Leleges
Pre-Hellenic Aegean people, Trojan allies in Homer.
The Leleges were an aboriginal people of the Aegean region, predating the arrival of the Greeks. They are distinguished from another pre-Hellenic group, the Pelasgians, and are mentioned in Homer's Iliad as allies of the Trojans.
Quick Facts
- Mentioned in
- Homer's Iliad
- Allies of
- Trojans
- King
- Altes
- City
- Pedasus
- Distinct from
- Pelasgians
- Associated with
- Carians
Facts from the source article.
Etymology
The name Leleges is thought to be an exonym, originating from a long-extinct language, rather than an endonym. In Luwian and other Anatolian languages, the word lulahi apparently meant "strangers. A Hittite cuneiform inscription directs priests and temple servants to avoid conversing with lulahi and foreign merchants. Vitaly Shevoroshkin suggested that an attempt to transliterate lulahi into Greek might result in leleges.
Ancient sources on Leleges
In Homer's Iliad, the Leleges are allies of the Trojans, though they do not appear in the formal catalogue of allies in Book II, and their homeland is not specified. They are distinguished from the Carians, with whom some later writers confused them. Their king is Altes, and their city Pedasus was sacked by Achilles. The topographical name Pedasus occurs in several ancient places, including near Cyzicus, in the Troad on the Satniois River, in Caria, and in Messenia. Gargara in the Troad was counted as Lelegian. Alcaeus called Antandrus in the Troad "Lelegian," but later Herodotus substituted the epithet "Pelasgian." According to Homer, the Leleges were a distinct Anatolian tribe, yet Herodotus states that Leleges had been an early name for the Carians. Pherecydes of Athens attributed to the Leleges the coast land of Caria from Ephesus to Phocaea, with the islands of Samos and Chios, placing the true Carians farther south. Pausanias noted that the pre-Ionic inhabitants of Ephesus were Leleges and Lydians, and that the temple of Artemis there predated the Ionian colony.
More in Characters in the Iliad
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