View source for Eurotas

{{About|a mythical king of southern Greece|other uses of Eurotas|Eurotas (disambiguation)}}{{Infobox deity
| type = Greek
| name = Eurotas
| image = Eurotas evlahos.jpg
| caption = Eurotas, from the modern monument of [[Leonidas I]], [[Thermopylae]]
| deity_of = King of [[Laconia]]<ref>{{cite book | first=Irad | last=Malkin | title=Myth and territory in the Spartan Mediterranean | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1994 | page=6 | url=http://assets.cambridge.org/97805214/11837/sample/9780521411837ws.pdf}}</ref>
| abode = Laconia
| consort = ?Clete
| parents = (a) Myles<br>(b) [[Lelex (king of Sparta)|Lelex]] and [[Cleocharia]]<br>(c) Lelex and [[Taygete]]
| siblings = ''unknown''
| children = [[Sparta (mythology)|Sparta]] and [[Tiasa]]
| successor = [[Lacedaemon (mythology)|Lacedaemon]]
| predecessor = [[Myles]]
| member_of = the [[Spartan|Sparta]] Royal Family
| other_names = 
}}
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Eurotas''' ({{IPAc-en|j|ʊəˈr|oʊ|t|ə|s}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Εὐρώτας) was a king of [[Laconia]].
== Family ==
[[File:Paphos Haus des Aion - Leda 3 Eurotas.jpg|thumb|Eurotas with his daughter [[Sparta (mythology)|Sparta]]|left|257x257px]]
Eurotas was the son of King [[Myles]] of Laconia and grandson of [[Lelex]], [[eponym]]ous ancestor of the [[Leleges]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:3.1.1 3.1.1].</ref> The ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' gave a slight variant of the mythological generation of Eurotas, who was described as the son of Lelex, born from the ground, by his wife [[Cleocharia]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 3.10.3</ref> In some accounts, his mother was called [[Taygete]] instead.<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Pindar]], ''Pythian Odes'' 4.15; ''Olympian Odes'' 6.46; Scholia ad [[Lycophron]], 886</ref> Eurotas had no male heir but he did have two daughters [[Sparta (mythology)|Sparta]] and [[Tiasa]]<ref>Pausanias, 3.18.6</ref> by [[Cleta|Clete]]{{Citation required|date=August 2022}}.

== Mythology ==
Eurotas bequeathed the kingdom to [[Lacedaemon (mythology)|Lacedaemon]], the son of Zeus and Taygete, after whom Mount [[Taygetus]] was named, according to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]].<ref name="Paus_3.1.1">Pausanias, 3.1.2</ref> This Lacedaemon married his daughter Sparta and renamed the state after his wife.

Pausanias says: "It was Eurotas who channelled away the marsh-water from the plains by cutting through to the sea, and when the land was drained he called the river which was left running there the [[Eurotas (river)|Eurotas]]."<ref name=Paus_3.1.1/> The "cutting through" is seen by Pausanias’ translator and commentator, Peter Levy, S.J., as an explanation of Eurotas (or Vrodamas) Canyon, a ravine north of [[Skala, Laconia|Skala]] where the river has cut through the foothills of Taygetus after changing direction to the west of the valley.<ref>{{cite book | author=Pausanias | translator=[[Peter Levi]]| title=Pausanias Guide to Greece | year=1971 | publisher=Penguin Books | volume=2, Southern Greece | page=10 Note 3}}</ref>

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg}}
{{succession box
| title = [[List of kings of Sparta|King of Sparta]]
| before = [[Myles]]
| after = [[Lacedaemon (mythology)|Lacedaemon]]
| years = Pre-[[Dorians|Dorian]]
}}
{{s-end}}

==Eurotas in art==
[[River gods]] are typically represented in Greek art, such as coin motifs, as figures with the bodies of bulls and the faces of humans. If only the face appears, they might wear horns and have wavy hair or be accompanied by fish. [[Claudius Aelianus]] states that the Eurotas and other rivers are like bulls.<ref>{{cite book | first=Maxime | last=Collignon | first2=Jane E. (Translator, Contributor) | last2=Harrison | edition=New and Cheaper Revised | title=Manual of Mythology in Relation to Greek Art | location=London | publisher=H. Grevel & Co | year=1899 | page=204 | url=http://scans.library.utoronto.ca/pdf/1/38/manualofmytholog00colluoft/manualofmytholog00colluoft_bw.pdf | access-date=2011-08-23 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225957/http://scans.library.utoronto.ca/pdf/1/38/manualofmytholog00colluoft/manualofmytholog00colluoft_bw.pdf | archive-date=2016-03-03 | url-status=dead }} on Aelian, ''Variae Historiae'', 2.33.</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==

* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.  [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Pseudo-Apollodorus]], ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Kings of Sparta}}

[[Category:Mythological kings of Laconia]]
[[Category:Mythological Laconians]]
[[Category:Princes in Greek mythology]]