Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Cleocharia (;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Κλεοχαρείας ''Kleokhareia'') was a

naiad In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from river gods, who embodied ...

(water nymph) of

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...

who became the queen-consort of King

Lelex In Greek mythology, Lelex (; Ancient Greek: Λέλεξ, ''gen.'' Λέλεγος) may refer to the following personages: *Lelex (king of Sparta), the first king of Sparta. * Lelex (king of Megara), king of Megara. * Lelex, one of the Calydonian hun ...

of Lelegia. She was the ancestor of the

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

n royal family and gave birth to Eurotas. Eurotas had a daughter named

, who married

Lacedaemon Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern Pe ...

. The city was called either Lacedaemon or Sparta interchangeably. In some accounts, Lelex's two children were

Myles In Greek mythology, Myles (; Ancient Greek: Μύλης means 'mill-man') was an ancient king of Laconia. He was the son of the King Lelex and possibly the naiad Queen Cleocharia, and brother of Polycaon. Myles was the father of Eurotas who begott ...

and

Polycaon In Greek mythology, the name Polycaon (; Ancient Greek: Πολυκάων means "much-burning") may refer to the following individuals: *Polycaon, son of Lelex, king of Laconia, by the Naiad nymph, Cleochareia. Polycaon married an ambitious woman ...

possibly by Cleocharia. In this account, Myles was the father of Eurotas instead. Pausanias, 3.1.1, 3.20.2, 4.1.1 & 4.1.5

Notes

References

Apollodorus Apollodorus ( Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: :''Note: A ...

, ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
Mythological Laconians Naiads Queens in Greek mythology {{Greek-deity-stub