Lacaedemon (Ancient Greek: Λακεδαίμων Lakedaímōn) or Lacaedemon was the eponymous king of Lacedaemon (i.e. Sparta) in classical Greek mythology.

Family

Lacedaemon was the son of Zeus and the Pleiad Taygete. By Princess Sparta, the daughter of former King Eurotas, he was the father of his heir Amyclas and Eurydice, wife of King Acrisius of Argos. In a rare version of the myth, Taygete was the wife of Lacedaemon and their children were Himerus and Cleodice.

Mythology

Unable to produce a male heir, King Eurotas bequeathed the kingdom to Lacedaemon, who then renamed the state after his wife, Sparta (the daughter of Eurotas) in either 1539 BC or the mid to late 1300s Lacedemon was credited to be the founder of the sanctuary of the Graces, Cleta and Phaenna, near the river Tiasa.