The earliest names in Lacônian genealogy are, an autochthonous Lelex
and a Naiad nymph Kleochareia. From this pair sprung a son Eurôtas,
and from him a daughter Sparta, who became the wife of Lacedæmôn, son
of Zeus and Taygetê, daughter of Atlas. Amyklas, son of Lacedæmôn,
had two sons, Kynortas and Hyacinthus—the latter a beautiful youth,
the favorite of Apollo, by whose hand he was accidentally killed
while playing at quoits: the festival of the Hyacinthia, which the
Lacedæmônians generally, and the Amyklæans with special solemnity,
celebrated throughout the historical ages, was traced back to this
legend. Kynortas was succeeded by his son Periêrês, who married
Gorgophonê, daughter of Perseus, and had a numerous issue—Tyndareus,
Ikarius, Aphareus, Leukippus, and Hippokoon. Some authors gave the
genealogy differently, making Periêrês, son of Æolus, to be the father
of Kynortas, and Œbalus son of Kynortas, from whom sprung Tyndareus,
Ikarius and Hippokoon.[400]
[400] Compare Apollod. iii. 10, 4. Pausan. iii. 1, 4.
Both Tyndareus and Ikarius, expelled by their brother Hippokoon, were
forced to seek shelter at the residence of Thestius, king of Kalydôn,
whose daughter, Lêda, Tyndareus espoused. It is numbered among the
exploits of the omnipresent Hêraklês, that he slew Hippokoon and his
sons, and restored Tyndareus to his kingdom, thus creating for the
subsequent Hêrakleidan kings a mythical title to the throne. Tyndareus,
as well as his brothers, are persons of interest in legendary
narrative: he is the father of Kastôr, of Timandra, married to Echemus,
the hero of Tegea,[401] and of Klytæmnêstra, married to Agamemnôn.
Pollux and the ever-memorable Helen are the offspring of Lêda by Zeus.
Ikarius is the father of Penelopê, wife of Odysseus: the contrast
between her behavior and that of Klytæmnêstra and Helen became the more
striking in consequence of their being so nearly related. Aphareus is
the father of Idas and Lynkeus, while Leukippus has for his daughters,
Phœbê and Ilaëira. According to one of the Hesiodic poems, Kastôr and
Pollux were both sons of Zeus by Lêda, while Helen was neither daughter
of Zeus nor of Tyndareus, but of Oceanus and Têthys.[402]
[401] Hesiod. ap Schol. Pindar, Olymp. xi. 79.
[402] Hesiod. ap. Schol. Pindar, Nem. x. 150. Fragm. Hesiod.
Düntzer, 58. p. 44. Tyndareus was worshipped as a god at
Lacedæmôn (Varro ap. Serv. ad Virgil. Æneid. viii. 275).
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