Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 1 (Greek and Roman).djvu/130

24 the letters AI, which signified to the Greeks "lamentation." Long did Apollo grieve for his friend unhappily slain by his hand. The body was buried at Amyklai where in the temple of Apollo his grave was for long years visible to passers-by, and from the mourning of Apollo was developed the great Lakonian festival, the Hyakinthia, the first days of which were devoted to a demonstration of grief, while the last day was one long outburst of joy. These two kinds of celebration marked respectively the alternating dying and revival of vegetation as typified mainly by the hyacinth. The festival was probably pre-Dorian in origin.

The Family of Perieres.—According to one of the genealogies, Amyklas had a grandson Perieres (or Pieres) who held the throne of Messene. By his queen Gorgophone, the daughter of Perseus, he begat four sons, Tyndareos, Aphareus, Ikarios, and Leukippos, all of whom hold prominent places in myth through the fame of their children. Ikarios became the father of Penelope, the faithful wife of Odysseus; Aphareus, of Idas and Lynkeus; Tyndareos, of Helen, Klytaimestra (old spelling Klytemnestra), Kastor, Polydeukes, and others; and Leukippos, of Hilaeira and Phoebe.

Tyndareos, Helen, Kastor and Polydeukes.—Tyndareos was expelled from Sparta by his brothers, and, until restored to his kingdom by Herakles, he took refuge with Thestios, king of the Aitolians, whose daughter, Leda, he married.

The story of the birth of his daughter, Helen, is variously told. The version most widely known is that which depicts Leda as a human being approached by Zeus in the guise of a swan, Helen, the offspring of this union, being therefore Leda's own child. A late version, on the other hand, represents her as the daughter of Nemesis. It seems that Nemesis, after taking various other forms in order to elude the amorous pursuit of Zeus, finally assumed that of a swan, but by appearing in the same shape Zeus deceived her. After the manner of birds she laid an egg which was found by a peasant (or by