AcheLousLAbyrinth

 In Greek Grk The word mythology, labyrinth means any intricate building full of chambers and passages, or a maze of paths bordered by high hedges. In Greek mythology, the labyrinth designed by DAEDALUS for King MINOS to house the MINOTAUR may have been patterned on the design of the palace itself, which had a complex of rooms.

LAconiA Greek A region in the southeast PELOPONNESUS whose capital was SPARTA. In Greek mythology, HELEN, wife of MENELAUS and legendary cause of the TROJAN WAR, was sometimes said to have been an ancient goddess of fertility in Laconia. She was worshiped there as a goddess of beauty.

LAdon Greek The dragon who guarded the gar-den where the apples of the HESPERIDES were kept. In this garden, on Mount ATLAS, there was a tree that bore golden fruit. The tree was a present from GAIA to HERA on her marriage to ZEUS. No mortals knew the whereabouts of this sacred tree. It was the last task of the hero HERACLES to find and collect some of the apples. This Heracles did with the help of Atlas, a TITAN. Heracles then killed the dragon, incurring the wrath of Hera.

LAeLAps (lElAps, lAlAps) Greek A hound that could catch whatever he chased. The god ZEUS gave the dog to the NYMPH Procris, who then gave him to her husband, CEPHALUS, the hunter. Cephalus inadvertently killed Procris. Laelaps lay forlorn at the feet of the slain nymph. Laelaps was later sent out to hunt the Teumessian fox, which had been destined by the goddess HERA never to be caught. To end the seemingly impossible, unsolvable chase, Zeus turned both animals to stone.

LAertes Greek King of Ithaca husband of ANTICLEA, father of the hero ODYSSEUS. Laertes was

one of the ARGONAUTS, the gallant crew who helped JASON find the GOLDEN FLEECE. He was also present at the CALYDONIAN BOAR HUNT. Laertes was still alive when his son, Odysseus, returned from the TROJAN WAR.

LAestrygoniAns Greek A race of giant can-nibals who devoured many of the crewmen of the ships of ODYSSEUS when the hero anchored near their island. Only Odysseus’s own ship escaped this terrible fate, since Odysseus had the foresight to anchor his vessel outside the harbor. In Book 10 of the ODYSSEY, HOMER describes how the giants threw rocks on the ships from the top of the cliffs and then harpooned the screaming men as if they were fish, and carried them off to be eaten.

LAocoön Greek A priest of APOLLO and POSEI-DON; son of PRIAM, king of TROY, and of HECUBA. Laocoön made Apollo angry by marrying and beget-ting children, breaking his priestly vow of celibacy. The Trojans had chosen Laocoön to make sacrifices to Poseidon, whose priest they had murdered nine years earlier. Before he went to the altar with his two sons, Laocoön warned Priam to beware of the Trojan horse. (See The Wooden Horse of Troy, under TROJAN WAR.) Laocoön said that he feared the Greeks, especially when they brought gifts. From this, “a Greek gift” has come to mean a treacherous gift. As Laocoön and his twin sons, Antiphas and Thymbreus, stood at the altar of Poseidon, two gigantic serpents, sent by a vengeful Apollo, coiled about them and crushed them to death.

A famous statue of Laocoön and the serpents was discovered in Rome in 1506. It is believed to date from the second century B.C., and now stands in the Vatican Museum.

The story of Laocoön is told in VIRGIL’s AENEID.

LAoMEDoN Greek First king of TRoY; father of PRiAM, HESioNE, and others. He was slain by the hero HERACLES.

The gods APoLLo and PoSEiDoN had displeased ZEuS. As punishment, he sent them to work for Laomedon for wages. Poseidon built the walls of Troy, while Apollo tended the king’s flocks on Mount IDA (2). After the two gods had completed their tasks, Laomedon refused to pay them. In revenge, the gods sent a sea monster to ravage Troy. Only the sacrifice of a maiden would appease the monster. One of the maidens chosen was Hesione, the daughter of the

form seems to have watched over the places where roads met. Over time, the Lares became associated with the home and each household had its own Lar Familiaris. A home featured a shrine to its Lar, which stood near the hearth, the center of family life, and included a statue of this spirit. Families trusted their Lares to provide for their posterity. Eventually, cities, too, had their own watchful spirits.

The Lares are closely related to the PENATES, spirits of the storeroom, and the goddess VESTA, the Roman goddess of the hearth. AENEAS, the Trojan hero who settled in Italy, was sometimes known as Lars Aeneas, a title that meant honored ancestor.

LARA (lAlA; lARuNDA; The talker) Roman Ori-ginally, a SABINE goddess who presided over houses. Later a NYMPII, a daughter of the river Tiber or the river Almo, known for her inability to keep a secret. Little information remains about the Sabine goddess, but her story as a nymph lives on in the works of Roman poets.

Lara suffered a price for her chatter. When JUPITER, who was married to JUNO, wanted the help of the nymphs to seduce the goddess JUTERNA, he swore them all to silence then told them of their roles in his plans to capture Juterna, who kept avoiding him. Since childhood, Lara had been unable to keep a secret, so she spread word of the great god’s plans. She told Juno and Juterna. Some sources say that telling both the wife and the love interest was a sign of Lara’s great disapproval of Jupiter’s actions. Others say she was essentially a gossip.

Jupiter avenged himself against Lara by pulling out her tongue and sentencing her to life in the silence of the UNDERWORLD. He charged his son MERCURY with delivering the nymph, but Mercury fell in love with her on the way and made love to her—some sources say he raped her—and hid her in a grove of trees where she bore him twin sons.

LATiNus Roman A legendary, perhaps historical, king of the Latini or Latins, an original people of central Italy, and the hero from whom that people got their name.

Several traditions surround Latinus and the role he played in the history of ROME. In one tradition, he was the son of the god FAUNUS and the NYMPx Marica. In another, he was the grandson of HERCULES. Over the centuries, as the influence of Greek mythology over Roman religion grew, the story of Latinus changed and he was seen as the son of the Greek goddess CIRCE and the hero ODYSSEUS. Scholars believe that

of the founding of Rome and the role the Latins played in the development of the early city. Their stories were centered on Greek myth. The first of the Greeks to build a community on what would become Rome was the hero EVANDER, who fled Greece and settled with his mother on the Palatine Hill. Sixty years later, the TROJAN WAR hero AENEAS arrived in Italy. With the help of LATINUS, king of Latium, Aeneas defeated the nearby RUTULI people and established the neighboring city of Lavinium, which he named after his wife, LAVINIA, daughter of Latinus. Thus Evander and Aeneas united the Latin people as one great community over which Rome ruled.

LAvERNA Roman A goddess of the UNDERwORLD of ancient Italian origins. Laverna was known as a goddess to whom thieves, cheats, imposters, and frauds would pray when they were trying to hide. They would ask Laverna to make them look innocent and law abiding. Near a temple to Laverna on the Aventine Hill grew a grove of trees in which thieves would hide and ask for her help. She became known through Roman poets as the goddess of trickery.

LAvINIA Roman The daughter of LATINUS and Amata. She had been betrothed to her relative TUR-NUS, but Latinus gave her instead to the hero AENEAS, who founded a city and named it Lavinium in her honor. Her story is told in VIRGIL’s AENEiD.

LEDA Greek The daughter of King Thestius of AETOLIA; wife of Tyndareus, king of SPARTA. She was the mother of the twin brothers Castor and Poly-deuces (Pollux in Latin; see CASTOR AND POLLUX), known by the joint name of the DIOScURI; and of HELEN and CLYTEmNESTRA. According to one myth, Leda mated with the god ZEUS, who had disguised himself as a swan. Leda then laid an egg from which Helen and Polydeuces emerged. Castor and Clytem-nestra arrived by normal delivery and were said to be the children of Tyndareus.

LEMuREs Roman Ghosts of the dead, malignant or mischievous spirits who returned to Earth to ter-rify the living. People rid themselves of these spirits during the Lemuria, a feast held on three nights in May with odd numbers, the 9th, 11th and 13th. Families went through an extraordinary ritual at the Lemuria: Every father rose from his bed at midnight, snapped his fingers to scare away the spirits, then washed his hands three times. Next he filled his mouth with black beans, then tossed the beans behind

him, chanting words of atonement. He repeated this performance nine times. Finally he washed his hands again, struck a gong and bade the evil spirits to depart. After that he could safely go back to bed.

See also MANES.

LETHE (Forgetfulness, Oblivion) Greek One of the rivers of HADES. The souls of the dead were obliged to drink the waters of Lethe so that they could forget everything they had said or done when they were alive. Lethe is sometimes associated with DIONYSUS, god of the wine that encourages forgetfulness.

LETo Greek A TITAN; daughter of COEUS and PHOEBE; mother, by ZEUS, of the twin deities, ARTE-mIS and APOLLO. The Romans called her Latona.

According to HESIOD, Leto was noted for her gentleness. HERA, the jealous wife of Zeus, relent-lessly pursued Leto, who wandered from place to place, finally resting at DELOS, where she gave birth to the divine twins. It is said that Artemis was born first and immediately became mature enough to help her mother with the birth of Apollo. At one time, Delos was a floating island in the Aegean Sea. In recognition of its being a haven for Leto and the chil-dren, Zeus made the island immovable and decreed that no one should be born or die there.

LIBER (Free) Roman An ancient god of fertility and procreation, particularly of seeds and plants. Liber was the husband or perhaps brother of LIBERA, an ancient fertility goddess, and closely connected with her to CERES, the Roman goddess of plants and grains.

Romans prayed to Liber and Libera to bring them many children and good crops. They celebrated a festival in Liber’s honor, the Liberalia, on March 17.

By the first century B.c., Liber was closely identi-fied with the Greek god DIONYSUS at which point he became a protector of grapevines. Then vintners prayed to him for good wine.

LIBERA Roman An ancient goddess of fertility, especially of grape vines; wife or sister of LIBER.

In most surviving information, her name is tied to Liber and CERES, the goddess of grains and cereals. Together this trio signified food and drink, as well as liberty and law. Some suggest that Liber and Libera also presided over the selection of brides for young men, a symbol of their connection with fertility.

Early in Roman history, Libera was connected with the Greek goddess PERSEPHONE, who was also known as Kore.

LIBERTAs Roman The personification of liberty, considered by some a goddess who protected the free-dom and liberty of Roman citizens, even from despots and dictators, and who granted liberty to freed slaves.

A temple in honor of Libertas, built in the third century B.C., stood on the Aventine Hill. Her profile, with the goddess wearing a cap that signified this free-dom, was commonly featured on Roman coins during the Roman Empire to commemorate conquests by the Roman army and by the Roman emperors.

LIBITINA Roman Ancient goddess who presided over funerals. Her name is often synonymous with death. Originally she was an Earth goddess or agricultural deity.

Undertakers in ancient Rome were called libitina-rii. They had their places of work within Libitina’s temple. Here deaths were registered and the bereaved paid money to honor the goddess.

Libitina was sometimes identified with the Greek goddess PERSEPHONE.

LIBYA (1) Greek Mother, with sea god POSEIDON,

of AGENOR, king of Tyre.

See also EUROPA.

LIBYA (2) The Greek name for North Africa, ex-cluding Egypt and ETHIOPIA. In HOMER’s ODYSSEY, ODYSSEUS and his crew make landfall in Libya in the land of the LOTUS-EATERS. In VIRGIL’s AENEID, AENEAS and his crew reach the coast of Libya, where Aeneas is visited by his mother, the goddess VENUS.

LITYERsEs Greek Son of King MIDAS of PHRYGIA. Lityerses prided himself on his skill in the harvest. He challenged all to compete with him and was brutal to those who lost in the contest. In some legends, the hero HERACLES defeated Lityerses, cut off his head with a sickle, and threw his body into the Meander River.

LIvY (59 B.c.–A.D. 17) Roman A Roman historian born as Titus Livius, in Padua, Italy. Livy is best remembered for his 142 books on the history of ROME. Livy was most concerned with showing Rome’s des-tiny as the greatest power in the Mediterranean world. Modern scholars point out Livy’s reliance on legend to tell the earliest histories and the inaccuracies in his works. However, Livy’s histories, of which only 36 complete volumes have survived, were highly regarded during his time and by medieval European scholars.

LoTus-EATERs (lOTOpHAGi) Greek In HOMER’s ODYSSEY, people who lived on the fruit or the roots of

the lotus plant. The food made them forget their pasts, their families, and their futures, so that they lived in a state of dreamy bliss. ODYSSEUS and his crew made landfall in the land of the Lotus-Eaters on their way home to Ithaca. Several of the crew became addicted to the food of the lotus plant. They had to be dragged back to the ship by force.

“Lotus Land” was probably LIBYA (2), in North Africa.

LuA (luA MATER) Roman An old goddess who was called upon in war to destroy the enemy’s weap-ons. At the end of a victorious battle, early Roman soldiers gathered the swords and shields of the enemy in a pile and dedicated those spoils to Lua.

She also had the task of protecting the city of ROME, but people were not allowed to speak Lua’s name, and she is known as the “ineffable” or unnam-able patron goddess of that city and kingdom. One of Lua’s responsibilities was to protect people from plagues and to bring to enemies illnesses that might destroy them.

Lua was sometimes known as the wife of SATURN, the ruler of a golden age said to have existed long before the beginning of Rome. In that role, she was known as Lua Saturni.

LucINA Roman An ancient Italian goddess of light and childbirth. Poets tell of Lucina presid-ing over the birth of animals and plants as well as humans. Women called upon her while struggling through labor pains.

The stories of EILEITHYA, the Greek goddess of childbirth, were attributed to Lucina. Her traits and responsibilities in Roman religion were eventually blended into the goddess JUNO, who was also associ-ated with light and childbirth.

LuNA (Moon) Roman An ancient Italian goddess of the Moon, probably of a lesser rank than the great Roman goddesses, such as MINERvA and JUNO. Very early in Roman religion, Luna took on the stories and myths of the ancient Greek moon goddess, SELENE, and even some of the mythology of the Roman god-dess DIANA, the huntress. A temple to Luna stood on the Aventine Hill in ROME.

LYDIA Greek A wealthy kingdom of western ASIA MINOR (now northwestern Turkey). In Greek mythology, Lydia was the home of ARACHNE, the skillful weaver who rashly pitted her talents against those of the goddess ATHENE.

mAenAds AcheLous In Greek Gek The mythology, crazed women who fol-lowed the god DIONYSUS. (See also BAccxANTS, which was their Latin name.)

mAgnA grAeciA (Great Greece) Greek The collective name given to Greek colonies founded by settlers in southern Italy and the island of Sicily. The cult of the Greek hero HERAcLES, and of other personages in Greek mythology, found their way into Roman mythology through the Greek colonists of Magna Graecia. This influence of Greek culture on other cultures is called HELLENIZATION.

mAiA (1) Greek Daughter of ATLAS and PLEIONE, the eldest and most beautiful of the PLEIADES (the Seven Sisters). Maia was the mother of HERMES, whose father was ZEUS. She bore Hermes in a grotto on Mount Cyllene in ARcADIA. Maia’s only appearance in Greek mythological writings is in the works of HESIOD.

mAiA (2) (MAiEsTA) Roman A very early and now little-known Roman goddess of agriculture and fertility. People made sacrifices to her to ensure the fertility of their crops. Maia was a supporter of and perhaps assistant to VULcAN, the Roman god of fire.

mAnes (Good Ones) Roman The spirits of the dead. They were greatly feared and were called “Good Ones” to placate their anger. (Similarly, the Greek FURIES were called the EUMENIDES, “good ones” or “good-tempered ones.”)

Whenever a town was founded, people first dug a pit at the site and then covered the pit with a stone. The hole represented a gateway to the UNDERWORLD (2) through which the Manes could pass when the citizens removed the stone, which they did three times a year.

mArs Roman The god of war who, in his earliest forms, was a god of agriculture and prosperity. Mars was

the second most powerful god in early Roman mythol-ogy, after JUPITER. With Jupiter and the god QUIRINUS, Mars shared a position of prominence in the religious lives of the people of ROME. While Mars remained a prominent god, he and Quirinus were replaced as part of the supreme trio by JUNO and MINERVA.

Mars has old origins. Some suggest he was an agricultural god of the SABINE people. As a god who watched over their food supply, Mars was seen as the primary protector of their society. Mars was also known as the father of ROMULUS AND REMUS, the twin brothers, who according to some legends, founded the city of Rome. He was referred to as “Father Mars” and Romans believed themselves to be his descendants.

As Rome expanded from a city into an empire through military power, Mars evolved into the god who protected the nation by protecting its army. In that way, he became the god of war. When Roman armies conquered peoples and lands across Europe and the Mediterranean, the soldiers and colonists who followed them built temples to Mars to thank him for their success. They built most of their temples outside of cities, where Mars could watch over the land.

In time, Mars became associated with ARES, the Greek god of war, and took on some of his attributes. Unlike many other Roman gods, however, Mars retained most of his ancient reputation and mythol-ogy despite the influence of Greek culture.

The month of March, the first in the Roman cal-endar, received its name from Mars, for that was the beginning of the growing season and the beginning of the season to wage war. He was often portrayed carrying a shield and spears or lances. The oak and fig trees and the woodpecker were sacred to Mars.

In astronomy, Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the SOLAR SYSTEM. It was well known to the ancient Romans as the star that shone red in the sky. Its color, the color of blood, strengthened the con-nection between Mars and war.

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90 MEDEA

MEDEA Greek A sorceress; daughter of King AEETES of Colchis (ASIA MINOR); niece of CIRCE, the witch of the ODYSSEY. In his quest for the GOLDEN FLEECE, JASON fell in love with Medea, who helped him capture the precious fleece.

As Jason and Medea fled with the prize, they were pursued by Aeetes, the father of Medea and her brother, ABSYRTUS. In one version of the story, Medea killed her brother and threw pieces of him behind them on the road, knowing that Aeetes would stop to pick up his dismembered son. Thus she and Jason escaped from the angry king.

Medea returned to IOLCUS (THESSALY) with Jason. Her first deed was to destroy PELIAS, the king who had taken over the throne of Iolcus from Jason’s father. Medea suggested to the daughters of Pelias that, if they killed him, cut him up into small pieces, and cooked him in a stew, he would then be rejuvenated. She demonstrated her idea by cutting and cooking a ram and, by the use of magic, making a lamb spring forth from the pot. The daughters did as she suggested but, of course, Pelias did not survive. The people were so horrified at this deed that Jason and Medea had to flee the country.

Jason and Medea settled for a while in CORINTH. Jason deserted Medea for Glauca, daughter of the Corinthian king Creon. Medea killed Glauca by send-ing her a wedding dress saturated with poison. Medea also killed the two sons she had borne with Jason, then fled to the court of King AEGEUS of ATHENS.

When the hero THESEUS arrived at his father’s court, Medea tried to murder him with a goblet of poisoned wine. Just in time, Aegeus recognized his son and dashed the cup from his hands.

Medea fled from Athens and there is no record of where she went next. Some legends say that her son, Medus, was the ancestor of the Medes, an ancient people of Asia Minor.

The poet EURIPIDES wrote a famous tragedy about Medea, first produced in 431 B.C. Medea has been the subject of numerous plays and operas.

MEDusA Greek One of the three GORGONS, the only one who was not immortal; her sisters were STHENO and EURYALE. Medusa was once a beautiful maiden, wooed by the sea god, POSEIDON, in a temple of ATHENE. The goddess was angry at the violation of her shrine and turned Medusa into a monster so hideous that anyone who looked upon her was turned to stone. PERSEUS cut off Medusa’s head and used it to turn his enemies into stone. From the

blood of Medusa sprang the children of her union with Poseidon: PEGASUS, the winged horse, and Chrysaor, father of the monster GERYON (see The Twelve Labors of Heracles, 10. The Cattle of Geryon, under HERACLES).

MEGARA (1) Greek A Greek city-state on the Greek mainland, between ATTICA and CORINTH.

MEGARA (2) Greek Daughter of King Creon of THEBES; first wife of the hero HERACLES.

MELAMpus Greek A descendant of AEOLIS and a cousin of JASON. Melampus was a seer, taught by the god APOLLO, and perhaps the first mortal in Greek mythology to possess prophetic powers.

One story has it that Melampus saved the lives of a nest of young snakes. In gratitude they “cleaned out

his ears” with their forked tongues so that he could hear and understand the languages of birds and other animals. Melampus used this special knowledge to win a bride for his brother, Bias. The desired maiden was Pero, daughter of King Neleus of Pylos, in the kingdom of Messene on the west-central coast of the PELOPONNESUS. Neleus asked as bride-price, or dowry, the cattle of a neighboring king, Phylacus. The cattle were guarded by a dog that never slept. Melampus was caught trying to steal them and thrown into a prison cell. During the night, he heard worms gnawing at a beam and saying that the beam would fall by dawn. Melampus demanded a new cell. When the roof of his old cell crashed down, Phylacus was so impressed that he released Melampus.

Phylacus then begged Melampus to cure the sickness of his son, Iphiclus, with his magic powers. Melampus heard two birds talking to each other about a knife that had been stuck into an oak tree for many years. By finding the knife and scraping its rust onto Iphiclus, Melampus cured the boy’s affliction. As a reward, Melampus was given the cattle and his brother Bias got the bride.

In ARGOS, another kingdom of the Peloponnesus, Melampus helped rid the king’s daughters of madness by immersing them in a holy well. As a reward, he won part of the kingdom of King Proetus and took one of the now sane daughters as his bride.

MELANION Greek A prince of ARCADIA who won the hand of the renowned virgin huntress ATALANTA. Atalanta did not want to get married, but she could not disobey the command of her father, Iasus, king of Arcadia, in the central PELOPONNESUS. A great athlete, Atalanta put a condition on her acceptance of a suitor: he must beat her in a footrace, or die. Many died before Melanion sought the help of APHRODITE, goddess of love. She gave him three golden apples. These he dropped, one at a time, throughout the race. Atalanta could not resist stopping to pick up the beautiful apples, and so she lost the race and married Melanion. The two had a son, Parthenopaeus. In some versions, it is said that Aphrodite turned the couple into lions who were forced to pull the chariot of CYSELE, a goddess of Earth and nature.

MELEAGER Greek Son of King OENEUS of CALY-DON, and of Althea. A great javelin thrower, Meleager is most famous for killing the Calydonian Boar (see under CALYDONIAN BOAR HUNT).

A few days after his birth, the three FATES appeared before Althea. They told her that the child would die

Herculaneum. It had been more mildly active for hundreds of years before then, frequently spewing sulfur and other gases into the atmosphere. Mount Etna (Aetna), on the island of Sicily off the tip of the Italian peninsula, was very active during the classical era of Rome. Mount Stromboli, on an island north of Sicily, has been active for more than 2,000 years, spewing forth gases in frequent explosions.

MERCURY (MERCuRius) Roman The god of trade and commerce and the supporter of success. Evidence of a cult to Mercury in ROME goes back to the sixth century B.C., and there is some evidence that he was a figure in early Etruscan mythology. According to Italian myth, Mercury was the father of FAuNus, one of the oldest Roman gods. However, Mercury was one of the earliest Roman gods to come under the influence of Greek mythology (see