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Listed 10 sub titles with search on: Mythology for destination: "LAKEDEMON Ancient country PELOPONNISOS".


Mythology (10)

Historic figures

Lacedaemon

Lacedaemon (Lakedaimon), a son of Zeus by Taygete, was married to Sparta, the daughter of Eurotas, by whom he became the father of Amyclas, Eurydice, and Asine. He was king of the country which he called after his own name, Lacedaemon, while he gave to his capital the name of his wife, Sparta. (Apollod. iii. 10. Β§ 3; Paus. iii. 1. Β 2, &c.; Steph. Byz. s. v. Asine.) He was believed to have built the sanctuary of the Charites, which stood between Sparta and Amyclae, and to have given to those divinities the names of Cleta and Phaenna. (Paus. iii. 18. Β§ 4.) An heroum was erected to him in the neighbourhood of Therapne. (Paus. iii. 20. Β 2.)

Aboriginals

Lelex & Cleocharia

Lelex: A son of the soil, an aboriginal, first king of Laconia, rules the Leleges, the people called Leleges after him, shrine of Lelex at Sparta.
Cleocharia: A Naiad nymph, wife of Lelex.
Sons:
Myles, king of Lacedaemon, invented a mill
Eurotas, father of Sparta
Polycaon, marries Messene, daughter of Triopas. Establishes himself in Messenia
Daugthers:
Therapne, city Therapne named after her
Commentary: Megarians say that Lelex arrived from Egypt and became king, and that in his reign the tribe Leleges received its name.

Lelex. One of the original inhabitants of Laconia which was called after him, its first king, Lelegia. He was married to the Naiad Cleochareia, by whom he became the father of Myles, Polycaon, and Eurotas. He had a heroum at Sparta. (Apollod. iii 10.3; Paus. iii. 1.1. 12.4, iv. 1.2). Some call his wife Peridia, and his children Myles, Polyclon, Bomolochus, and Therapne; while Eurotas is represented as a son of Myles and a grandson of Lelex (Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 615). In other traditions, again, Lelex is described as a son of Spartus, and as the father of Amyclas (Steph. Byz. s. v. Lakedaimon).

This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Leleges

An ancient race, frequently mentioned with the Pelasgians as the prehistoric inhabitants of Greece. The Leleges were described as a warlike and migratory race, who first took possession of the coasts and the islands of Greece, and afterwards penetrated into the interior. Piracy was probably their chief occupation; and they are represented as the ancestors of the Teleboans and the Taphians, who were notorious for their piracies. The name of the Leleges was derived by the Greeks from an ancestor, Lelex, who is called king of either Megaris or Lacedaemon (Pausan. iii. 1, 1). They must be regarded as a branch of the great Indo-Germanic race, who became gradually incorporated with the Hellenes, and thus ceased to exist as an independent people. They are spoken of as inhabiting Acarnania and Aetolia, and afterwards Phocis, Locris, Boeotia, Megaris, Elis, and Laconia, which last was originally called Lelegia; also (in Asia Minor) Ionia, the southern part of the Troad, and Caria ( Herod.i. 171).

This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks


Iops

Conteporary of Lelex, hiw shrine at Sparta (Paus. 3.12.5)

Colonizations by the inhabitants

Lacedaemon settled in Acarnania

  It appears that also a colony from Lacedaemon settled in Acarnania, I mean Icarius, father of Penelope, and his followers; for in the Odyssey the poet represents both Icarius and the brothers of Penelope as living:
" who shrink from going to the house of her father, Icarius, that he himself may exact the bride-gifts for his daughter", and, concerning her brothers,"for already her father and her brothers bid her marry Eurymachus";
for, in the first place, it is improbable that they were living in Lacedaemon, since in that case Telemachus would not have lodged at the home of Menelaus when he went to Lacedaemon, and, secondly, we have no tradition of their having lived elsewhere. But they say that Tyndareus and his brother Icarius, after being banished by Hippocoon from their homeland, went to Thestius, the ruler of the Pleuronians, and helped him to acquire possession of much of the country on the far side of the Achelous on condition that they should receive a share of it; that Tyndareus, however, went back home, having married Leda, the daughter of Thestius, whereas Icarius stayed on, keeping a portion of Acarnania, and by Polycaste, the daughter of Lygaeus, begot both Penelope and her brothers.

This extract is from: The Geography of Strabo (ed. H. L. Jones, 1924), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.


Ancient myths

Carya (walnut)

  One of king Dion of Laconia and queen Iphitea's three daughters. When Iphitea had shown hospitality to Apollo, the god rewarded this by giving the gift of prophecy to the three daughters under the condition that they would not try to know forbidden things or betray the gods.
  When Dionysus visited the court he fell in love with Carya, and she with him. He then left, but came back to be with her. Carya's sisters tried to keep him from her, and he then pointed out that they were betraying a god. They still would not let him near Carya, and Dionysus struck them with madness.
  They then went up on Mt. Tagyetus and became rocks. Carya turned into a walnut tree.

This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.


Gods & demigods

Epidotes

Epidotes, a divinity who was worshipped at Lacedaemon, and averted the anger of Zeus Hicesius for the crime committed by Pausanias. (Paus. iii. 17.8.) Epidotes, which means the "liberal giver," occurs also as a surname of other divinities, such as Zeus at Mantineia and Sparta (Paus. viii. 9.1; Hesych. s. v.), of the god of sleep at Sicyon, who had a statue in the temple of Asclepius there, which represented him in the act of sending a lion to sleep (Paus. ii. 10.3), and lastly of the beneficent gods, to whom Antoninus built a sanctuary at Epidaurus. (Paus. ii. 27.7.)

Artemis Derrhiatis

Derrhiatis (Derriatis), a surname of Artemis, which she derived from the town of Derrhion on the road from Sparta to Arcadia. (Paus. iii. 20.7)

Artemis Issoria

Issoria, a surname of the Laconian Artemis, derived from Mount Issorion, on which she had a sanctuary. (Paus. iii. 14. Β 2, 25. Β 3; Hesych. and Steph. Byz. s. v.; Plut. Ages. 32; Polyaen. ii. 14.)

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