Translation by Andrew M. Miller; however, the most complete collection is undoubtedly the three volume collection from the Loeb Classical Library, Greek Lyric, Greek Lyric II and Greek Lyric III; you can sometimes find these books at your local library or you can purchase any of these books from the Book Shop on this site; look in the Poetry section.
A Spartan naval commander and statesman.
Lysander was the son of Aristokleitus (Aristokleitus) and a descendant of Herakles (Hercules) but not of the royal family of the city of Sparta; Lysander was, according to the noted historian Plutarch, what we might call a "good Spartan" in that he displayed the traits the Spartans found to be most valuable in a man, i.e. bravery and modesty.
Lysander was not necessarily an honest man but he was true to his city and dedicated to the men under his command and this made his periodic lapses of integrity generally acceptable to the ephors of Sparta; he is reputed to have said, "Young men are cheated with dice and older men are cheated with oaths."
Lysander came to prominence in the last years of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), and with his humiliating defeat of the Athenian fleet in the Hellespont in 405 BCE, prepared the way for the surrender of Athens and the end of the war.
The Athenian fleet totaled 180 triremes and were stationed on the western, i.e. European, side of the Hellespont near the city of Sestos; Lysander did not want to risk a direct engagement with the Athenians so he devised a clever plan to catch the Athenians off guard; the Athenians sailed out into the open waters of the Hellespont and, as was traditional, the Spartans were supposed to sail out and meet them; Lysander, however, did not engage the Athenians but stayed near the shore and waited for the Athenians to return to their temporary camp on the western coast.
The Athenians repeated this maneuver for four days and soon became complacent and convinced that the Spartans would not rise to the call of battle; finally, on the fifth day, the Athenians sailed out to challenge the Spartans, and again, the Spartans did not leave their safe harbor; the Athenians returned to their camp and, in a very disorganized manner, left their ships untended; Lysander had ordered his scout ships to hoist a shield when the Athenians had beached their ships and, when Lysander saw the signal, he ordered his fleet make for the Athenian encampment with all speed.
With the exception of one commander, the Athenians were caught completely off guard; as the disorganized Athenian sailors scrambled to their ships, Lysander boarded, rammed and trapped the majority of the Athenian fleet; only nine of the 180 Athenian triremes were able to get off the beach and reach the safety of open water; some of the Athenian sailors fled inland only to be killed or captured by the Spartans; Lysander took 171 ships and 3,000 men in this brilliant maneuver.
After the defeat of the Athenian fleet in the Hellespont, Lysander had complete domination to the Aegean Sea; the siege of Athens was now imminent and Lysander came upon a subtle means of forcing the Athenians to surrender the city without a prolonged standoff; Lysander went to the Athenian colonies in Asia Minor and gave them the choice of either returning to Athens or be put to death; most, if not all, of the Athenians chose life and fled Ionia; Athens was flooded with exiles and it then became a simple matter for the Spartans to surround the city and demand surrender.
The Athenians sued for peace and Lysander was at the center of the negotiations; the end of the Peloponnesian War was like the end of an era for the Greeks; an entire generation had been born, raised and killed in the unending conflict that encompassed all of Greece, Sicily and Asia Minor.
One of the most enduring and destabilizing consequences of the war between Athens and Sparta was the inclusion of the Persian Empire in matters which had previously been reserved for the Greeks; Lysander had played a major role in getting money and military assistance from the Persians; Lysander was killed circa 395 BCE at the siege of the city of Haliaratus in Boeotia.
Lives, Lysander, chapters 10-11
Hellenica, book 2, i 28-29
A festival in honor of the Spartan commander, Lysander.
During his prestigious career, Lysander became famous and infamous; although he was accused of mismanaging the government of Sparta, his military accomplishments and the subjugation of Athens prompted many Greek cities to honor him with a festival.
lee see AH nah see
One of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris collectively known as the Nereids, i.e. the daughters of the Nereus.
Other than a passing reference to her name, the only Nereid to receive any individual attention in the ancient literature was Thetis; as the mother of Achilles and one of the few goddesses to refuse the amorous intentions of Zeus, Thetis was unique; when the Immortals needed the Nereids, they called upon Thetis to rally her sisters for whatever task was needed.
The Nereids and the Argonauts - After Jason and the Argonauts had taken the Golden Fleece from Kolchis (Colchis), Medeia (Medea), the daughter of King Aietes (Aeetes), helped Jason murder her half-brother Apsyrtos (Apsyrtus) in a rather cowardly way; Zeus swore revenge for such a dastardly act but his sister/wife Hera wanted to protect the Argonauts until Jason and Medeia could be absolved of their crime by the Dread-Goddess Kirke (Circe); Hera called upon Thetis to gather the Nereids so they could quiet the waters of the sea so the Argonauts could safely navigate to Kirke's island; Thetis plunged into the sea and called to her sisters; her call was answered and the Nereids helped save the Argonauts.
The Nereids at the funeral of Patroklos (Patroclus) - In the last year of the Trojan War, Achilles's companion Patroklos was killed; Achilles took Patroklos's death very hard and called out to his mother Thetis for consolation; Thetis and the Nereids rose from the sea and graced the dead body of Patroklos with their divine presence.
The Nereids at the funeral of Achilles - The death of Achilles was one of the most dramatic events of the Trojan War; as the son of Thetis, his death had particular significance to the Nereids; at the funeral of Achilles, Thetis, the Nereids and the Muses all came to pay their respects.
Theogony, line 258
(458?-380 BCE) An Athenian orator.
Lysias was born in the city of Athens but studied in Syracuse on the island of Sicily; after his family's business was confiscated during the oppressive reign of the Thirty Tyrants in Athens he began to write speeches for litigants and became successful and respected; it is believed that he wrote more than two hundred speeches but only thirty two survive.
She and Talaus were the parents of the mythical king of Argos, Adrastus, who was with the Epigoni in their conquest of the city of Thebes.
(361?-281 BCE) A Macedonian general and king of Thrace from 306-281 BCE.
A Greek sculptor during the time of Alexander the Great; fl. 360-320 BCE.
None of Lysippus's bronze statues survive but a marble copy of one of his works, the Apoxyomenos, can still be seen in the Vatican.
A comedy by the Athenian poet, Aristophanes, produced in 411 BCE.
This is a lusty comedy about how the women of Greece united in an effort to stop the ongoing and senseless war between Athens and Sparta.
The women of Athens, led by a woman named Lysistrata, took a solemn and wine fueled oath to resist all amorous advances from their husbands until the war ended; their plan was simple, their husbands would have to choose between love and war; the women bared themselves in the Acropolis and traded verbal jabs with the men who were trying to dislodge them.
At one point, Lysistrata gives a sincere and moving account of how she worked as a child to help her mother and then, as a young woman, how she participated in the Athenian festivals to celebrate the beauty and dignity of her homeland but now, with the war dominating all civic life, she feels helpless to save her family and her city from the hatred and brutality which the war has forced upon them all.
This is a political comedy and, as such, the dialogue is humorous as well as poignant; the play concludes with the love starved Athenian and Spartan men relenting to the women's demands and agreeing to sign a peace treaty.
It's easy to forgive Aristophanes for his unrealistic optimism in a speedy conclusion to the Peloponnesian War; he completely underestimated the complexity of the problems which separated the Athenians and Spartans and prevented any form of negotiated peace; despite his sincere protests against the ongoing war, the hostilities enveloped all of Greece and continued from 431 to 404 BCE, i.e. 27 years.
Aristophanes's plays are sometimes difficult to appreciate because he was a very contemporary poet, i.e. he was writing for the Athenian audience of his day; he would use puns, parody regional accents and speak directly to the audience in ways that force modern translators to seek out the contextual meaning rather than the literal meaning of the poet's words; for that reason, I suggest that if you find a translation that is difficult to enjoy, please don't blame Aristophanes, simply look for a translation that you can enjoy.
When trying to find a readable translator, I suggest Patric Dickinson; you may find his books at your local library in the 882 section but his books are out of print and sometimes difficult to find; I also recommend the Penguin Classics book Lysistrata & Other Plays: The Acharnians, the Clouds, Lysistrata by Aristophanes, Alan H. Sommerstein (Translator), ISBN: 0140448144; you can also find this book at your local library or you can purchase it from the Book Shop on this site.
An epithet for Eileithyia (Eilithyia), the goddess of Childbirth; literally meaning "to loosen the zone."
