Lacedaemon (mythology)

Lacedaemon is a mythical King of Laconia said to be the son of Zeus and the Pleaid Taygete in classical Greek Mythology. He fathered King Amyclas of Sparta and Queen Eurydice of Argos. His daughter was the wife of King Eurotas. Through her he recieved a niece named Sparta. Lacedaemon named the city of Sparta after his niece and built the Shrine of the Charities (a monument in honor to the minor goddesses of beauty, love, and creativity) in the land near the city which he named after himself - Lacedaemon. Accounts as to who the mother of Queen Eurydice is differ with some stating it was the nymph Taygete (Lacedaemon's mother). Others that it was Sparta but that is incorrect as Sparta is the daughter of Eurydice and thus could not be the mother of her mother. Regardless like the gods King Lacedaemon had a very close family. The city he establ ished in honor of his niece was initially a place of pottery and art. Years after Lacedaemon's mythical rule a series of wars would lead (the semi-historical) Lycurgus of the city of Sparta to enact a reformation of the city's soceity around 810 BC which established Sparta's communalistic and militaristic organization of society of which it is most known for during the classical period.