Opening Description of Greece (Books III–IV: Laconia, Messenia) — Pausanias in Plato Scroll… Continue →
Pausanias · A. R. Shilleto (1886)
Next to the Hermæ comes Laconia on the West. And according to the Lacedæmonian tradition Lelex the autochthon first reigned in this land, and the people over whom he ruled were called after him Leleges. And Lelex’ sons were Myles and a younger son Polycaon. Where Polycaon went to and why I shall relate elsewhere. But on the death of Myles his son Eurotas succeeded him in the kingdom. He diverted to the sea by a canal all the stagnant water that filled the plain, and as it flowed to the sea in mighty volume and became a noble river, he called it the Eurotas. As he had no male children he left the kingdom to Lacedæmon, whose mother was Taygete, (who gave her name to the mountain Taygetus), and reputed father Zeus. And Lacedæmon married Sparta the daughter of Eurotas, and when he succeeded to the kingdom he first gave the country and inhabitants his own name, and then built and gave his …
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