In Greek mythology, Lelex (/ˈliːlɪks/; Ancient Greek: Λέλεξ, gen. Λέλεγος) was one of the original inhabitants of Laconia which was called after him, its first king, Lelegia.
Mythology
Lelex was said to be autochthonous[1] or his father was the sun-god Helios or the sea-god Poseidon.[2] He was married to the Naiad nymph Cleocharia and became the father of several sons, including Eurotas,[3] and possibly Myles and Polycaon.[4] Some called his wife Peridia and their children were Myles, Polyclon, Bomolochus and Therapne.[5]
In one tradition, again, Lelex was described as the son of Spartus, and father of Amyclas.[6] The eponymous heroine Lakonia was credited to be a daughter of Lelex as well.[2]
Through Myles, Lelex was the grandfather of Eurotas, who had a daughter named Sparta.[7] This woman later marry Lacedaemon[8] who named the city of Sparta after his wife; however, the city's name would also be his own, as it was called either Lacedaemon or Sparta interchangeably.
Sources indicate that Perseus was a descendant of Lelex. The latter's great-granddaughter Sparta gave birth to a daughter named Eurydice who had married Acrisius, the king of Argos. Eurydice became the mother of Danaë, thus making her Perseus’ grandmother.[9]
Lelex appears to have been conceived by ancient mythographers as the eponymous founder of the Leleges, a semi-mythical people who lived on both sides of the Aegean Sea.[10] He had a heroön at Sparta.[11]
Notes
- ^ Apollodorus, 3.10.3
- ^ a b Beck, p. 59
- ^ Apollodorus, 3.10.3
- ^ Pausanias, 3.1.1, 3.20.2, 4.1.1 & 4.1.5
- ^ Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 61.5
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Lakedaimon (Λακεδαίμων)
- ^ Pausanias, 3.1.1–3
- ^ Pausanias. "Sparta, mythical history". Description of Greece, translated by WHS Jones.
- ^ Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1. "Eurydice" (2), p. 157.
- ^ Pausanias, 4.1.1
- ^ Pausanias, 3.12.5
References
- Beck, Hans, Localism and the Ancient Greek City-State, University of Chicago Press, 2020, ISBN 978-0-226-71134-8. Google books.
- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1
- Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
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