LYCASTUS
LYCASTUS (
Λύκαστος: Eth.
Λυκάστιος), a town of Crete, mentioned in the Homeric catalogue (
Il. 2.647; comp. Pomp. Mela, 2.7.13;
Plin. Nat. 4.12). Strabo (
x. p.479) says that it had entirely disappeared, having been conquered and destroyed by the Cnossians.
According to Polybius (
23.15) the Lycastian district was afterwards wrested from Cnossus by the Gortynians, who gave it to the neighbouring town of Rhaucus. In Mr. Pashley's map the site is fixed at
Kaenúria. (Höck,
Kreta, vol. i. pp. 15, 414.)
[
E.B.J]
