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Leda and the Swan is a story and subject in art from Greek mythology in which the god Zeus, in the form of a swan, seduces Leda, a Spartan queen. According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces , children of Zeus, while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra , children of her husband Tyndareus , the King of Sparta .
Leda and the Swan, ancient fresco from Pompeii. In Greek mythology, Leda (/ ˈ l iː d ə, ˈ l eɪ-/; Ancient Greek: Λήδα [lɛ́ːdaː]) was an Aetolian princess who became a Spartan queen. According to Ovid, she was famed for her beautiful black hair and snowy skin. [1] Her myth gave rise to the popular motif in Renaissance and later art ...
Castor [a] and Pollux [b] (or Polydeuces) [c] are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri or Dioskouroi. [d]Their mother was Leda, but they had different fathers; Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, while Pollux was the divine son of Zeus, who seduced Leda in the guise of a swan. [2]
Asclepiades of Tragilos and Pseudo-Eratosthenes related a similar story, except that Zeus and Nemesis became swans instead of geese. [35] Timothy Gantz has suggested that the tradition that Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan derives from the version in which Zeus and Nemesis transformed into birds. [36]
Articles relating to Leda and her depictions. She was an Aetolian princess who became a Spartan queen. According to Ovid, she was famed for her beautiful black hair and snowy skin. Her myth gave rise to the popular motif in Renaissance and later art of Leda and the Swan.
The beautiful princess Leda is seduced by Zeus who transformed himself to a magnificent swan. On the same night, Leda would also sleep with her husband, King Tyndareus of Sparta. The result is a pair of twins, the beautiful Helen and the immortal Pollux as children of Zeus, Clytemnestra and the mortal Castor as offspring of Tyndareus. While ...
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The story of Leda and the Swan was the subject of two compositions by Leonardo da Vinci from perhaps 1503–1510. Neither survive as paintings by Leonardo, but there are a number of drawings for both by him, and copies in oils, especially of the second composition, where Leda stands.