Leucippĭdes, the daughters of Leucippus. See: [Leucippus].
Leucippus, a celebrated philosopher of Abdera, about 428 years before Christ, disciple to Zeno. He was the first who invented the famous system of atoms and of a vacuum, which was afterwards more fully explained by Democritus and Epicurus. Many of his hypotheses have been adopted by the moderns, with advantage. Diogenes Laërtius has written his life.——A brother of Tyndarus king of Sparta, who married Philodice daughter of Inachus, by whom he had two daughters, Hilaira and Phœbe, known by the patronymic of Leucippides. They were carried away by their cousins Castor and Pollux, as they were going to celebrate their nuptials with Lynceus and Idas. Ovid, Fasti, bk. 4, li. 701.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 10, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 3, chs. 17 & 26.——A son of Xanthus, descended from Bellerophon. He became deeply enamoured of one of his sisters, and when he was unable to restrain his unnatural passion, he resolved to gratify it. He acquainted his mother with it, and threatened to murder himself if she attempted to oppose his views or remove the object of his affection. The mother, rather than lose a son whom she tenderly loved, cherished his passion, and by her consent her daughter yielded herself to the arms of her brother. Some time after the father resolved to give his daughter in marriage to a Lycian prince. The future husband was informed that the daughter of Xanthus secretly entertained a lover, and he communicated the intelligence to the father. Xanthus upon this secretly watched his daughter, and when Leucippus had introduced himself to her bed, the father, in his eagerness to discover the seducer, occasioned a little noise in the room. The daughter was alarmed, and as she attempted to escape she received a mortal wound from her father, who took her to be the lover. Leucippus came to her assistance, and stabbed his father in the dark, without knowing who he was. This accidental parricide obliged Leucippus to fly from his country. He came to Crete, where the inhabitants refused to give him an asylum, when acquainted with the atrociousness of his crime, and he at last came to Ephesus, where he died in the greatest misery and remorse. Hermesianax referenced by Parthenius, ch. 5.——A son of Œnomaus, who became enamoured of Daphne, and to obtain her confidence disguised himself in a female dress, and attended his mistress as a companion. He gained the affections of Daphne by his obsequiousness and attention, but his artifice at last proved fatal through the influence and jealousy of his rival Apollo; for when Daphne and her attendants were bathing in the Ladon, the sex of Leucippus was discovered, and he perished by the darts of the females. Parthenius, Narrationes Amatoriæ, ch. 15.—Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 20.——A son of Hercules by Marse, one of the daughters of Thespius. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 7.
Leucŏla, a part of Cyprus.
Leucon, a tyrant of Bosphorus, who lived in great intimacy with the Athenians. He was a firm patron of the useful arts, and greatly encouraged commerce. Strabo.—Dio Cassius, bk. 14.——A son of Athamas and Themisto. Pausanias, bk. 6, ch. 22.——A king of Pontus killed by his brother, whose bed he had defiled. Ovid, Ibis, li. 3.——A town of Africa near Cyrene. Herodotus, bk. 4, ch. 160.
Leucōne, a daughter of Aphidas, who gave her name to a fountain of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 44.
Leucōnes, a son of Hercules. Apollodorus.
Leuconoe, a daughter of Lycambes. The Leuconoe to whom Horace addressed his bk. 1, ode 11, seems to be a fictitious name.
Leucopĕtra, a place on the isthmus of Corinth, where the Achæans were defeated by the consul Mummius.——A promontory six miles east from Rhegium in Italy, where the Apennines terminate and sink into the sea.
Leucŏphrys, a temple of Diana, with a city of the same name, near the Mæander. The goddess was represented under the figure of a woman with many breasts, and crowned with victory.——An ancient name of Tenedos. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 14.—Strabo, bks. 13 & 14.
Leucopŏlis, a town of Caria.