Mythology and folklore are littered with tales of young lovers thwarted by circumstance—usually because their parents or society condemns the relationship—but who refuse to be separated by death. Hero came from Thrace, which was part of the Greek empire, while Leander came from Dardania, part of the Persian empire. Between 492 and 449 BCE the Greeks were involved in a series of wars
Above: A second-century-CE Roman mosaic, in Dougga, Tunisia, depicts Leander swimming, surrounded by Nereids (sea nymphs) and the heads of the four winds.
Against the Persian Empire to keep their independence. This historical background suggests that neither the inhabitants of Sestos nor of Abydos—both of which stand as ruins today—would support a love affair between citizens from either city, and that Hero and Leander’s love was in opposition to their societies’ wishes.
Other stories with the theme of thwarted love include the Greek myth of Pyramus and Thisbe and the Indian tale of Khamba and Thoibi. Pyramus and Thisbe grew up as neighbors and fell in love, but both sets of parents forbade them from being together. Instead, they agreed to meet in secret, but Pyramus, finding Thisbe’s bloody veil on the ground, believed she had been eaten by a lion and so killed himself. Thisbe, on finding Pyramus’s body, decided to kill herself, too. In contrast, Khamba and Thoibi’s love for each other promised to unite their clans, the Khumals and the Moirangs, but the Moirangs’ chief rejected their marriage out ofjealousy or spite. The lovers killed themselves and
Lord Byron and Leander
English romantic poet Lord Byron (1788-1824) was alive at a time when many artists and poets were especially interested in tales from Greek mythology. An adventurer who traveled a great deal, Byron decided to try to swim the Hellespont himself while on a tour of Europe in 1810. He undertook the challenge along with his friend Lieutenant William Ekenhead, who was a member of the British Navy and a good swimmer. It took the pair two attempts, but on May 3, 1810, they succeeded. Although at its narrowest point the Hellespont is less than a mile wide, because of strong currents the two men swam a total of 4 miles (6.5 km). Their swim took them just over one hour.
Byron was hugely proud of his achievement and recorded it in the poem "Written After Swimming From Sestos to Abydos." He also mentioned the feat in his long comic poem, Don Juan, in which he wrote:
A better swimmer you could scarce see ever,
He could, perhaps, have pass'd the Hellespont,
As once (a feat on which ourselves we prided)
Leander, Mr. Ekenhead, and I did.
War broke out. The doomed lovers and warring families have parallels with the tale of Romeo and Juliet, which was used in a play by William Shakespeare (1564—1616).
The lovers in these stories are star-crossed, meaning that fate obstructs their love. Some writers have interpreted such myths as reminders that happiness is temporary and that death comes to everyone. Other people have observed that, by dying together when young, the lovers preserve their love for all eternity instead of letting it grow stale. They argue that the appeal of the stories lies in the universal recognition of the passion and power of young love.
Below: This painting, Hero Holding the Beacon for Leander, is by
English artist Evelyn De Morgan (c. 1850—1919).
World History
