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In Greek mythology, Lacedaemon was a son of Zeus and Taygete. He married Sparte. He was King of
Lacedaemon and named the capital city Sparta after his wife.
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The Laestrygones were a race of giant cannibals. They were ruled by Lamus. At Telepylos Odysseus lost all but one of his ships to them.
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Laius was the king of Thebes and father of Oedipus.
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In classical mythology, the Lamia is one of a class of female monsters depicted with a snake's body and a woman's head and breasts. She occurs in various forms, generally as a daemon who devoured children, and in later myths as the queen of Libya who was beloved by Zeus and of whom Hera stole their children, in response to which Lamia killed every child she could lay her hands on. In another form,
Lamia is depicted as a beautiful woman who seduced young men so that she could eat them.
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Laocoon was a Trojan prophet, son of Antenor and a priest of Apollo and Poseidon. He warned the Trojans against the Wooden Horse.
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Laodice was a daughter of Priam and the wife of Helicaon. When Troy fell she was swallowed by the earth.
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The Lares were beings of the Roman religion protecting households and towns.
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Larissa was a city in Thessaly where Achilles was reportedly born.
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Latona was the Roman name of the Greek goddess Leto.
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Leda was a daughter of Thestius. She was the wife of Tyndareus. She was seduced by Zeus and gave birth to two eggs. From one hatched her daughter Helen and son Polydeuces, and from the other hatched Castor.
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Lemnos was a small island at the mouth of the Hellespont. Hephaestus landed on Lemnos when Zeus threw him out of heaven, and set up a forge on the island.
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In Greek mythology, Lethe was a river of the underworld whose waters, when drunk, brought forgetfulness of the past. The spirits of the dead drank from its waters to forget the sorrows of their earthly life before entering Elysium. When the Trojan prince Aeneas visited the world of the dead, he found a great number of souls wandering on the banks of the stream. His father, Anchises, with whom he was joyously reunited, told him that before these spirits could live again in the world above, they must drink of the river of oblivion to forget the happiness they had experienced in Elysium.
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In Greek mythology Leto was the daughter of the Titan Coeus and Phoebe and the mother of Apollo and Artemis. She was an early lover of Zeus and Hera was jealous of her. The Romans called her Latona.
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Leuce was a nymph loved by Hades. He turned her into a white poplar tree.
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Leucothea was a friendly sea-goddess who assisted Odysseus in his dangerous voyage. She was the daughter of Cadmus and originally the wife of Athamas, in which capacity she bore the name of Ino. She had incurred the wrath of Hera because she had suckled the infant Bacchus, and was pursued by her raving husband and thrown into the sea where she was saved by a dolphin and subsequently took her place as a marine deity under the name of Leucothea.
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Liber Pater was an ancient Italian god of the vine.
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Libera was the Roman name for the Greek goddess Persephone.
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In classical mythology, Limoniad or Limniad was a nymph of the meadows.
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In Greek mythology, Linus was the personification of a dirge or lamentation. He was said to have been the son of Apollo by a muse. After his birth his mother deserted him and he was raised by shepherds, but was afterwards torn to pieces by dogs.
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In Greek mythology, the Litai were sweet-natured goddesses, whose special duty was to recompense the persons whom Ate had reduced to distress and ruin. Their name signifies ' prayers of the penitent,' and the allegory in this case is not far to seek. Prayers atone and make amends for what a man does to the harm of others in thoughtlessness or from infatuation, without wicked thought or design. In the Homeric poems they are described as lame, wrinkled, and squinting - those deformities being caused by the trouble they had in making good the harm done by Ate. Penitent prayers were at best but sorry aid in making good the evil done from infatuation or carelessness. The Litai were supposed to be daughters of Zeus, and to place before him the prayers of those who invoked his assistance.
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In Greek mythology, Lotis was a nymph who was turned into a tree so that she might escape the pursuing Priapus.
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In Roman mythology Lucina was the goddess who brings to light, and presides over childbirth. She corresponds to the Greek goddess Ilithyria.
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Luna was the Roman name of the Greek goddess Selene.
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Lupercalia was the festival of the god Lupercus at ancient Rome. It was originally a festival of the shepherds, and was held on the 15th of February every year in the Lupercal on the Palantine Hill, a place which contained an altar and grove sacred to the god. here the Luperci (priests of Lupercus), on the day of the festival, sacrificed goats and young dogs, and after various ceremonies cut up the goat skins, part of which they wore and part they made into thongs. They then ran through the streets striking all they met with the thongs. Women courted the blows as they believed they caused fertility, not a quite ridiculous idea as physical pain does indeed induce sexual arousal and hence there is a correlation between the whipping and fertility.
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Lutinus was the Roman name for the Greek god Priapus.
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In Greek mythology, Lycaon was a king of Arcadia, the son of Pelasgus, and the first civilizer of Arcadia. He was turned into a wolf because he offered human sacrifices to Zeus.
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Abbreviations
Mythology
