Goddesses of Ancient Greece ~ L

Lachesis
(Allotter) The Disposer, the second of the three Fates, daughter of Zeus out of Themis. She is sometimes pictured as a matronly woman holding a length of thread. Her office it is to measure out, either long or short, the length of a person's life thread. See also Atropos and Klotho.

Lamia
The ancient Greeks believed that the Lamia was a vampire who stole little children to drink their blood. She was portrayed as a snake-like creature with a female head and breasts. Usually female, but sometimes referred to as a male or a hermaphrodite. According to legend, she was once a Libyan queen (or princess) who fell in love with Zeus. Zeus' jealous wife Hera deformed her into a monster and murdered their offspring. She also made Lamia unable to close her eyes, so that she couldn't find any rest from the obsessing image of her dead children. When Zeus saw what had be done to Lamia, he felt pity for her and gave his former lover a gift: she could remove her eyes, and then put them on again. This way, though sleepless, she could rest from her misfortune. Lamia envied other the other mothers and took her vengeance by stealing their children and devouring them. In Lamia and other Poems (1820), the English poet John Keats writes about Lamia too. In this version, based on the information he found in Anatomy of Melancholy of the 1600s, Lamia has the ability to change herself into a beautiful young woman. Here she assumes a human form to win a man's love.

Lampetia
The daughter of Helios. Together with Phaetusa she guarded her father's oxen on the island of Thrinacia. When Odysseus' companions slaughtered some of them, she informed her father about this. Odyssey XII, 375.

Laodice
A nymph, occasionally mentioned as the mother of Niobe. The daughter of Priam and Hecuba.

Larissa
In Greek mythology, a daughter of Pelasgus, whom the fortress near Argos and two cities (in Thessaly and in Peneus) are named after.

Leda
Leda was the daughter of Thestius and the wife of Tyndareus. She has been known as the Queen of Sparta. Zeus seduced Leda when he came to her in the form of a swan. Leda gave birth to an egg. From it hatched the Dioscuri, the twins Castor and Pollux. With Zeus she also had Helen and with Tyndareus she had Clytemnestra.

Lethe
(Forgetfulness) A Daughter of Eris, She is the presiding Spirit of Amnesia and mindlessness.

Leto
One of the Titans, daughter of Koeus and Phoebe. By Zeus, she is the mother of Apollo and Artemis. She also seems to have some function as a fertility Deity, and an epithet of hers, "Kourotrophos", rearer of youths, hints at further associations. Known as the hidden one and bright one, her name came to be used for the moon Selene. Hera was jealous of Leto because Zeus, the husband of Hera, had fallen in love with her. From their union Leto bore the divine twins, Artemis and Apollo. Leto found this to be an arduous task, as Hera had refused Leto to give birth on either terra firma or on an island out at sea. The only place safe enough to give birth was Delos because Delos was a floating island. Therefore, Leto did not refute the wishes of Hera. In some versions, other vicinities refused Leto because they feared the great power of the god she would bear. To show her gratitude, Leto anchored Delos to the bottom of the Aegean with four columns, to aid its stability. A conflict of legends arises when in one version it says that Artemis was born one day before Apollo, and the birth took place on the island of Ortygia. Then the next day, Artemis helped Leto to cross to the island of Delos, and aided Leto with the delivery of Apollo. Leto was worshiped throughout Greece, but principally in Lycia (Asia Minor). In Delos and Athens, there were temples dedicated to her, although in most regions she was worshiped in conjunction with her children, Artemis and Apollo. In Egypt there is the Temple of Leto (Wadjet) at Buto, which was described by Herodotus as being connected to an island, which floated. On this island (Khemmis) stood a temple to Apollo, but Herodotus dismissed the claim that it floated as merely the legend of Delos brought to Egypt from Greek tradition. The Romans called Leto "Latona".

Leucippe
A Greek nymph who accompanied Persephone when she was abducted by Hades.

Leucothea
"The White Goddess", the name of Ino as a marine deity, which she became when she threw herself into the sea with her son Melicertes. However, Dionysus would not let her die, and she was transformed into Leucothea.

Leucothoe
The daughter of the Greek king Orchamus. She was loved by Apollo, and he assumed the shape of her mother to gain entrance to her. When her father learned of Apollo's visit, he became so enraged that he buried his daughter alive. Apollo changed the girl into a incense plant.

Libya
The daughter of Epaphus and Memphis, beloved by Poseidon. She gave her name to that part of the world.

Limos
The daughter of Eris, she is the Spirit of Hunger.

Litai
The sisters of the Greek goddess Ate. They follow her wherever she goes and try to repair the damage she has wrought to mortals.

Lotis
A nymph, daughter of Poseidon. She was pursued by Priapus and in order to escape him was changed into the lotus tree.

Lycorias
A sea nymph, daughter of Nereus and Doris.

Lysithea
In Greek mythology Lysithea was a daughter of Oceanus and one of Zeus' many lovers.