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Lacedaemon
Eponymous king of Lacedaemon
Member of the Sparta Royal Family
Other namesLacedemon
Predecessor Eurotas
Successor Amyclas
AbodeLaconia
Personal information
Parents Zeus and Taygete
Siblingsunknown
Consort(1) Sparta
(2) Taygete
Children(1) Amyclas and Eurydice
(2) Himerus and Cleodice

Lacedaemon ( /læsɪˈdmən/; Ancient Greek: Λακεδαίμων Lakedaímōn) or Lacedemon was the eponymous king of Lacedaemon (i.e. Sparta) in classical Greek mythology. [1]

Family

Lacedaemon was the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Taygete. By Princess Sparta, the daughter of former King Eurotas, he was the father of his heir Amyclas and Eurydice, wife of King Acrisius of Argos. [2]

In a rare version of the myth, Taygete was the wife of Lacedaemon and their children were Himerus and Cleodice. [3]

Mythology

Unable to produce a male heir, King Eurotas bequeathed the kingdom to Lacedaemon who then renamed the state after his wife, [1] Sparta, who was also his (Eurotas's )niece[ citation needed]. Lacedemon was credited to be the founder of the sanctuary of the Graces, Cleta and Phaenna, near the river Tiasa. [4]

Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Sparta Succeeded by

Notes

  1. ^ a b Pausanias (1918). "III.1.2". Description of Greece. with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London.{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link) At the Perseus Project.
  2. ^ Grimal, Pierre (1996). "s.v. "Eurydice" (2)". The Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 157. ISBN  978-0-631-20102-1.
  3. ^ Pseudo-Plutarch, De fluviis 17
  4. ^ Pausanias, 3.18.6 & 9.35.1 with Alcman as the authority for the names of the Charites

References