Latona (la-tō´na); called Leto (lē´tō) by the Greeks. The mother of Apollo and Diana, by Jupiter. She was persecuted by Juno, and wandered from place to place till she came to Delos, which was then a floating island, but which Jupiter fastened by adamantine chains to the bottom of the sea. Here Apollo and Diana were born.
Lavinia (la-vin´i-a).—Daughter of Latinus and wife of Æneas.
Leander (lē-an´der).—A young man of Abydos (a-bī´dos), who swam across the Hellespont every night to visit Hero, the priestess of Venus, in Sestus. One night, however, during a storm, he perished; and when his corpse was washed on the coast, on the following morning, Hero threw herself into the sea.
Leda (lē´da).—Wife of Tyndarus, king of Sparta. Jupiter visited her in the form of a swan, and she became the mother of Castor and Pollux, the celebrated Helen of Troy, and Clyæmnestra.
Lemnos (lem´nos).—One of the largest islands in the Ægean Sea; the abode of Vulcan, who was said to have fallen here when he was hurled down from Olympus. It is now called Stalimene.
Lemures.—The specters or spirits of the dead. They were said to wander about at night, as specters, and to torment and frighten the living. In order to propitiate them the Romans celebrated the festival of the Lemuralia or Lemuria.
Lerna (ler´na).—A forest and marsh near Argos, through which flowed a stream of the same name. Here Hercules killed the famous Lernean hydra. See “[Hercules].”
Lesbos (les´bos).—A celebrated island in the Ægean Sea, off the coast of Mysia. Its principal city was Mytilene. It was the birthplace of Sappho, Arion, Alcæus and Theophrastus.
Lethe (lē´thē)—lit. “forgetfulness” (Gr.).—A river in the lower world, the water of which was drunk by the shades, who thus obtained forgetfulness of the past.
Leto.—See “[Latona].”