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Leucothoe, a MythSource painting
Greek

Leucothoe

01Identity

Leucothoe in Greek tradition

Leucothoe is the daughter of Orchamus, king of the Achaemenian cities. While the Sun's horses rested beneath the western sky, Apollo entered her chamber in the shape of her mother, Eurynome. Once her attendants had left, he revealed that he was the god who sees all things and told Leucothoe that she pleased him. She was startled, but his beauty overcame her fear, and she accepted his embrace.

Later, the Sun found Leucothoe's body cold and tried to restore its warmth with his rays. He could not revive her. He spread fragrant nectar over her body and the ground, promising that she would reach the heavens. Her body dissolved into the earth, and a shoot of frankincense rose through the mound. The ready source snapshot does not include the intervening cause of death, so this profile makes no claim about it. Leucothoe's reference page focuses on her part in the shared story and links to its canonical account on Apollo's page.

SourceThe Metamorphoses of Ovid, Apollo, Leucothoe, and Clytie, printed pp. 128–130

Top questions

The quick answers

02The myths

The myths of Leucothoe

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Apollo, Leucothoe, and Clytie

Night has come to the Sun's western pastures when he enters Leucothoe's chamber in the shape of her mother, Eurynome. He sends the handmaids away and tells the young woman who he is. She is frightened; the distaff and spindle fall from her hands. He returns to his own form. Startled, she yields to his embrace, overcome by his beauty.

Clytie envies Leucothoe and tells her father, Orchamus, about the encounter. He responds by burying his daughter alive beneath heavy earth. Leucothoe stretches her hands towards the sunlight and cries that the Sun offered violence to her against her will. The Sun scatters the sand and opens a way, but she cannot lift her head beneath the weight. The poem gives both the earlier account of her yielding and her later cry of force, without reconciling them.

The Sun tries to warm her cold limbs, but fate resists. He pours fragrant nectar over her body and the ground, promising that she will still reach the sky. Her body dissolves into the earth's juices; from them a frankincense shoot takes root, rises, and breaks through the mound. The change gives Leucothoe a form that can grow upward where she was buried.

Apollo, Leucothoe, and Clytie, a MythSource painting of the scene

3 sources· checked 2026-10-01

  1. 1The Metamorphoses of OvidT1
  2. 2The Metamorphoses of OvidT1
  3. 3The Metamorphoses of OvidT1

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Leucothoe, each on that figure’s page.