LECTUM
LECTUM (
τὸ Λεκτόν), a promontory in the south-west of Troas, opposite the island of Lesbos.
It forms the south-western termination of Mount Ida. (
Hom. Il. 14.294;
Hdt. 9.114;
Thuc. 8.101;
Ptol. 5.2.4;
Plin. Nat. 5.32;
Liv. 37.37.)
In the time of Strabo (
xiii. p.605, comp. p. 583) there was shown on Cape Lectum an altar, said to have been erected by Agamemnon to the twelve great gods; but this very number is a proof of the late origin of the altar. Under the Byzantine emperors, Lectum was the northernmost point of the province of Asia. (Hierocl. p. 659.) Athenaeus (iii. p. 88) states that the purple shell-fish, found near Lectum as well as near Sigeum, was of a large size.
The modern name of Lectum is
Baba, or
Santa Maria. [
L.S]
