Leuctrides

In Greek legendary history, the Leuctrides (αἱ Λευκτρίδες) were two maidens from the neighborhood of Leuctra, Boeotia, daughters of either Scedasus or Leuctrus (the eponym of Leuctra),^[1] to whose curse the historical disastrous defeat of the Spartan army in the Battle of Leuctra was attributed.

^ Scedasus in the accounts of Pausanias (9. 13. 5), Plutarch, Love Stories, 3; Leuctrus in Plutarch, On the Maliciousness of Herodotus, 11. Diodorus Siculus (15. 54. 3) seems to imply that two sets of maidens, the daughters of Scedasus and the daughters of Leuctrus, were involved. The surname Leuctrides may accordingly derive either from the placename, as suggested by Plutarch (Pelopidas 20. 3), or from the father's name. For Leuctrus as the eponym of Leuctra, see also Etymologicum Magnum 561. 50.

[1] Scedasus in the accounts of Pausanias (9. 13. 5), Plutarch, Love Stories, 3; Leuctrus in Plutarch, On the Maliciousness of Herodotus, 11. Diodorus Siculus (15. 54. 3) seems to imply that two sets of maidens, the daughters of Scedasus and the daughters of Leuctrus, were involved. The surname Leuctrides may accordingly derive either from the placename, as suggested by Plutarch (Pelopidas 20. 3), or from the father's name. For Leuctrus as the eponym of Leuctra, see also Etymologicum Magnum 561. 50.

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