Sparta (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, Spártā; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, Spártē) was the ancient Queen of Sparta, which was named in her honour.[1]

Sparta
Queen of Lacedaemon
Member of the Spartan Royal Family
Paphos Archaeological Park. House of Aion: Personifications of river Eurotas and Sparta (Lakedaimonia).
AbodeLaconia
Personal information
ParentsEurotas and Clete
SiblingsTiasa
ConsortLacedaemon
ChildrenAmyclas and Eurydice

Family

Sparta was one of two daughters of King Eurotas of Laconia and Clete, with the other being Tiasa.[2]

By her husband, Lacedaemon, Sparta became the mother of Amyclas and Eurydice, wife of King Acrisius of Argos, and the grandmother of Hyacinthus, who was loved by Apollo and Zephyrus.[3] She was also an ancestor of King Tyndareus of Sparta and his brother Icarius and their children Clytemnestra, Castor and Penelope.[4]

Mythology

According to traditions recorded by Pausanias, Sparta's father having no male heirs bequeathed his kingdom to Lacedaemon. When he became king, he changed the name of the land and the inhabitants to Lacedaemon and Lacedaemonians, respectively, and he founded the City of Sparta, which was named after his wife.[1]

Sparta was represented on a sacrificial tripod at Amyclae.

Family tree
Argive genealogy in Greek mythology
InachusMelia
ZeusIoPhoroneus
EpaphusMemphis
LibyaPoseidon
BelusAchiroëAgenorTelephassa
DanausElephantisAegyptusCadmusCilixEuropaPhoenix
MantineusHypermnestraLynceusHarmoniaZeus
Polydorus
SpartaLacedaemonOcaleaAbasAgaveSarpedonRhadamanthus
Autonoë
EurydiceAcrisiusInoMinos
ZeusDanaëSemeleZeus
PerseusDionysus
Colour key:

  Male
  Female
  Deity

Notes
  1. Pausanias, 3.1.2
  2. Pausanias, 3.1.2 & 3.18.6
  3. Apollodorus, 1.3.3; Pausanias, 3.1.3
  4. Pausanias, 3.1.4

References
  • Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
  • Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
  • Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.


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