HERO

The tale of Hero and Leander is one of Greek mythology’s most tragic love stories. Although a relatively minor myth, it remains enduringly popular and has caught the imagination of writers and artists through the ages.

Geography plays an important part in the myth of Hero. An exceptionally beautiful young woman, Hero, lived in the city of Sestos in Thrace (modern Turkey). Sestos stood on the shore at the narrowest point of a strait called the Hellespont, now known as the Dardanelles. On the opposite shore stood another city, Abydos, in the western Asian region of Dardania. The Hellespont, which divides Europe from Asia, took its name from a young girl named Helle. She had fallen into the strait and drowned while flying over it on the back of a magical ram, whose golden fleece featured in the story ofJason and the Argonauts.

Hero was a priestess of the goddess Aphrodite. Her name comes from the ancient Greek word heros, meaning “hero,” which was used to describe men or women who were honored after their death. Hero dedicated her life to serving the goddess Aphrodite, making sacrifices to her and worshiping her in a temple. Since Aphrodite was the deity of love, Hero might have been expected to celebrate the goddess by being in love herself. Instead, according to the wishes of her parents, she lived alone in a high stone tower, with only an old maidservant to look after her. She kept away from boys, and also from other girls her own age, fearing that they would be jealous of her beauty.

Parties, Hero had to take part in the festival since she was a priestess of Aphrodite. Many people came to the festival, some traveling great distances. All the young men were amazed at Hero’s beauty and talked about how they would love to marry her. One youth, Leander, approached Hero in silence, showing his feelings for her only in his face and his gestures, and in this way they fell in love.

When he did finally speak, Leander told Hero that he came from Abydos, the city on the opposite shore from Sestos. He said that if she lit a lamp in her tower late at night, he would swim across the Hellespont to visit her in secret, using the light to guide him. Leander assured her that Aphrodite would approve of their relationship, to which Hero agreed. Every evening Hero lit a lamp in the tower, and Leander, seeing it from Abydos, swam across the water to spend the night with her. He always swam back before dawn so as not to be discovered by Hero’s parents.