Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/788

Rh 774 LEUCON. philosophy. Where and when he was bom we have no data for deciding. Miletus, Abdera, and Elis have been assigned as his birth-place ; the first, apparently, for no other reason than that it was the birth-place of several natural philosophers ; the second, because Democritus, who carried out his theory of atoms, came from that town ; Elis, because he was looked upon as a disciple of the Eleatic school. The period when he lived is equally uncertain. He is called the teacher of Democritus (Diog. Laert. ix. 34), the disciple of Parmenides (Simplic. Phys. fol, 7, a), or, according to other accounts, of Zeno, of Melissus, nay even of Pytha- goras (Simplic. /. c; Diog. Laert. ix. 30 ; Tzetz. CliU. ii. 930 ; lamblich. Vit. Pyth. 104). From the circumstance that Parmenides and Anaxagoras had objected to some doctrines which we find con- nected with the atomic theory, and from the ob- scurity that hangs over the personal history and doctrines of Leucippus, Ritter {Geschichte d. Phil. vol. i. book vi. c. 2) is inclined to believe that Leucippus lived at a time when intercourse between the learned of the different Grecian states was unfrequent With regard to his philosophical sys- tem it is impossible to speak with precision or certainty, as Aristotle and the other writers who mention him, either speak of him in conjunction with Democritus, or attribute to him doctrines which are in like manner attributed to Democritus. Diogenes Laertius (ix. 30 — 33) attempts an expo- sition of some of his leading doctrines. Some notices will also be found in Aristotle {De Jnima, i. -2), Plutarch {De Placitis Phil. 17, p. «83), and Cicero {de Nat. Deor. i. 24). For an account of the general features of the atomic theory, as deve- loped by Democritus, the reader is referred to that article. [C. P. M.] LEUCON {A^vKoov). . A son of Poseidon or Athamas and Themisto, was the father of Erythrus and Euippe. (Paus. vi. 21. ($7, ix. 34. § 5; Hy- gin. Fab. 157; Apollod. i. 9. § 2.) 2. One of the seven Archagetae, to whom the Plataeans, before the beginning of a battle, offered a sacrifice, by the command of an oracle. (Plut. Aristid. 11.) [L. S.] LEUCON (AevKwv% historical. 1. One of the seven commanders who were sacrificed by the Plataeans, the eve of the battle of Plataeae, in obedience to an oracle (Plut. Arid. U ; Miiller, Orchom. p. 214). 2. A powerful king of Bosporus, whose reign lasted nearly forty years, from 393 to 'u53 b. c. He was the son of Satyrus, and the fifth king of the dj'nasty of the Archaeanactidae. He conquered Theodosia, at the siege of which his father had fallen. He was in close alliance with the Athenians, whom he supplied with corn in great abundance, and who, in return for his services, admitted him and his sons to the citizenship of Athens, and voted him three statues. Other incidents of his life, which are not of sufficient importance to be men- tioned here, are related by the writers quoted. They all go to prove that he was a wise and power- ful prince. (Diod. xiv. 93, xvi. 91, with Wessel- ing's notes ; Dem. c. Leptin. pp. 466, 467 ; Strab. vii. p. 310, f.; Polyaen, vi.. 9 ; Athen. vi. p. 257, c. ; Aelian, V. H. vi. 13, with the note of Perizonius ; Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. App. No. 13.) [P. .S] LEUCON (Aew/fcci'). the son of Hagnon, accord- ing to Toup's emendation of Suidas (s. r.), an Athe- nian comic poet, of the old comedy, was a contem- LIBANIUS. porary and rival of Aristophanes. In B. c. 422 he contended, with his IlpeorSets, against the Wasfis of Aristophanes, and in the following year, with his 4>paT6pfs, against the Peace of Aristophanes, and the KoAa/fev of Eupolis ; on both occasions he obtained the third place ( Didasc. ad Vesp. et Par.) Suidas also mentions his "Ouos d(TKo(popos. The story on which this play was founded is explained by Bdckh {Publ. Oecon. ofAih. p. 324, 2nd edit.). No fragments of his plays survive. The title ^pdrepis is usually corrupted into ^pdropes, but Meineke shows that the other is the true fonn. (Athen.viii.p. 343. c; Suid. s.v. AevKwv ; Hesych. s. V. ndairis ; Phot, s. v. TiSioi ; Meineke, Hist. Crit. Coin. Grace, pp. 217, 218.) [P. S.] LEUCON {AevKwv), a sculptor of an unknown date. A dog by him is mentioned in an epigram by Macedonius (Brunck, Anal. vol. iii. p, 118, No. 27, Avfh. Pal. vi. 173), in terms which imply that it was a first-rate work. Winckelmann {Gesch. d. Kunst., b. v. c, 6. § 23) conjectures that this is the dog, in a sitting posture, in marble, which was discovered at Rome, and brought to England. In Meyer's note on the passage of Winckelmann, it is stated that the statue was purchased by a gentleman named Duncombe, in Yorkshire. [P. S.] LEUCO'NOE (AiVKovo-n). 1. A daughter of Poseidon and Themisto. (Hygin. Fab. 157.) 2. One of the daughters of Minyas (Ov. Met. iv. 168), but she is elsewhere called Leucippe. [Alcathoe.] [L. S.J LEUCOPHRYNE {AcvKOippivn). I. A sur- name of Artemis, derived from the town of Leuco- phrys in Phrygia, where, as well as at Magnesia on the Maeander, she had a splendid temple. (Xenoph. H(dlen. iii. 2. § 19 ; Strab. xiv. p. 647 ; Tac. Ann. iii. 62 ; Athen. xv. p. 683.) The sons of Themistocles dedicated a statue to her on the Acropolis at Athens, because Themistocles had once ruled at Magnesia. (Paus. i. 26. § 4 ; Thuc. i. 138; Plut. Themist. 29.) There was also a statue of her at Amyclae, which had been dedi- cated by the Magnesian Bathycles. (Paus. iii. 18. §6.) Her temple at Magnesia had been built by Hermogenes, who had also written a work upon it. (Vitruv. vii. Praef. 3, 1.) 2. A nymph or priestess of Artemis Leuco- phryne, whose tomb was shown in the temple of the goddess at Magnesia, (Theodoret. Serin. 8. p. 598 ; Arnob. adv. Gent. vi. 6.) [L. S.] LEUCO'THEA. [Ino and Athamas.] LEUCO'THOE, a daughter of the Babylonian king Orchamus and Eurynome, was beloved by Apollo; but her amour was betrayed by the jealous Clytia to her father, who buried her alive ; where- upon Apollo metamorphosed her into an incense shrub. (Ov. Met. iv. 208, &c.) Leucothoe is in some writers only another form for Leucothea. (Hygin. Fab. 125.) [L. S.] LEXl'PHANES (Ae^^avTjs), an Athenian comic poet, quoted by Alciphron {Epist. 'ii.1). It is uncertain whether he belonged to the middle or to the new comedy. (Meineke, Hist. Crit. Com. Graec. p. 493.) [P. S.] LIBA'NIUS (Aigoi/jos), the most distinguished among the Greek sophists and rhetoricians of the fourth century of our era. He was bom at Antioch, on the Orontes, and belonged to an illus- trious family of that place ; but the year of hia birth is uncertain, some assigning it to a. d. 314, and others two years later, according to a passage