L e d a
Greek religion.
Leda was the wife of the Spartan
king Tyndareus.
By Zeus, who came to her in the form
of a swan, she was mother of Castor and Pollux.
In another story she was the mother
by Zeus of Pollux and Helen, and by Tyndareus of Castor and Clytemnestra.
Paintings:
Leda
and the Swan by Leonardo (c.1505-1510)
Texts:
daughter of Thestius:
Apollod.
1.7.7; Paus.
3.13.8
mother of Castor and Pollux by Zeus:
Apollod.
1.8.2
wife of Tyndareus:
Apollod.
3.10.5
Zeus as a swan consorts with her: Apollod.
3.10.5
gives birth to egg: Paus.
3.16.1
nurse, not mother, of Helen:
Paus.
1.33.7
she bears Pollux and Helen to Zeus, and Castor and Clytaemnestra to Tyndareus:
Apollod.
1.3.5
Leda the wife of Tyndarus, who bore him two famous sons, Castor breaker
of horses, and Pollux the mighty boxer. Homer,
The Odyssey (ed. Samuel Butler): book 11, line 298 [Scroll 11]
neat ankled: Homeric
Hymns : hymn 33 [To the Dioscuri]
Helen, the child of Leda. P.
Vergilius Maro, Aeneid: book 7, line 341
Sculpture:
Leda
and the swan Sculpture from Svoronos 1903-12, pl. 81
Vases:
Leda
and the egg From Caskey & Beazley, plate XCIX.
Leda
and the swan Collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California
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Copyright
©1998-2001 Roy George
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