Lampĕtia, a daughter of Apollo and Neæra. She, with her sister Phaetusa, guarded her father’s flocks in Sicily when Ulysses arrived on the coasts of that island. These flocks were 14 in number, seven herds of oxen, and seven flocks of sheep, consisting each of 50. They fed by night as well as by day, and it was deemed unlawful and sacrilegious to touch them. The companions of Ulysses, impelled by hunger, paid no regard to their sanctity, or to the threats and entreaties of their chief; but they carried away and killed some of the oxen. The watchful keepers complained to their father, and Jupiter, at the request of Apollo, punished the offence of the Greeks. The hides of the oxen appeared to walk, and the flesh, which was roasting by the fire, began to bellow, and nothing was heard but dreadful noises and loud lowings. The companions of Ulysses embarked on board their ships, but here the resentment of Jupiter followed them. A storm arose, and they all perished except Ulysses, who saved himself on the broken piece of a mast. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 12, ch. 119.—Propertius, bk. 3, poem 12.——According to Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 2, li. 349, Lampetia is one of the Heliades, who was changed into a poplar tree at the death of her brother Phaeton.
Lampeto and Lampedo, a queen of the Amazons, who boasted herself to be the daughter of Mars. She gained many conquests in Asia, where she founded several cities. She was surprised afterwards by a band of barbarians, and destroyed with her female attendants. Justin, bk. 2, ch. 4.
Lampeus and Lampia, a mountain of Arcadia. Statius, bk. 8.
Lampon, Lampos, or Lampus, one of the horses of Diomedes,——of Hector,——of Aurora. Homer, Iliad, bk. 8; Odyssey, bk. 23.——A son of Laomedon, father of Dolops.——A soothsayer of Athens in the age of Socrates. Plutarch, Pericles.
Lampōnia and Lampōnium, a city of Troas. Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 26.——An island on the coast of Thrace. Strabo, bk. 13.
Lamponius, an Athenian general, sent by his countrymen to attempt the conquest of Sicily. Justin, bk. 4, ch. 3.
Lampridius Ælius, a Latin historian in the fourth century, who wrote the lives of some of the Roman emperors. His style is inelegant, and his arrangements injudicious. His life of Commodus, Heliogabalus, Alexander Severus, &c., is still extant, and to be found in the works of the Historiæ Augustæ Scriptores.
Lamprus, a celebrated musician, &c.—Cornelius Nepos, Epaminondas.
Lampsăcus and Lampsăcum, now Lamsaki, a town of Asia Minor on the borders of the Propontis, at the north of Abydos. Priapus was the chief deity of the place, of which he was reckoned by some the founder. His temple there was the asylum of lewdness and debauchery, and exhibited scenes of the most unnatural lust, and hence the epithet Lampsacius is usual to express immodesty and wantonness. Alexander resolved to destroy the city on account of the vices of its inhabitants, and more probably for its firm adherence to the interest of Persia. It was, however, saved from ruin by the artifice of Anaximenes. See: [Anaximenes]. It was formerly called Pityusa, and received the name of Lampsacus, from Lampsace, a daughter of Mandron, a king of Phrygia, who gave information to some Phoceans who dwelt there, that the rest of the inhabitants had conspired against their life. This timely information saved them from destruction. The city afterwards bore the name of their preserver. The wine of Lampsacus was famous and therefore a tribute of wine was granted from the city by Xerxes to maintain the table of Themistocles. Mela, bk. 1, ch. 19.—Strabo, bk. 13.—Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 31.—Herodotus, bk. 5, ch. 117.—Cornelius Nepos, Themistocles, ch. 10.—Ovid, bk. 1, Tristia, poem 9, li. 26; Fasti, bk. 8, li. 345.—Livy, bk. 33, ch. 38; bk. 35, ch. 42.—Martial, bk. 11, poems 17, 52.
Lamptera, a town of Phocæa in Ionia. Livy, bk. 37, ch. 31.