Religion / idea

Hero and Leander

Hero and Leander is a Greek myth about two lovers on either side of the Hellespont. Leander, a youth of Abydos, swam across the strait each night to Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite at Sestos, guided by a lamp in her tower, until a storm put out the light and he drowned, and Hero threw herself after him. The story was told by Ovid and Musaeus and later by Christopher Marlowe.

Hero and Leander
Image: Frederic Leighton · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 state histories

AbydosSestos

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Hero and Leander. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/hero-and-leander
MLA
“Hero and Leander.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/hero-and-leander. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Hero and Leander.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/hero-and-leander.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Hero and Leander’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/hero-and-leander (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻