(A. H. S.)
LAODICEA, SYNOD OF, held at Laodicea ad Lycum in Phrygia, some time between 343 and 381 (so Hefele; but Baronius argues for 314, and others for a date as late as 399), adopted sixty canons, chiefly disciplinary, which were declared ecumenical by the council of Chalcedon, 451. The most significant canons are those directly affecting the clergy, wherein the clergy appear as a privileged class, far above the laity, but with sharply differentiated and carefully graded orders within itself. For example, the priests are not to be chosen by the people; penitents are not to be present at ordinations (lest they should hear the failings of candidates discussed); bishops are to be appointed by the metropolitan and his suffragan; sub-deacons may not distribute the elements of the Eucharist; clerics are forbidden to leave a diocese without the bishop’s permission. Other canons treat of intercourse with heretics, admission of penitent heretics, baptism, fasts, Lent, angel-worship (forbidden as idolatrous) and the canonical books, from which the Apocrypha and Revelation are wanting.
See Mansi ii. 563-614; Hardouin i. 777-792; Hefele, 2nd ed., i. 746-777 (Eng. trans. ii. 295-325).
(T. F. C.)
LAOMEDON, in Greek legend, son of Ilus, king of Troy and father of Podarces (Priam). The gods Apollo and Poseidon served him for hire, Apollo tending his herds, while Poseidon built the walls of Troy. When Laomedon refused to pay the reward agreed upon, Apollo visited the land with a pestilence, and Poseidon sent up a monster from the sea, which ravaged the land. According to the oracle, the wrath of Poseidon could only be appeased by the sacrifice of one of the king’s daughters. The lot fell upon Hesione, who was chained to a rock to await the monster’s coming. Heracles, on his way back from the land of the Amazons, offered to slay the monster and release Hesione, on condition that he should receive the wonderful horses presented by Zeus to Tros, the father of Ganymede, to console him for the loss of his son. Again Laomedon broke his word; whereupon Heracles returned with a band of warriors, attacked Troy, and slew Laomedon and all his sons except Priam. According to Diodorus Siculus, Laomedon aggravated his offence by imprisoning Iphiclus and Telamon, who had been sent by Heracles to demand the surrender of the horses. Laomedon was buried near the Scaean gate, and it was said that so long as his grave remained undisturbed, so long would the walls of Troy remain impregnable.
See Homer, Iliad, v. 265, 640, vii. 452, xxi. 443; Apollodorus ii. 5. 9 and 6. 4; Diod. Sic. iv. 32, 42, 49; Hyginus, Fab. 89; Horace, Odes iii. 3, 22; Ovid, Metam. xi. 194.
LAON, a town of northern France, capital of the department of Aisne, 87 m. N.E. of Paris on the Northern railway. Pop. (1906), town, 9787, commune (including troops) 15,288. It is situated on an isolated ridge, forming two sides of a triangle, which rises some 330 ft. above the surrounding plain and the little river of Ardon. The suburbs of St Marcel and Vaux extend along the foot of the ridge to the north. From the railway station, situated in the plain to the north, a straight staircase of several hundred steps leads to the gate of the town, and all the roads connecting Laon with the surrounding district are cut in zigzags on the steep slopes, which are crowned by promenades on the site of the old ramparts. The 13th-century gates of Ardon, Chenizelles and Soissons, the latter in a state of ruin, have been preserved. At the eastern extremity of the ridge rises the citadel; at its apex is the parade-ground of St Martin, and at the southern end stands the ancient abbey of St Vincent. The deep depression between the arms of the ridge, known as the Cuve St Vincent, has its slopes covered with trees, vegetable gardens and vineyards. From the promenade along the line of the ramparts there is an extensive view northward beyond St Quentin, westward to the forest of St Gobain, and southward over the wooded hills of the Laonnais and Soissonnais.