Langrobriga, a town of Lusitania.
Lanŭvium, a town of Latium, about 16 miles from Rome on the Appian road. Juno had there a celebrated temple, which was frequented by the inhabitants of Italy, and particularly by the Romans, whose consuls on first entering upon office offered sacrifices to the goddess. The statue of the goddess was covered with a goat’s skin, and armed with a buckler and spear, and wore shoes which were turned upwards in the form of a cone. Cicero, For Lucius Murena; de Natura Deorum, bk. 1, ch. 29; For Milo, ch. 10.—Livy, bk. 8, ch. 14.—Silius Italicus, bk. 13, li. 364.
Laobōtas, or Lābotas, a Spartan king, of the family of the Agidæ, who succeeded his father Echestratus, B.C. 1023. During his reign war was declared against Argos, by Sparta. He sat on the throne for 37 years, and was succeeded by Doryssus his son. Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 2.
Lāŏcoon, a son of Priam and Hecuba, or, according to others, of Antenor, or of Capys. As being priest of Apollo, he was commissioned by the Trojans to offer a bullock to Neptune to render him propitious. During the sacrifice two enormous serpents issued from the sea, and attacked Laocoon’s two sons, who stood next to the altar. The father immediately attempted to defend his sons, but the serpents, falling upon him, squeezed him in their complicated wreaths, so that he died in the greatest agonies. This punishment was inflicted upon him for his temerity in dissuading the Trojans to bring into the city the fatal wooden horse which the Greeks had consecrated to Minerva, as also for his impiety in hurling a javelin against the sides of the horse as it entered within the walls. Hyginus attributes this to his marriage against the consent of Apollo, or, according to others, for his polluting the temple by his commerce with his wife Antiope before the statue of the god. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 2, lis. 41 & 201.—Hyginus, fable 135.
Laodămas, a son of Alcinous king of the Phæacians, who offered to wrestle with Ulysses, while at his father’s court. Ulysses, mindful of the hospitality of Alcinous, refused the challenge of Laodamas. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 7, li. 170.——A son of Eteocles king of Thebes. Pausanias, bk. 9, ch. 15.
Lāŏdămīa, a daughter of Acastus and Astydamia, who married Protesilaus, the son of Iphiclus king of a part of Thessaly. The departure of her husband for the Trojan war was the source of grief to her, but when she heard that he had fallen by the hand of Hector, her sorrow was increased. To keep alive the memory of her husband whom she had tenderly loved, she ordered a wooden statue to be made and regularly placed in her bed. This was seen by one of her servants, who informed Iphiclus that his daughter’s bed was daily defiled by an unknown stranger. Iphiclus watched his daughter, and when he found that the intelligence was false, he ordered the wooden image to be burned, in hopes of dissipating his daughter’s grief. He did not succeed. Laodamia threw herself into the flames with the image and perished. This circumstance has given occasion to fabulous traditions related by the poets, which mention that Protesilaus was restored to life, and to Laodamia, for three hours, and that when he was obliged to return to the infernal regions, he persuaded his wife to accompany him. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 6, li. 447.—Ovid, Heroides, poem 13.—Hyginus, fable 104.—Propertius, bk. 1, poem 19.——A daughter of Bellerophon, by Achemone the daughter of king Iobates. She had a son by Jupiter, called Sarpedon. She dedicated herself to the service of Diana, and hunted with her; but her haughtiness proved fatal to her, and she perished by the arrows of the goddess. Homer, Iliad, bks. 6, 12 & 16.——A daughter of Alexander king of Epirus, by Olympia the daughter of Pyrrhus. She was assassinated in the temple of Diana, where she had fled for safety during a sedition. Her murderer, called Milo, soon after turned his dagger against his own breast and killed himself. Justin, bk. 28, ch. 3.
Lāŏdĭce, a daughter of Priam and Hecuba, who became enamoured of Acamas son of Theseus, when he came with Diomedes from the Greeks to Troy with an embassy to demand the restoration of Helen. She obtained an interview and the gratification of her desires at the house of Philebia, the wife of a governor of a small town of Troas, which the Greek ambassador had visited. She had a son by Acamas, whom she called Munitus. She afterwards married Helicaon, son of Antenor and Telephus king of Mysia. Some call her Astyoche. According to the Greek scholiast of Lycophron, Laodice threw herself down from the top of a tower and was killed, when Troy was sacked by the Greeks. Dictys Cretensis, bk. 1.—Pausanias, bk. 13, ch. 26.—Homer, Iliad, bks. 3 & 6.——One of the Oceanides.——A daughter of Cinyras, by whom Elatus had some children. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 14.——A daughter of Agamemnon, called also Electra. Homer, Iliad, bk. 9.——A sister of Mithridates, who married Ariarathes king of Cappadocia, and afterwards her own brother Mithridates. During the secret absence of Mithridates, she prostituted herself to her servants, in hopes that her husband was dead; but when she saw her expectations frustrated, she attempted to poison Mithridates, for which she was put to death.——A queen of Cappadocia, put to death by her subjects for poisoning five of her children.——A sister and wife of Antiochus II. She put to death Berenice, whom her husband had married. See: [Antiochus II.] She was murdered by order of Ptolemy Evergetes, B.C. 246.——A daughter of Demetrius, shamefully put to death by Ammonius, the tyrannical minister of the vicious Alexander Bala king of Syria.——A daughter of Seleucus.——The mother of Seleucus. Nine months before she brought forth she dreamt that Apollo had introduced himself into her bed, and had presented her with a precious stone, on which was engraved the figure of an anchor, commanding her to deliver it to her son as soon as born. This dream appeared the more wonderful, when in the morning she discovered in her bed a ring answering the same description. Not only the son that she brought forth, called Seleucus, but also all his successors of the house of the Seleucidæ, had the mark of an anchor upon their thigh. Justin. Appian, Syrian Wars mentions this anchor, though in a different manner.
Lāŏdĭcēa, now Ladik, a city of Asia, on the borders of Caria, Phrygia, and Lydia, celebrated for its commerce, and the fine soft and black wool of its sheep. It was originally called Diospolis, and afterwards Rhoas; and received the name of Laodicea, in honour of Laodice the wife of Antiochus. Pliny, bk. 5, ch. 29.—Strabo, bk. 12.—Mela, bk. 1, ch. 12.—Cicero, bk. 5, Letters to Atticus, ltr. 15, For Flaccus.——Another in Media, destroyed by an earthquake in the age of Nero.——Another in Syria, called by way of distinction Laodicea Cabiosa, or ad Libanum.——Another on the borders of Cœlosyria. Strabo.
Lāŏdĭcēne, a province of Syria, which receives its name from Laodicea, its capital.
Laodŏchus, a son of Antenor, whose form Minerva borrowed to advise Pandarus to break the treaty which subsisted between the Greeks and Trojans. Homer, Iliad, bk. 4.——An attendant of Antilochus.——A son of Priam. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 12.——A son of Apollo and Phthia. Apollodorus, bk. 1, ch. 7.