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Lachesis
One of the Parcae, or Fates. She presided over futurity, and was represented as spinning the thread of life, or, according to some, as…
Laconica
Sometimes called Laconia by the Romans, a country of Peloponnesus. Laelaps (The Storm Wind). He was personified as the swift dog which…
Laertes
A king of Ithaca who married Anticlea, daughter of Autolycus. Ulysses was their son, and succeeded him on the throne, Laertes retiring to…
Lagus
A Macedonian of mean extraction, who married Arsinoe, daughter of Meleager. On the birth of a child it was exposed in the woods by Lagus…
Lalage
A common name of courtesans, from the Greek word meaning prattling, used as a term of endearment, little prattler. Langobardi or…
Laocoon
A priest of Apollo who in the Trojan war was opposed to the admission of the wooden horse to the city. For this, as a punishment, two…
Lapithus
A son of Apollo and Stilbe. He married Orsinome, Phorbas and Periphas being their children, to whose numerous descendants was given the…
Latona
A daughter of Coeus, the Titan, and Phoebe. She was admired for her beauty by Jupiter. Juno made Latona the object of her vengeance, and…
Leander
A youth of Abydos. He was passionately in love with Hero, a young girl of Sestos. He was in the habit of swimming across the Hellespont to…
Leda
A daughter of king Thespius and Eurythemis, who married Tyndarus, king of Sparta. She is famous for her intrigue with Jupiter. She was the…
Leonidas
A celebrated king of Lacedaemon who went to oppose Xerxes, king of Persia, who had invaded Greece with a vast army. A great battle was…
Leptines
An Athenian, known only as the proposer of a law taking away all special exemptions from the burden of public charges against which the…
Lethe
One of the rivers of hell, whose waters were imbibed by the souls of the dead which had been for a certain period confined in Tartarus…
Leto
Called Latona by the Romans, was daughter of the Titan Coeus and Phoebe, and mother of Apollo and Artemis (Diana) by Zeus (Jupiter). The…
Leucippus
A celebrated philosopher of Abdera, about 428 years before Christ. He was a disciple of Zeno. His life was written by Diogenes. There were…
Leuctra
A village in Boeotia, famous for the victory which Epaminondas, the Theban general, obtained over the superior force of Cleombrotus, king…
Libertas
The goddess of Liberty, to whom several temples were erected at Rome. Libertas is represented in works of art as a matron, with the pileus…
Libitina
An ancient Italian divinity, identified IOOO CLASSICAL CHARACTERS by the later Romans with Persephone (Proserpina), on account of her…
Licinius
A Roman emperor A. D. 307-324. He was a Dacian peasant by birth, and was raised to the rank of Augustus by the emperor Galerius. Licinius…
Limites Romani
The name of a continuous series of fortifications, consisting of castles, walls, earthen ramparts, and the like, which the Romans erected…
Linus
The personification of a dirge or lamentation, and therefore described as a son of Apollo by a Muse (Calliope, or by Psamathe or…
Lips
The southwest wind, corresponding to the Latin Africus. Liternum or Linternum (Patria). A town on the coast of Campania. It was to this…
Lucania
A district in Lower Italy. Lucanus, M. Annaeus. A native of Corduba in Spain. At an early age he went to Rome, where his rising talents…
Lucifer
The name of the planet Venus, or morning star. It is called Lucifer when appearing in the morning before the sun, but when it appears after…
Lucretia
A celebrated Roman lady, daughter of Lucretius and wife of Tarquinius Collatinus. A number of young noble Romans at Ardea, among whom were…
Lyceum
The name of one of three ancient gymnasia of Athens, called after the temple of Apollo Lyceus, in its neighborhood. It is celebrated as the…
Lycomedes
King of the Dolopians, in the island of Scyros, to whose court Achilles was sent, disguised as a maiden, by his mother, Thetis, who was…
Lycurgus
A celebrated lawgiver of Sparta, son of King Eunomus and brother to Polydectes. He succeeded his brother on the Spartan throne. In the laws…
Lynceus
Son of Aphareus, was one of the hunters of the Calydonian boar, and one of the Argonauts. He was so sharp-sighted that he could see through…
Lysander
A celebrated general of Sparta in the He last years of the Peloponnesian war. drew Ephesus from the interest of Athens, and gained the…
Lysias
An Attic orator, born B. c. 458 and died B.C. 378. Lysias wrote a great number of orations, of which several are still extant. They are…
Laodice – Lydia
Daughter of Priam and Hecuba, and wife of Helicaon. Son of Ilus, and king of Troy. He married Strynio, called by some Placia or