Galatea

A daughter of Eurytius, and the wife of Lamprus, at Phaestus in Crete. Her husband, desirous of having a son, ordered her, if she should give birth to a daughter, to kill the infant. Galatea gave birth to a daughter, but, unable to comply with the cruel command of Lamprus, she was induced by dreams and soothsayers to bring up the child in the disguise of a boy, and under the name of Leucippus.

When the maiden had thus grown up, Galatea, dreading the discovery of the secret and the anger of her husband, took refuge with her daughter in a temple of Leto, and prayed the goddess to change the girl into a youth. Leto granted the request, and hence the Phaestians offered up sacrifices to Leto Phytia (i.e. the creator), and celebrated a festival called ὲκδύσια (ekdysia), in commemoration of the maiden having put off her female attire.

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References

Sources

  • Antoninus Liberalis, 17.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.