I.the daughter of Thestius, and wife of Tyndarus; she bore by Jupiter, who visited her in the form of a swan, two eggs, from one of which came Pollux and Helen, and from the other Castor and Clytemnestra, Ov. H. 17, 55; id. M. 6, 109; Hyg. Fab. 77: “pueri Ledae,” i. e. Castor and Pollux, Hor. C. 1, 12, 25.—She was deified after her death, under the name of Nemesis, Lact. 1, 21: “Lede,” Ov. Am. 1, 10, 3: chironomon Ledam saltare, i. e. in the part of Leda in a pantomime, Juv. 6, 63.—Hence,
II. Lēdaeus , a, um, adj., of or belonging to Leda, Ledæan.
A. Lit.: “Ledaei dei,” i. e. Castor and Pollux, Ov. F. 1, 706; also, “Lacones,” Mart. 1, 37, 2: “Helena,” Verg. A. 7, 364: “Hermione (as granddaughter of Leda),” id. ib. 3, 328: “ovum,” a swan's egg, Mart. 8, 33, 21; cf. “olores,” id. 1, 54, 8: “Timavus, because Castor, on the return of the Argonauts, let his horse Cyllarus drink of it,” id. 4, 25, 5; cf. “Cyllarus,” Stat. S. 1, 1, 54: “astrum,” i. e. Castor and Pollux, Mart. 8, 21, 5.—
B. Poet., transf.
1. Spartan: “Phalantum,” Tarentum, founded by the Spartan Phalantus, Mart. 8, 28, 3: “gurges,” i. e. of the Eurotas, Stat. S. 2, 6, 45. —
2. Amyclæan (because Castor and Pollux were born at Amyclæ): “Xanthippus,” Sil. 4, 358.
