Location information

Leuctra

  Leuctrum (ta Leuktra, to Leuktron). Fortress of the district Aegytis, on the confines of Arcadia and Laconia, described by Thucydides (v. 54) as on the confines of Laconia towards Mt. Lycaeus, and by Xenophon (Hell. vi. 5. § 24). It was originally an Arcadian town, but was included in the territory of Laconia. (Thuc. l. c.) It commanded one of the passes leading into Laconia, by which a portion of the Theban army penetrated into the country on their first invasion under Epaminondas. (Xen. l. c.) It was detached from Sparta by Epaminondas, and added to the territory of Megalopolis. (Paus. viii. 27. § 4.) It appears to have stood on the direct road from Sparta to Megalopolis, either at or near Leondari, in which position it was originally placed by Leake; and this seems more probable than the site subsequently assigned to it by the same writer, who supposes that both Leuctra and Malea were on the route from Megalopolis to Carnasium.

This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD)
• http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Per...