Ladon in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Ladon

5 passages from 3 ancient authors that tell of Ladon, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Ladon was the name of a monster in Greek dragon, the guardian of the Golden Apples in the Garden of the Hesperides. Different characters have been nam... For the story in one place, read our article on Ladon.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.689–746Pan and Syrinx; the death of ArgusHermes (Mercury) tells how the nymph Syrinx fled from Pan to the river Ladon and was turned into reeds, from which Pan made his pipes. Argus falls asleep and Hermes kills him, and Hera (Juno) sets his eyes in the tail of the peacock. She then torments Io until Zeus (Jupiter) promises to leave her alone, and Io is restored to her old shape.

Pausanias (3)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.25.1–13Thelpusa: Demeter Fury, Poseidon and the horse ArionPausanias follows the road from Psophis to Thelpusa and the course of the Ladon, noting the sanctuary of Eleusinian Demeter and the temples of Aesculapius and the Twelve Gods. At Onceum he describes Demeter Fury and Lusia, with the story that Demeter, turned into a mare, was taken by Poseidon in the form of a horse and bore the horse Arion, and he cites the Iliad, the Thebaid and Antimachus on Arion and Adrastus. He also mentions the sanctuary of the Boy Aesculapius and the tomb of Trygon, and the confluence of the Ladon with the Alpheus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.19.1–8.20.4Cynaethae and the Ladon: the Dionysus bull rite, the spring Alyssus and DaphnePausanias describes the Arcadian people of Cynaethae, with their winter festival of Dionysus, at which men grease their bodies and carry a chosen bull to the sanctuary, and the spring Alyssus that heals those bitten by mad dogs. He then follows the road from Pheneus to Clitor, beside the channel of Hercules, to the springs of the Ladon. He recounts the Arcadian and Elean story of Daphne, in which Leucippus disguised himself as a girl to win her, and was discovered and killed by her and her companions at the Ladon.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.21.1–8.22.9Clitor and Stymphalus: the singing fish, Hera's three titles and the Stymphalian birdsPausanias describes Clitor with its sanctuaries of Demeter, Aesculapius and Ilithyia, and the spotted fish of the Aroanius, which are said to sing at sunset. He then turns to Stymphalus, a member of the Argive confederacy, where Temenus is said to have raised Hera and named her Child, Full-grown and Widow. He gives the course of the river Stymphalus, the man-eating birds shot or scared off by Hercules and the birds of Arabia of the same name, the sanctuary of Stymphalian Artemis with its bird figures, and the lake that drained into a chasm when a deer and its huntsman fell in.

Strabo (1)

Strabo, Geography 8.8.1–5Arcadia: mountains, lakes and StymphalusStrabo describes Arcadia, the oldest people of Greece, its mountains such as Cyllene and Lycaeum, and the cities that became ruined or merged into Megalopolis. He mentions the temples of the Alaean Athena (Minerva) and the Lycaean Zeus (Jupiter). He explains the vanishing rivers of Stymphalus and Pheneus, the Styx near Pheneus, and the colony founders who followed the Heracleidae.