Gods, Myths and Heroes - Part 24

 Hero and Leander

Like Romeo and Juliet, the Greek myth of Hero and Leander is about doomed lovers.  Hero was a young priestess of Aphrodite who lived on the northern shore of the Hellespont, the narrow strait dividing Europe from Asia, now located in Turkey and known as the Dardanelles.  Don't be confused by the name Hero.  Hero was the name of the girl, not the guy.

Leander was the guy.  He lived on the southern shore of the Hellespont.  He swam across the Hellespont to be with Hero.  At the point where he swam, the Hellespont is about 2 miles wide, but because of the strong current, the actual distance to swim is longer.

Above, Leander Swims Over the Hellespont to Meet his Mistress Hero by Bernard Picart, 1730.

A detail from that engraving showing Leander swimming, with a little winged Cupid to suggest his love for Hero.  Of course, Leander is swimming naked.  Swimsuits were unheard of in that era.

Although Hero was a priestess and supposed to remain a virgin, Leander convinced her that as a priestess of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, it was right and fitting for them to make love.  It probably didn't hurt that, having swum across naked, he was naked when he arrived at her door.

Above, The Meeting of Hero and Leander by John Gibson, c. 1842.

After that, every night, Hero would light a lamp in the tower where she lived, and Leander would swim across the Hellespont, guided by the light in her tower.  They would make love, and then he would swim back.

(A modern photo, not the Hellespont, but we can pretend it is.)

One stormy night, the wind blew out her light while Leander was swimming across.  Unable to find his way, he drowned.

Above, a detail from Hero and Leander by Rubens, c. 1605.  The naked swimmer Leander is dead, surrounded by Nereids (sea nymphs, who aren't in the myth at all, but Rubens included them so he could paint the female flesh that he loved).

When Hero found the body of Leander, she threw herself off of her tower and died.  That's the end of the Greek myth.

Above, Hero and Leander by Jean-Joseph Taillasson, 1798.

But wait, there's more!  In 1598, English playwright Christopher Marlowe published a poem Hero and Leander.  Marlowe was gay, and his description of Leander is sensual, comparing him to delicious meat.  In Marlowe's version, when Leander is swimming across, he is captured by the sea god Neptune, who has confused Leander with Ganymede, the beautiful youth who was the boy toy of the god Jupiter or Jove (although it's a Greek myth, Marlowe is using the Roman names of the gods).  Apparently Neptune wants him to be his own boy toy:

The lusty god embraced him, called him "Love,"

And swore he never should return to Jove

However, discovering that he wasn't Ganymede, Neptune lets Leander go.

Above, Neptune and Leander Cross the Hellespont by Claude Edwin Theriault, 2008.  I don't know what those things are on Neptune's back (Neptune didn't have wings), but it's clear that both Neptune and Leander have nice asses and balls.

Our story still isn't done.  In 1810, while touring Europe, the English poet Lord Byron, age 22, was inspired by the myth of Hero and Leander to swim across the Hellespont (now called the Dardanelles) himself.

Of course, he swam naked.  In England, men's swimsuits only came into use in the 1860s.  We have no depiction of his swim, although there are many portraits of Lord Byron.  He was famously handsome.  Above is a 2016 painting by Nick Hugh McCann called Lord Byron and John Edelston at Newstead Abbey 1806.  Byron is the one on the right.  He had met Edelston as a student at Cambridge and fallen in love with him.  Despite Byron's reputation as a womanizer, he was romantically attached to men throughout his life.

The northern shore of the Hellespont is now called the Gallipoli peninsula, and it was the site of a famous World War I campaign that I will cover later in my Vintage Military series.  Many of the Allied soldiers were ANZAC troops, that is, from Australia and New Zealand.  Above is a short clip from an Australian mini-series called Deadline Gallipoli, showing some ANZAC troops going for a swim in the Hellespont (Dardanelles) when they unexpectedly find a dead body.  The troops are swimming naked because troops always swam naked in those days.

We end with another swimmer repeating Leander's feat.  In 1960, American teenager Jack Wheeler swam across the Hellespont, and to his credit, he decided to swim naked, like Leander did.  This photo of him swimming was published in the Dec. 12, 1960 issue of LIFE magazine.