Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Leda (;

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Λήδα ), also rendered Lede, was an Aetolian princess who became

queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

through her marriage to King Tyndareus.

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

fell in love with Leda, and to avoid his wife

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

's jealousy, raped her while disguised as a

swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

. Leda was named as the mother of four famous children in Greek mythology:

Helen of Troy Helen (), also known as Helen of Troy, or Helen of Sparta, and in Latin as Helena, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda (mythology), ...

, Clytemnestra, and the twins

Castor and Pollux Castor and Pollux (or Polydeuces) are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri or Dioskouroi. Their mother was Leda, but they had different fathers; Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, the king of ...

. Leda and the Swan was a popular motif in the visual arts, particularly during the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

Family

Leda is most commonly named as a daughter of the Aetolian king Thestius,

Apollodorus Apollodorus ( Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: :''Note: A ...

, ''

Library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

''
3.10
/ref>

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

, ''

Iphigenia in Aulis ''Iphigenia in Aulis'' or ''Iphigenia at Aulis'' (; variously translated, including the Latin ''Iphigenia in Aulide'') is the last of the extant works by the playwright Euripides. Written between 408, after ''Orestes'', and 406 BC, the year of Eu ...

''
49
/ref> son of

Ares Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...

, and was occasionally referred to as Thestias. Her mother is disputed, and could have been Leucippe,

Hyginus Hyginus may refer to: People *Hyginus, the author of the '' Fabulae'', an important ancient Latin source for Greek mythology. *Hyginus, the author of the ''Astronomia'', a popular ancient Latin guide on astronomy, probably the same as the author ...

, ''

Fabulae The ''Fabulae'' is a Latin handbook of mythology, attributed to an author named Hyginus, who is generally believed to have been separate from Gaius Julius Hyginus. The work consists of some three hundred very brief and plainly, even crudely, told ...

''
14.3
/ref> Deidameia, daughter of Perieres, Eurythemis, daughter of Cleoboea,

, ''

''
1.7.10
/ref> or Laophonte, daughter of Pleuron.

Alcman Alcman (; ''Alkmán''; fl. 7th century BC) was an Ancient Greek choral lyric poet from Sparta. He is the earliest representative of the Alexandrian canon of the Nine Lyric Poets. He wrote six books of choral poetry, most of which is now lost; h ...

, fr .15 as cited in Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, 1.146 According to

, Leda's parents were Glaucus and Laophonte while Eumelus attested that they were

Sisyphus In Greek mythology, Sisyphus or Sisyphos (; Ancient Greek: Σίσυφος ''Sísyphos'') was the founder and king of Ancient Corinth, Ephyra (now known as Corinth). He reveals Zeus's abduction of Aegina (mythology), Aegina to the river god As ...

and Panteiduia or Paneidyia. Leda had up to six siblings, although several authors give differing accounts and name fewer siblings.

named two sisters: Althaea and Hypermnestra, and four brothers: Iphiclus,

Plexippus In Greek mythology, Plexippus or Plexippos (Ancient Greek: Πλήξιππος means "striking") is a name that refers to: * Plexippus, a Pleuron (Aetolia), Pleuronian prince as the son of King Thestius of Pleuron, Aetolia, Pleuron and Eurythemis, ...

Eurypylus In Greek mythology, Eurypylus (; ) was the name of several different people: * Eurypylus, was a Thessalian king, son of Euaemon and Ops. He was a former suitor of Helen thus he led the Thessalians during Trojan War. * Eurypylus, was son of T ...

, and Evippus. In his ''

'',

named Iphiclus and Althaea as Leda's only siblings. Althaea is almost always named as Leda's sister. She married king Tyndareus of

and by him became the mother of three daughters: Phoebe, Timandra, and Philonoe. She also bore four additional children by both Zeus and Tyndareus:

, Clytemnestra,

, ''

''
77
/ref> and the twins

. Leda laid with Tyndareus the same night she copulated with Zeus, and Pollux and Helen were children of Zeus while Clytemnestra and Castor were children of Tyndareus. This explains why Castor was frequently described as mortal while Pollux was described as immortal.

Mythology

Myths Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

surrounding Leda typically concern her rape by

and the birth of her children Helen, Clytemnestra, and

. While married to Tyndareus, Zeus began to covet her. In order to take her without alerting his wife

, Zeus devised a plot. He shapeshifted and pretended to be an injured swan fleeing from an

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

, which he used as a pretext to fall into Leda's lap, where he then assaulted her.

writes that this event took place near the river

Eurotas In Greek mythology, Eurotas (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρώτας) was a king of Laconia. Family Eurotas was the son of King Myles of Laconia and grandson of Lelex, eponymous ancestor of the Leleges. The ''Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus), Bibliothe ...

. Later the same day, Leda laid with Tyndareus as well. Resultingly, Helen and Pollux were children of Zeus, and Clytemnestra and Castor were children of Tyndareus. Leda is commonly described as giving birth to a set of two eggs: one that Helen and Pollux emerged from, and one that Castor and Clytemnestra emerged from. However, some accounts do not mention Leda laying eggs. Another version of the myth states that the goddess

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion and myth, Nemesis (; ) also called Rhamnousia (or Rhamnusia; ), was the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods. Etymology The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the Greek ...

(Νέμεσις) was instead the mother of Helen, and was also impregnated by Zeus in the guise of a swan. After copulating with Zeus, she laid an egg; a shepherd found the egg and gave it to Leda, who carefully kept it in a chest until the egg hatched. Helen was born from the egg, and Leda raised her as her own daughter. Stasinus of Cyprus or Hegesias of

Aegina Aegina (; ; ) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina (mythology), Aegina, the mother of the mythological hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and became its king. ...

, ''

Cypria The ''Cypria'' (; ; ) is a lost epic poem of ancient Greek literature, which has been attributed to Stasinus and was quite well known in classical antiquity and fixed in a received text, but which subsequently was lost to view. It was part of ...

'' Fragmen
8
/ref> Zeus commemorated the birth of Helen by creating the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

Cygnus (Κύκνος).

In art

Leda and the Swan, Leda and the Egg, and Leda with her children were and continue to be popular subjects in the arts; they were particularly popular during the Classical period and the

. Leda has been depicted by

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

, Cy Twombly, Edouard Houssin, Salvador Dali,

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...

, and

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

. She is also the main subject of Honoré Desmond Sharrer's "Leda & the Folks," a large,

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

that depicts portraits of both Leda and

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

's parents. Australian artist Sidney Nolan produced at least a dozen interpretations of Leda and the Swan in the 1950s and 1960s, connected with his work on the myths of the

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

and

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. She is the subject of

William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th century in literature, 20th-century literature. He was ...

Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

poem Leda and the Swan. In October 2022, the myth inspired Hozier to write a song in response to the '' Dobbs v. Jackson'' decision by the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

, which repealed ''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protected the right to have an ...

''. The song is called ''Swan Upon Leda''.

Notes

References

, ''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. ISBN 0-674-99135-4
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
*

Gaius Julius Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Augustus, and reputed author of the '' Fabulae'' and the '' De astronomia'', although this is disputed. Life and works ...

, ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* *

External links

*
Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (ca 200 images of Leda)
{{Authority control Princesses in Greek mythology Queens in Greek mythology Family of Calyce (mythology) Mortal women of Zeus Mythological rape victims Mythological Aetolians Laconian mythology Ancient Spartan queens consort