Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/741

LEARCHUS. Ilipponicus (Andoc. Myst. p. 126, Bekk.), so that the genealogy stands thus, Glaucon I. Leagrus I. Glaucon II. LEDA. 727 Leagras II, a daughter= CalHas Til. [A. H. C] LEANDER (AefavSpos), the famous youth of Abydos, who, from love of Hero, the priestess of Aphrodite, in Sestus, swam every night across the Hellespont, being guided by the light of the light- house of Sestus. Once during a very stormy night the light was extinguished, and he perished in the waves. On the next morning his corpse was washed on the coast of Sestus, and Hero, on seeing it, threw herself into the sea. This story is the subject of the epic poem of Musaeus, entitled De A more Herois ei Leandri, and is also mentioned by Ovid {Her. xrjii. 19), Statins (7%e^». vi. 535), and Virgil (Georg. iii. 25H, &c.) [L. S,] LEANDER or LEA'NDRIUS (A^auSpos or AedvSpios), of Miletus, seems to have been the author of a work on the history of his native city. A few quotations from it are still extant, but we have no means of determining the age at which Leander lived. (Diog. Laert. i. 28, 41 ; Clem. Alex, Protrept. p. 13, Strom, i. p. 129, vi. p. 267; Euseb. Praep. Ev. ii. p, 45; Theodoret. Tlierap. i. p. 700, viii. p. 909; Schol. ad ApoUon. Mod. ii. 706.) [L. S.] LEAN EI RA. [Apheidas.] LEARCHUS. [Athamas.] LEARCHUS (A^apxos). 1. Of Rhegium, is one of those Daedalian artists who stand on the confines of the mythical and historical periods, and about whom we have extremely uncertain inform- ation. One account made him a pupil of Daedalus, another of Dipoenus and Scyllis. (Pans. iii. 17. § 6.) Pausanias saw, in the Brazen House at Sparta, a statue of Zeus by him, which was made of separate pieces of hammered bronze, fastened together with nails. Pausanias adds, that this was the most ancient of all existing statues in bronze. It evidently belonged to a period when the art of casting in bronze was not yet known. But this is inconsistent with the account which made Learchus the pupil of Dipoenus and Scyllis, for these artists are said to have been the inventors of sculpture in marble, an art which is generally admitted to have had a later origin than that of casting in bronze. Moreover, Rhoecus and Theodorus, the inventors of casting in bronze, are placed about the beginning of the Olympiads. Learchus must, therefore, have flourished still earlier ; but the date of Dipoenus and Scyllis is, according to the only account we have of it, about 200 years later. [Dipoenus.] The difficulty is rather increased than diminished if we substitute for Aeapxoj/, in the passage of Pausanias, KKea^xov, which is probably the true reading. (See the editions of Schubart and Walz, and Bekker.) In another passage, Pausanias mentions (vi. 4. § 2) Clearchus of Rhegium as the instructor of Pythagoras of Rhegium, and the pupil of Eucheirus of Corinth. This Clearchus must therefore have lived about b. c. 500, eighty years later than Dipoenus and Scyllis, We must therefore either assume the existence of two Clearchi of Rhegium, one near the beginning, and the other at the end of the Daedalian period, or else we must account for the statement of Pausanias by supposing that, as often happens, a vague tradi- tion affixed the name of a well-known ancient artist to a work whose true origin was lost in re- mote antiquity. 2. Some recently discovered painted vases, in the collection of the Prince of Canino at Rome, bear the name of Learchus of Rhegium. It is in- ferred from the inscriptions that there were two vase painters of this name. (Nagler, Neues Allge- meines Kunstler Lexicon., s. v.) [P. S,] LECA'NIUS, 1. C. One of the consuls in A. D. 65 (Tac. Ann. xv, 3; Fasti), and probably the same person with Q. Lecanius Bassus, a con- temporary of the elder Pliny, who died from punc- turing a carbuncle on his left hand. (Plin. H. N. xxvi. 1 (4) ; comp. Ryckius ad Tac. Ann. xv. 3.) 2. A soldier, one of the several persons to whom Galba's death-blow was attributed, a, d, 69. (Tac. Hist.i.il.) [W. B. D.l LECA'NIUS AREIUS. [Areius.] LECAPENUS, GEORGIUS. [Georgius, No. 30.] LECHEA'TES (A^x^drvs) i. e. the protector of childbed, a surname of Zeus, who, as the father of Athena, was worshipped under this name at Aliphera. (Pans, viii. 26. § 4,) [L. S.] LECHES (Ae'x^s), a son of Poseidon and Peirene, and brother of Cenchrias. (Pans. ii. 2. §3,24, §7,)^ [L, S.J LEDA (Arida), a daughter of Thestius, whence she is called Thestias (Apollod. iii. 10. § 5 ; Paus. iii, 13. § 8 ; Eurip, Iph. AuL 49) ; but others call her a daughter of Thespius, Thyestes, or Glaucus, by Laophonte, Deidamia, Leucippe, Eurythemis, or Paneidyia. (Schol, ad AjioUon. Mod. i. 146, 201 ; Serv. ad Aen. viii. 130 ; Hygin, Fab. 14 ; Apollod. i. 7. § 10.) She was the wife of Tyndareus, by whom she became the mother of Timandra, Cly- taemnestra, and Philonoe. (Apollod. iii. 10. § 6 ; Hom. Od. xxi V. 1 ^^.) One night she was embraced both by her husband and by Zeus, and by the former she became the mother of Castor and Clytaem- nestra, and by the latter of Polydeuces and Helena. (Hygin. Fab. 77.) According to Homer {Od.sa.. 298, &c,) both Castor and Polydeuces were sons of Tyndareus and Leda, while Helena is described as a daughter of Zeus. {II. iii. 426 ; comp. Ov. Fast. i. 706 ; Horat. Carm. i. 12, 25 ; Martial, i. 37.) Other traditions reverse the story, making Castor and Polydeuces the sons of Zeus, and Helena the daughter of Tyndareus. (Eurip. HeUn. 254, 1497, 1680 ; Schol. adApollon. Wiod. ii. 808 ; Herod, ii. 112.) According to the common legend Zeus visited Leda in the disguise of a swan, and she produced two eggs, from the one of which issued Helena, and from the other Castor and Polydeuces. (Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 453 ; Ov. Her. xvii. 55 ; Paus. iii. 16. § 1 ; Horat. Ars Poet. 147 ; Athen. ii. p, 57, &c., ix. p. 373 ; Lucian, Dial. Dear. ii. 2, xxiv. 2, xxvi. ; comp. Virgil, Cir. 489 ; Tzetz. ad LycopJi, 88.) The visit of Zeus to Leda in the form of a swan was frequently represented by ancient artists. It should be observed that Phoebe is also mentioned as a daughter of Tyndareus and Leda (Eurip. Iph. AuL 50), and that, according to Lactantius (i. 21.), Leda was after her death raised to the rank of a divinity, under the name of Nemesis. (Comp. Tyndareus.) [L. SJ 3a 4