Lēda, ae, and Lēdē, ēs, f., = Λήδα,
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, Ledaean .
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 Amyclaean (because Castor and Pollux were born at Amyclae): Xanthippus, Sil. 4, 358.