Hero and Leander is a Greek myth about Hero, a priestess (hiereia) of Aphrodite (Venus in Roman mythology), who lived in a tower in Sestos on the European side of the Hellespont. Leander was a young man from Abydos on the opposite side of the strait. Hero (Ancient Greek: Ἡρώ, Hērṓ; [hɛː.rɔ̌ː]) and Leander (Ancient Greek: Λέανδρος, Léandros; [lé.an.dros]) are the names of the characters in this story.

Myth

Leander becomes deeply fond of Hero and swims across the Hellespont every night to visit her. Hero places a light at the top of her tower to help him find his way. Leander's kind words and charm, along with his explanation that Aphrodite, the goddess of love and romance, would not favor the worship of a virgin, persuade Hero. They begin a secret relationship that continues through the summer. When winter arrives and the weather becomes harsh, they decide to separate for the season and reunite in the spring. On a stormy winter night, Leander sees the light at Hero's tower and tries to reach her. However, a strong wind blows out the light, and Leander becomes lost in the dark, drowning in the sea. When Hero discovers his lifeless body, she jumps from her tower and dies as well. Their bodies are later found together on the shore, still holding each other, and are buried together in a tomb meant for lovers.

Attestations

Scholarship shows that the story is found in Ovid's Heroides and in the epic poem by poet Mousaios (or Musaeus).

The Double Heroides (believed to be written by Ovid) includes the story in letters 18 and 19, which describe a letter exchange between two lovers. Leander has been unable to swim to Hero in her tower because of bad weather. Hero tells him to try crossing, but this will lead to his death.

Cultural references

The myth of Hero and Leander has been used often in literature and the arts:

• Ancient Roman coins from Abydos (Troas) show Septimius Severus and Caracalla.
• George Frideric Handel wrote a solo cantata in Italian called Ero e Leandro in 1707. This work is based on the story.
• Franz Grillparzer wrote a tragedy called Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen in 1831. This play is based on the story.
• Robert Schumann said his piece In der Nacht from Fantasiestücke, Op. 12 (1837), reminded him of Hero and Leander’s story.
• Franz Liszt’s Ballade No. 2 in B minor (1853) was inspired by the myth, according to Claudio Arrau.
• Arrigo Boito composed an opera called Ero e Leandro, but he destroyed it. Later, Giovanni Bottesini (1879) and Luigi Mancinelli (1897) used Boito’s libretto for their works.
• Alfredo Catalani wrote a tone-poem called Ero e Leandro in 1885. This work is based on the story.
• Victor Herbert composed a tone-poem called Hero and Leander in 1901.

• Peter Paul Rubens painted a picture titled Hero and Leander in 1604. This artwork is based on the story.
• William Etty painted Hero, Having Thrown Herself from the Tower at the Sight of Leander Drowned, Dies on His Body in 1829. He later said he considered this painting his best work.
• Cy Twombly painted a piece in Rome in 1985 inspired by Christopher Marlowe’s version of the story. The painting is called Hero and Leander (To Christopher Marlowe).
• Evelyn De Morgan painted Hero Holding the Beacon for Leander in 1885.

• The 6th-century Byzantine poet Musaeus wrote a poem. Aldus Manutius published it in 1493 after starting his printing press in Venice. This poem was translated into Italian, Spanish, and French in the Renaissance. People at the time believed it was older than Homer’s works. George Chapman’s 1616 translation of the poem was titled The Divine Poem of Musaeus.
• Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) began writing a long version of the story called Hero and Leander. His version ends before Leander swims across the sea.
• George Chapman finished Marlowe’s poem after Marlowe died. This version was printed many times in the 17th century.
• Sir Walter Raleigh mentioned the story in his poem The Ocean’s Love to Cynthia. In this work, Hero falls asleep and fails to keep the light burning for Leander.
• Milorad Pavić wrote a novel titled Inner Side of the Wind in 1991, which is about the myth.
• Garcilaso de la Vega wrote a sonnet about Leander in the 16th century.
• John Donne wrote an epigram about the story:
• Both robbed of air, we both lie in one ground,
• Both whom one fire had burnt, one water drowned.*
• John Keats wrote a sonnet titled On an Engraved Gem of Leander in 1817.
• Adam Guettel’s musical Myths and Hymns (1998) includes a song about Hero and Leander.
• Leigh Hunt wrote a poem titled Hero and Leander in 1819, based on the myth.
• Letitia Elizabeth Landon wrote a poem titled Leander and Hero in 1823. She reversed the names to show mutual love.
• Lord Byron referenced Leander in his poem Written After Swimming From Sestos To Abydos. He swam across the Hellespont in 1810, inspired by the myth. He also mentioned Leander in The Bride of Abydos and Don Juan.
• In Two Years Before the Mast (1840), Richard Henry Dana Jr. describes a cook who swam to shore at night to feed a pig, like Leander crossing the sea.
• Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables (1862) includes a reference to the myth.
• In In Ghostly Japan (1899), Lafcadio Hearn compares a Japanese story of a girl swimming to her lover with the Hero and Leander myth.
• Rudyard Kipling’s poem A Song of Travel begins with: Where’s the lamp that Hero lit / Once to call Leander home?
• Alfred Tennyson’s poem Hero to Leander has Hero begging Leander not to leave.
• In 1926, James Thurber wrote a parody of the myth in 31 headlines for The Conning Tower.
• A. E. Housman’s poem More Poems (1936) includes a piece about the myth. It describes: By Sestos town, in Hero’s tower / On Hero’s heart Leander lies…

• Shakespeare mentions the story in Two Gentlemen of Verona, where Valentine and Proteus talk about it. He also references the myth in Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, and The Colleen Bawn.
• Ben Jonson’s play Bartholomew Fair (1614) includes a puppet show of Hero and Leander.

In folkloristics, the myth of Hero and Leander is classified as Aarne-Thompson-Uther tale type ATU 666, titled Hero and Leander*.

Variants of the story also appear in Japan as local legends. Hiroko Ikeda’s index of Japanese folktales includes these tales.