Page:History of Greece Vol I.djvu/200

HISTORY OF GREECE CHAPTER VIII. LACONIAN AND MESSENIAN GENEALOGIES. THE earliest names in Laconian genealogy are, an autoch- thonous Lelex and a Naiad nymph Kleochareia. From this pair sprung a son Eurotas, and from him a daughter Sparta, who be- came the wife of Lacedasmon, son of Zeus and Taygete, daughter of Atlas. Amyklas, son of Lacedcemon, had two sons, Kynortas and Hyacinthus the latter a beautiful youth, the favorite of Apollo, by whose hand he was accidentally killed while playing at quoits : the festival of the Hyacinthia, which the Lacedaemo- nians generally, and the Amyklaeans with special solemnity, cele- brated throughout the historical ages, was traced back to this legend. Kynortas was succeeded by his son Perieres, who mar- ried Gorgophone, daughter of Perseus, and had a numerous issue Tyndareus, Ikarius, Aphareus, Leukippus, and Hippokoon. Some authors gave the genealogy differently, making Perieres, son of .jEolus, to be the father of Kynortas, and OEbalus son of Kynortas, from whom sprung Tyndareus, Ikarius and Hippo- koon. 1 Both Tyndareus and Ikarius, expelled by their brother Hip- pokoon, were forced to seek shelter at the residence of Thestius, king of Kalydon, whose daughter, Leda, Tyndareus espoused. It is numbered among the exploits of the omnipresent Herakles, that he slew Hippokoon and his sons, and restored Tyndareus to his kingdom, thus creating for the subsequent Herakleidan kings a mythical title to the throne. Tyndareus, as well as his brothers, are persons of interest in legendary narrative : he is the father of Kastor, of Timandra, married lo Echemus, the hero of Tegea, 2 and of Klytaemnestra, married to Agamemnon. Pollux and the erer-memorable Helen are the offspring of Leda by Zeus. Jka- 1 Compare Apollocl. iii. 10, 4. Pansan. iii. 1, 4. 3 Hesiod. ap Schol Pindar. Olymp. xi. 79.