Irlandos at 10:40, November 22, 2006

2006-11-22T10:40:15Z

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In [[Greek mythology]], '''Leda''' was the daughter of the [[Aetolia]]n king [[Thestius]], and the wife of [[Tyndareus]], the king of Sparta.

Leda was loved by [[Zeus]], who seduced her in the guise of a swan. 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 the [[Dioscuri]] - also spelled Kastor and Polydeuces). Which children are the progeny of Tynadareus - the mortal king, and which are of Zeus, and are 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 Polydeuces are sometimes both mortal, sometimes both divine. One consistent point is that if only one of them is immortal, it is Polydeuces. In Homer's Iliad, Helen looks down from the walls of Troy and wonders why she does not see her brothers among the Achaeans. The narrator remarks that they are both already dead and buried back in their homeland of Lacedaemon, thus suggesting that at least in some early traditions, both were mortal.

The consensus is that Helen and Polydeuces were the immortal children of Zeus, while Castor and Clytemnestra were the mortal children of Tyndareus.

Leda also had other daughters by Tyndareus: [[Timandra]], [[Phoebe]], [[Philonoe]].

Another account of the myth states that [[Nemesis]] 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 constellation [[Cygnus]], the Swan, in the sky.

Leda and the swan and Leda and the egg were popular subjects in the ancient art. In the postclassical arts, it became a potent source of inspiration.

==References==
*March, J., Cassell's Dictionary Of Classical Mythology, London, 1999. ISBN 0-304-35161-X
*Peck, H., ''Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities,'' 1898.

{{Credit wikipedia}}

[[Category:Greek mythological people]]

Leda - Revision history

Irlandos at 10:40, November 22, 2006