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] She was one of two daughters of King Eurotas of Laconia, with the other being Tiasa.[1][2] According to traditions recorded by Pausanias, her 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] By her husband, she 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, but died during a game of discus due to the latter's jealously.[3][4] She was also an ancestor of King Tyndareus of Sparta and his brother Icarius and their children Clytemnestra, Castor, and Penelope.[5]

Paphos Archaeological Park. House of Aion: Personifications of river Eurotas and Sparta ( Lakedaimonia ).

Sparta was represented on a sacrificial tripod at Amyclae.

Family tree

Argive genealogy in Greek mythology

Inachus Melia Zeus Io Phoroneus Epaphus Memphis Libya Poseidon Belus Achiroë Agenor Telephassa Danaus Pieria Aegyptus Cadmus Cilix Europa Phoenix Mantineus Hypermnestra Lynceus Harmonia Zeus Polydorus Sparta Lacedaemon Ocalea Abas Agave Sarpedon Rhadamanthus Autonoë Eurydice Acrisius Ino Minos Zeus Danaë Semele Zeus Perseus Dionysus

Colour key:   Male   Female   Deity

References

1. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 3.1.2
2. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 3.18.6
3. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 3.1.3
4. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 1.3.3
5. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 3.1.4