Lyrceia or Lyrkeia (), or Lyrceium or Lyrkeion (Λυρκεῖον), was a town in
ancient Argolis
The regions of ancient Greece were sub-divisions of the Hellenic world as conceived by the ancient Greeks, shown by their presence in the works of ancient historians and geographers or in surviving legends and myths.
Conceptually, there is no cl ...
, distant 60 stadia (a little less than 7 miles) from Argos, and 60 stadia from Orneae, and situated on the road Climax, which proceeded from the gate of Deiras and ran from Argos in a northwesterly direction along the bed of the
Inachus
In Greek mythology, Inachus, Inachos or Inakhos (Ancient Greek: Ἴναχος) was the first king of Argos, Peloponnese, Argos. He was one of River gods (Greek mythology), the three thousand sons of Oceanus and Tethys (mythology), Tethys. The In ...
. The town is said to have been originally called Lynceia, and to have obtained this name from
Lynceus In Greek mythology, Lynceus (; Ancient Greek: Λυγκεύς "lynx-eyed") may refer to the following personages.
* Lynceus, one of the 50 Sons of Aegyptus.
* Lynceus, king in Thrace and husband of Lathusa, friend of Procne. Tereus gave Philomel ...
, who fled hither when all his other brothers, the sons of
Aegyptus
In Greek mythology, Aegyptus or Ægyptus (; ) was a legendary king of ancient Egypt. He was a descendant of the princess Io through his father Belus, and of the river-god Nilus as both the father of Achiroe, his mother and as a great, great-g ...
, were murdered by the daughters of
Danaus
In Greek mythology, Danaus (, ; ''Danaós'') was the king of Libya. His myth is a foundation legend of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer's ''Iliad'', " Danaans" ("tribe of Danaus") and " Argives" comm ...
on their wedding night. He gave intelligence of his safe arrival in this place to his faithful wife
Hypermnestra
In Greek mythology, Hypermnestra (, ''Hypermnēstra'') was by birth a Libyan princess and by marriage a queen of Argos. She is a daughter of King Danaus, and one of the 50 Danaids. Hypermnestra is most notable for being the only Danaid that be ...
, by holding up a torch; and she in like manner informed him of her safety by raising a torch from
Larissa
Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...
, the citadel of Argos. The name of the town was afterwards changed into Lyrceia from
Lyrcus
Lyrcus (Ancient Greek: Λύρκος) is the name of two Greek mythological figures, one a figure in a 1st-century BC Hellenistic romance by Parthenius of Nicaea,son of phoroneus, the other the eponymous legendary founder of Lyrceia and son of Aba ...
, a son of Abas. It was in ruins in the time of Pausanias.-5.
Its site is located near the modern Schinochori.