Leucos, a river of Macedonia near Pydna.——A man, &c. See: [Idomeneus].
Leucosia, a small island in the Tyrrhene sea. It received its name from one of the companions of Æneas, who was drowned there, or from one of the Sirens, who was thrown there by the sea. Strabo, bk. 5.—Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 15, li. 708.
Leucosy̆rii, a people of Asia Minor, called afterwards Cappadocians. Strabo, bk. 12.——The same name is given to the inhabitants of Cilicia, where it borders on Cappadocia. Cornelius Nepos, bk. 14, ch. 1.
Leucŏthoe, or Leucothea, the wife of Athamas, changed into a sea deity. See: [Ino]. She was called Matuta by the Romans, who raised her a temple, where all the people, particularly women, offered vows to their brother’s children. They did not entreat the deity to protect their own children, because Ino had been unfortunate in hers. No female slaves were permitted to enter the temple; or if their curiosity tempted them to transgress this rule, they were beaten away with the greatest severity. To this supplicating for other people’s children, Ovid alludes in these lines, Fasti, bk. 6:
Non tamen hanc pro stirpe suâ pia mater adorat,
Ipsa parum felix visa fuisse parens.
——A daughter of king Orchamus by Eurynome. Apollo became enamoured of her, and to introduce himself to her with greater facility, he assumed the shape and features of her mother. Their happiness was complete, when Clytia, who tenderly loved Apollo, and was jealous of his amours with Leucothoe, discovered the whole intrigue to her father, who ordered his daughter to be buried alive. The lover, unable to save her from death, sprinkled nectar and ambrosia on her tomb, which, penetrating as far as the body, changed it into a beautiful tree, which bears frankincense. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. 4, li. 196.——An island in the Tyrrhene sea, near Capreæ.——A fountain of Samos.——A town of Egypt,——of Arabia. Mela, bk. 2, ch. 7.——A part of Asia which produces frankincense.
Leuctra, a village of Bœotia, between Platæa and Thespia, famous for the victory which Epaminondas the Theban general obtained over the superior force of Cleombrotus king of Sparta, on the 8th of July, B.C. 371. In this famous battle 4000 Spartans were killed with their king Cleombrotus, and no more than 300 Thebans. From that time the Spartans lost the empire of Greece, which they had obtained for nearly 500 years. Plutarch, Pelopidas & Agesilaus.—Cornelius Nepos, Epaminondas.—Justin, bk. 6, ch. 6.—Xenophon, Hellenica.—Diodorus, bk. 15.—Pausanias, Laconia.—Cicero, de Officiis, bk. 1, ch. 18; Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 1, ch. 46; Letters to Atticus, bk. 6, ltr. 1.—Strabo, bk. 9.
Leuctrum, a town of Laconia. Strabo, bk. 8.
Leucus, one of the companions of Ulysses, killed before Troy by Antiphus son of Priam. Homer, Iliad, bk. 4, li. 491.