Lelante
# Lelante

In Greek mythology, Lelante (Ancient Greek: Ληλάντη, romanized: Lēlántē) is a minor figure, a queen of the Molossians, who was transformed into a bird by the will of Zeus, the god of justice, in order to escape a fiery death.

## Family

She was the wife of the Molossian king Munichus and the mother by him of three sons, Philaeus, Alcander and Megaletor, and of a daughter Hyperippe.

## Mythology

The entire family was seen as just and righteous and therefore especially favored by the gods. One day raiders attacked them in the fields; the family ran off to their house and began to throw various objects at them in self-defense, whereupon the offenders set the house ablaze. The god of justice, Zeus would not let his favourites suffer such a cruel and undeserving death that he changed them all six of them into various birds; Lelante became a green woodpecker.

