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InGreek mythology,Leda(/ˈliːdə,ˈleɪ-/;Ancient Greek:Λήδα[lɛ́ːdaː]) was anAetolianprincess who became aSpartanqueen. According toOvid,she was famed for her beautiful black hair and snowy skin.[1]Her myth gave rise to the popular motif inRenaissanceand later art ofLeda and the Swan.
Family
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Leda was the daughter of the AetolianKing Thestiushence she was also called Thestias.[2]Her mother was possiblyLeucippe,[3]Deidameia,daughter ofPerieres,[4]Eurythemis,daughter ofCleoboea,[5]orLaophonte,daughter ofPleuron.[6]According toAlcman,Leda's parents wereGlaucusand Laophonte[6]whileEumelusattested that they areSisyphusand Panteiduia or Paneidyia.[7]
She married kingTyndareusofSpartaand by him became the mother ofHelen of Troy,Clytemnestra,Castor,andPollux(also called "Polydeuces" ). Leda also had three other daughters byTyndareus:Timandra,Phoebe,andPhilonoe.
Mythology
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Leda was admired byZeus,who seduced her in the guise of aswan.As a swan, Zeus fell into her arms for protection from a pursuing eagle. Their consummation, on the same night as Leda lay with her husband Tyndareus, resulted in two eggs from which hatched Helen (later known as the beautiful "Helen of Troy"), Clytemnestra, and Castor and Pollux (also known as theDioscuri). Which children are the progeny of Tyndareus the mortal king, and which are of Zeus and thus half-immortal, is not consistent among accounts, nor is which child hatched from which egg. The split is almost always half mortal, half divine, although the pairings do not always reflect the children's heritage pairings. Castor and Pollux are sometimes both mortal, sometimes both divine. One consistent point is that if only one of them is immortal, it is Pollux. It is also always stated that Helen is the daughter of Zeus.
In Homer'sIliad,Helen looks down from the walls ofTroyand wonders why she does not see her brothers among theAchaeans.The narrator remarks that they are both already dead and buried back in their homeland ofLacedaemon,thus suggesting that at least in the Homeric tradition, both were mortal.
Another account of the myth states thatNemesis(Νέμεσις) was the mother of Helen, and was also impregnated by Zeus in the guise of a swan. A shepherd found the egg and gave it to Leda, who carefully kept it in a chest until the egg hatched. When the egg hatched, Leda adopted Helen as her daughter. Zeus also commemorated the birth of Helen by creating the constellationCygnus(Κύκνος), the Swan, in the sky.
In art
editLeda and the Swan,Leda and the Egg, and Leda with her children were popular subjects in ancient art. In the post-classical arts,it became a potent source of inspiration. It is the subject ofWilliam Butler Yeats' poemLeda and the Swan.She is also the main subject inHonoré Desmond Sharrer's"Leda & the Folks", a large painting focusing as well on the parents of entertainerElvis Presleyand currently located at theSmith College Museum of Art.
Australian artistSidney Nolanproduced at least a dozen interpretations of Leda and the Swan in the 1950s and 1960s, connected with his work on the myths of theTrojan WarandWorld War I.[8]
In October 2022, the myth inspiredHozierto write a song in response to theDobbs v. Jacksondecision by theSupreme Court of the United States,which repealedRoe v. Wade.The song is calledSwan Upon Leda.[9]
Genealogy
editThis sectionneeds additional citations forverification.(March 2024) |
| Relation | Name | Sources | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hom. | Hom. Hymns | Eum. | Alc. | Pher. | Aes. | Eur. | Sch. on Apollon. | Dio. | Str. | Dic. | Apollod. | Hyg. | Luc. | Clement | Fulgentius | |||||
| Parentage | Thestius and Laophonte | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||||||
| Thestius and Deidameia | ✓ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Thestius and Eurythemis | ✓ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Thestius and Leucippe | ✓[10] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Glaucus and Laophonte | ✓ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Sisyphus and Panteiduia | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Thestius | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Siblings | Iphiclus | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||||||
| Althaea | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||||||
| Plexippus | ✓ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Eurypylus | ✓ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Evippus | ✓ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Hypermnestra | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Seducer (disguised) | Zeus | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||
| Consort | Tyndareus | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||
| Children | Castor | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓[11] | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Polydeuces | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓[11] | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Helen | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓[12] | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||
| Clytemnestra | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||||||||||
| Timandra | ✓ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Phoebe | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||||||||||
| Philonoe | ✓ | |||||||||||||||||||
| Name | Relation | Name | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Epicaste | Great-grandmother (Demonice's mother) | Iphiclus | Brother |
| Agenor | Great-grandfather (Demonice's father) | Helen of Troy | Daughter/great aunt (Ares' sister) |
| Zeus | Lover/great-grandfather (Ares' father) | Clytemnestra | Daughter |
| Hera | Great-grandmother (Ares' mother) | Pollux | Son/great uncle (Ares' brother) |
| Ares | Grandfather (Thestius's father) | Timandra | Daughter |
| Demonice | Grandmother (Thestius' mother) | Philonoe | Daughter |
| Cleoboea | Grandmother (Eurythemis' mother) | Castor | Son/great uncle (Ares' brother) |
| Thestius | Father | Phoebe | Daughter |
| Eurythemis | Mother | Ladocus | Grandson (Timandra's son) |
| Evenus | Uncle | Iphigenia | Granddaughter (Clytemnestra's daughter) |
| Molus | Uncle | Aletes | Grandson (Clytemnestra's son) |
| Pylus | Uncle | Orestes | Grandson (Clytemnestra's son) |
| Marpessa | Cousin (Evenus' daughter) | Erigone | Granddaughter (Clytemnestra's daughter) |
| Tyndareus | Husband/Second-Cousin (Zeus's Great-Grandson) | Hermione | Granddaughter/first cousin once removed (Helen's daughter) |
| Althaea | Sister | Nicostratus | Grandson/first cousin once removed (Helen's son) |
| Eurypylus | Brother | Electra | Granddaughter (Clytemnestra's daughter) |
| Hypermnestra | Sister | Anaxias | Grandson (Castor's son) |
| Plexippus | Brother | Mnasinus | Grandson/first cousin once removed (Pollux's son) |
| Toxeus | Brother |
Notes
edit- ^Ovid.The Amores. Book II Elegy IV.
- ^Apollodorus,3.10.5;Pausanias,3.13.8;Euripides,Iphigenia at Aulis49
- ^Hyginus,Fabulae14
- ^ScholiaonApollonius Rhodius,201
- ^Apollodorus,1.7.10
- ^abAlcman,fr.15 as cited in Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, 1.146
- ^Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, 1.146 as cited in Lyric Poets.Eumelus,Life
- ^"Leda and swan, 1958 by Sidney Nolan".www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au.Retrieved2022-11-13.
- ^"'Swan Upon Leda' Review: For Hozier, Oppression and Resistance are Mythical and Mundane ".www.thecrimson.com.Retrieved2023-03-23.
- ^Leda's and Hypermnestra's mother might be Leucippe as well because there was no other woman mentioned as the wife of Thestius other than Leucippe in this text.
- ^abThough unnamed but certainly pertained to him
- ^Though unnamed but certainly pertained to her
References
edit- Apollodorus,The Librarywith 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. ISBN 0-674-99135-4.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website.
- Gaius Julius Hyginus,Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginustranslated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies.Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- March, J. (1999).Cassell's Dictionary Of Classical Mythology.London.ISBN0-304-35161-X.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Peck, H. (1898).Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities.
External links
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Media related toLedaat Wikimedia Commons- Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 200 images of Leda)Archived2015-04-10 at theWayback Machine
