Lachesis
( none )
One of the Greek Moirai , or Fates. According to Hesiod, the Moirai were daughters of Zeus and Themis. Lachesis was the "caster of lots" and it was she who spun out the thread of life.
Lada
( none )
Lycian mother or fertility goddess who was the probable original of the Greek Leto.
Ladon
( none )
A female demon in Greek belief who devoured children. According to some sources she was a queen of Libya who fell in love with Zeus. The jealous Hera deformed her and killed her children. Lamia then turned to hunting and devouring children whom she lured away from their parents. Alternatively, she took on the form of a beautiful woman, enticing young men whom she would subsequently devour.
Leda
( none )
Former Anatolian mother goddess. In Hesiod, taking the beliefs of the Spartans, said that Leda was mortal wife to King of Sparta, Tyndareus. Zeus was enamoured by Leda and seduced her, but in the form of a swan in an attempt to hide what he was doing from his very jealous wife-sister Hera. Leda gave birth to two eggs from which hatched Helen and Clytemnestra, sisters and from the other egg, Polydeukes and Kastor.
Lethe
( none )
Greek nymph associated with the underworld river of the same name. Daughter of Eris (strife). The Lethe was the river of forgetfulness or oblivion.
Leto
( Latin Latona )
Greek Titaness and possible mother goddess. Daughter of Coeus (Kois) and Phoebe. Mother of Apollo and Artemis by Zeus. Leto appears to have been derived from a Lycian goddess named Lada, and she had cults of local importance in Lycia and at Phaistos on Crete. Because of her motherng Apollo and Artemis the Romans particularly liked to create stories about her. She was said to have played the lute for the Olympians. And after Zeus seduced her and impregnated her Leto had a long journey because of the jealous rage of Hera. Hera pursued her from Olympus into Asia Minor, harassing her all the way. She passed through Crete, Athens, to Aegina, Athos and Mount Pelion. Then to the Samos, and Peparethus and to Mount Ida. Still further to the city of Phocaea, Imbros Island and to Lemnos, Lesbos, Chios and to Mount Mimas. Still fleeing (9 months is a long time), she also passed through Cos, Cnidos, Naxos, Parosand and finally Delos, one of the Cyclades Islands where she gave birth to the twins. Poseidon protected her by covering the island in waves for a while. Her sisters and cousins attended the birth: Rhea, Themis and Amphitrite and eventually Ilithyia. As soon as Ilithyia appeared Leto, holding herself steady with a fierce grip on a olive (or palm) tree, gave birth to the twins: Artemis first then Apollo. The Kouretes in the grove above Leto made lots of noise to distract Hera. Leto arrived at a place in Asia Minor where the mean spirited villagers refused to let her drink from their lake and instead stirred up the mud by splashing in it. In return for their spite she turned them all into frogs so they could live happily splashing away in the lake forever. Apollo and Artemis avenge Leto by killing Phylos the dragon and Tityus the giant, both (some say) sent by Hera. Less fairly Leto incited Artemis and Apollo against Niobe who claimed her children were better than those of Leto. Artemis killed all of Niobe's female children except for Chloris (who appealed for help from Leto, and Leto was always soft-hearted and granted any appeal to her). Apollo killed off Niobe's male children, none of whom asked for help from Leto.
During the Trojan War Leto sided with the Trojans.
Leucosia
( none )
Greek nymph, sang so that sailors would become confused and wreck their ships. Sister to Ligeia.
Leukothea
( Leucothea )
"White Goddess". Greek sea goddess. The name given to the deified Ino. Daughter of Cadmus. As Ino, she had been the wife of Athamas. Having been driven mad by Hera in punishment for raising the infant Dionysos, Ino leapt to her death in the sea along with her son Melicertes. She was popular among sailors and fishermen. Believed to help sailors in distress, she was first mentioned in the Odyssey where she saved Odysseus from drowning.
Ligeia
( none )
A Greek nymph, sister to Leucosia, and sang duets with her to wreck the ships of sailors. Twisted sisters.
Logos
( none )
"Word" or "Reason". For some Stoics of the Hellenistic age, Logos was the divine personification of the reason or plan underlying the cosmos. It was Philo of Alexandria (1st century AD) who first conceived Logos in anthropomorphic terms. The Christians subsequently picked up the term and used it to refer to the "Word" which was made flesh in Jesus Christ.
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