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If the name 'Leda' (Λήδα , Λήδην) is related to the word 'lady' then it is derived from Germanic 'hlaibaz' meaning 'bread' and Indo-European 'dheigh-' meaning 'to knead clay'. But this is unlikely as Greek came before German. More likely is a relation between Leda and the Greek word 'δήΛᾰνον' which names the gum labdanum. This gum was known to the ancient world and used in flavorings and perfumes. The word is associated with more southern cultures and is perhaps Akkadian. If this derivation is true then the meaning of the name 'Leda' is 'fragrant' like the gum. In this case the name would not be Indo-European. It may even be a loan word from the Minoan Culture. There is another possibility. It is helpful to recognize the fact that most ancient Greek names appear to be pairs of words when related to their Indo-European roots. One such pair gives the name 'producer of a division' from Indo-European 'lei-1', 'to get' and 'da', 'to divide'. This would refer to the fact that her family was divided between Zeus and Tyndareus. But also it may refer to the division of the world into opponents during the Trojan War. Leda's story is also associated with the goddess Nemesis. In some myths it is Nemesis who is pursued by Zeus and it is Nemesis as a swan that lays the eggs. 'Nemesis' is a name associated with 'nem-2', the Indo-European word for allot. It should be noted that an allotment is a division
According to Hesiod in his Catalog of Women Leda was the daughter of Thestius. He also states that she was "skilled in very beautiful works". This probably means that she was a weaver. Of her appearance he states that she was "beautiful-haired, like the beams of the moon". The suggestion is that she had beautiful blonde hair. The color of her hair, blonde, suggests that she has an Indo-European heritage. The word 'blond' is indeed from an Indo-European word 'bhel-' which means 'to shine, flash, burn; shining white and various bright colors; fire'.
The most accurate life span that can be assigned to Leda is approximately 48 years during the second generation before the Trojan War. The ancestry of Leda starts with Deukalion. One of the daughters of Deukalion, Demodike unites with Ares and has four sons. The forth of these sons was Thestios who probably married Eurythemiste and had three daughters, one of whom was Leda. Another source gives Laophonte, daughter of Pleuron as the mother of Leda. Of her early life nothing is known. Her father Thestios made a land deal with Tyndareos who returned to Sparta with Leda.
There are two stories of Helen's birth. In the first story Zeus desired to consummate sex with the goddess Nemesis, but she did not desire it. To escape Zeus she changed to various animal forms. When she changed to a swan he did too and he was able to catch her. From this union an egg was produced. The idea of Zeus forcing himself upon Nemesis, a goddess is more difficult. This would only happen as a part of a divine plan when something more was at stake. Ordinarily a goddess has the power to repel any suitor. Also one would not expect the result of such a plan to be a mortal. This story seems to be the story of the creation of the first woman, who might have been very beautiful. This might have been a myth of the Minoans. Nemesis, a powerful goddess, seems similar to a great goddess. The rape of Nemesis might relate to the overthrow of the Minoan goddess cult by the Zeus cult. It is also suggested that the Trojan War, which Helen is supposed to have started, has something to do with vengeance and retribution. Helen was not the first or only princess who was stolen. Europa before her was stolen, by Zeus, according to the myth. Perhaps the rape of Helen was retribution for this. But also the Trojan War may have been but one battle in a larger conflict. When Troy was destroyed a fleet may have been sent in retribution against mainland Greece by the Trojan allies. We know that after the Trojan War the Mycenaean culture was destroyed and all of Greece ushered into a dark age.
This relates to what Hesiod says in his Works and Days, line 195 "And Envy, evil sounding, gloating, loathsome-faced, will accompany all wretched human beings. Then indeed will Reverence and Indignation (Nemesis) cover their beautiful skin with white mantles, leave human beings behind and go from the broad-pathed earth to the race of mortals, to Olympus. Baleful pains will be left for mortal human beings, and there will be no safeguard against evil." The Trojan War was a transition between the age of heroes and the age of Iron about which Hesiod states, (line 174) "If only then I did not have to live among the fifth men, but have either died first or been born afterwards! For now the race is indeed one of iron" Notice that in this image Nemesis has beautiful skin just like Leda must have.
Perhaps the egg is related to an older story involving the creation of the world. Many creation stories involve an egg. Birds are easily related to deities because of their access to the upper air. Athena can exist in the form of an owl and in her aegis she looks like a bird with wings. Artemis is depicted with wings and so is Nike. Perhaps the original story related to the union of a sky bird and a water bird to create the world. One wonders if Helen, with her beauty, might be the first woman.
The egg that Nemesis produced was found by a shepherd. He gave the egg to Leda. Leda protected the egg in a box and later Helen hatched out. Leda was so enamored of the girl that she raised her as her daughter.
(image)The goddess Nemesis
In the later story she was born to Leda as a result of Zeus visiting her in the form of a swan. As a result she is believed to have hatched from an egg. It is easy to understand how a swan would produce an egg, but Zeus only took the form of a swan. The significance of the egg may go way beyond this. It is common enough in world mythologies for the world to be produced from an egg. Ancient imagery of birth by a goddess often show the head of the offspring just appearing which looks like the goddess is sitting on an egg. The story of Helen's birth may well be and adaptation of a cosmological creation of the world. Helen would then have some relation to the first women and might even be a demoted goddess. This story is consistent with the story of Pandora. Nemesis might be included to seek vengeance on men who benefited from Prometheus. Helen becomes the instrument of that vengeance.
In the drama Helen by Euripides, line 12, is stated, "...for a legend tells how Zeus winged his way to my mother Leda's breast, in the semblance of a bird, even a swan, and thus he fled from an eagle's pursuit, achieved by guile his amorous purpose, if this tale be true." Indeed this must be a variant of the story of Nemesis otherwise guile would not be needed. Why would Zeus need guile to have sex with a mortal? But since Nemesis is a goddess, guile might be required and it might be convincing. One could expect that in the Greek system the child of two deities should have some logical consequence of the nature of the realms of the parents. In fact Helen's birth seems odd compared to Zeus's other trysts since the result is inevitably a mortal hero. Helen is a female and possibly the cause of destruction instead of salvation that a hero would bring.
The second story is popular in Art because the image of a naked woman having sex with a swan is very erotic and passionate. In some pictures not only is vaginal sex suggested but the swan inserts his beak in Leda's mouth. Sometimes the sex is consensual and sometimes Zeus forces himself upon Leda. This image seems to satisfy a symbol of powerful, compelling passion, but it is not a fair symbol of rape where the woman is more of a victim of hate. This act is a symbol of the passion that Aphrodite incites men to. Most rapes seems to be a passion that Ares incites men to and is more about destruction and humiliation than an attraction to the beautiful
On WKSU I heard a report on an exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art that may clarify this. This exhibit was about African fetish figures. The smallest figure was a female figure wood covered with red powder. It was explained that the purpose of the red powder was to make the fetish more beautiful so a fertility spirit would come into it to benefit the possessor. If a translation is made to the case of Leda, the beauty of Leda is intended to attract a fertility spirit to her so that she will become pregnant and produce an heir. But in the case of the anthropomorphic polytheism of the ancient Greeks the way this would happen would be for Zeus, or some other god, to have sex with her in the ordinary way, perhps in the guise of her husband. If one prays for something and it happens then one can hardly call it rape. But the ancient Greeks seemed to have used this word to apply to the same kind of situation referenced by the fertility fetish. The real question is whether Leda chose to bring this upon herself. The myth suggests that it was her beauty that brought this upon her. The common logic is that she did this by making herself beautiful, or perhaps revealing her beauty by bathing in the swan pond. It would seem that every ancient Greek girl would wish for this since the result was necessarily the birth of a hero who would benefit his mother, his family and his community. Even parents seemed to wish for this. And the ancient Greeks were proud to trace their ancestry to a god. But one has to wonder how this related to mortals. There are suggestions that at one time rape was a common and acceptable practice in ancient Greece. The customs of Classical Sparta suggest this. But the difficulties of this practice must have become obvious. Rape by a mortal could easily result in violence to the woman that was unacceptable. One has to wonder if there were laws against rape by a mortal at the time of the Trojan War. Even by the time of Classical Greece there were laws against rape by a mortal.
The older story makes Nemesis the mother of Helen and Leda only the adoptive parent. In order to escape from Zeus, Nemesis changed herself into many different animals. When she changed into a goose, Zeus immediately transformed himself into a wonderful swan and won the love of Nemesis. Later stories have Leda as the biological mother. The story of Nemesis bears on the later story because Nemesis is the goddess of retribution. The story of Leda is somehow involved with getting back at someone. Zeus seems to need to produce the most beautiful woman in the world so that she will produce trouble and pay someone back for their misdeeds. Of course we know that Helen causes the Trojan War and many thousands of people die. That Helen is "the face that launched a thousand ships" seems part of Zeus's plan to cause a war in which many people die.
(image)Leda is bathing when Zeus cuddles up to her.
(image)Zeus took advantage of Leda after she thought he intended no harm.
The result of this union was an egg that contained Helen and perhaps other children. In the older story an egg seems logical because both deities are birds. The egg in the later story is not so logical but it remains anyway.
We normally think of beauty as a good thing and we cannot get enough of it. The ancient Greeks felt that the proper situation was a balance. Beauty had to be balanced by the bad or the ugly. Ordinary things were not that beautiful and needed little to balance them. But an extreme beauty like Leda or Helen needed to be balanced by ugliness somewhere. Extreme beauty required Nemesis to make things right. For Leda the balance was the rape that she suffered. Later she was to suffer as a result of Helen's bad behavior. But for Helen her beauty was so extreme that she caused a war and many died.
That Nemesis is pursued by Zeus does not mean Nemesis does not want sex. In the bird world the female must turn away from the male to put herself in the proper position for sex. The problem with the art depictions of this scene is that the artist does not know what to do with sex between a bird and a female. A bird would normally enter his mate from the rear and this is hardly ever shown. Most think she should be naked but there is little in the myth to suggest how she got that way. And how did he happen to catch her alone? From this logic would suggest that she was bathing in a private pool. This would eliminate the bed clothes that are often included in the imagery and perhaps even any sense of a shore of a large lake.
Interestingly the swan is the symbol of the sun. For that reason the swan is associated with Apollo as in the following quote from Hesiod: "XXI. TO APOLLO (5 lines) (ll. 1-4) Phoebus, of you even the swan sings with clear voice to the beating of his wings, as he alights upon the bank by the eddying river Peneus; and of you the sweet-tongued minstrel, holding his high-pitched lyre, always sings both first and last." This is possibly related to the fact that the corona of the sun in full eclipse looks very much like a white swan. Aphrodite is also associated with swans. This is perhaps because of their soft and sensuous nature. Artists have often agreed with the swan's connection to Aphrodite by depicting Leda's relation to the swan in a very sensuous way. She is portrayed prior to the sex act, during it, and later contemplating the egg. Of particular interest is not only whether she is penetrated in the normal way but whether the bird's beak penetrates her as well. There is also an issue of the bird's size. They vary from like a swan to much larger, even threatening. Sometimes she appears to be a victim but it is not clear that she should be so considered. The situation seems to suggest some form of unbridled passion from which she somehow benefits. The offspring of Zeus are invariably remarkable and it may be that she realizes that she is reaping the benefits of Zeus.
That Leda must have been very beautiful is a conclusion from the fact that Zeus was attracted to her. And a beautiful mother is more likely to have a beautiful daughter. This makes a nude Leda cavorting with a beautiful swan all the more compelling. There are no other stories of Leda but one has to wonder if her beauty is somehow related to the curse Aphrodite places on her family that her daughters will have multiple husbands.
Leda can be compared to Mary in the Christian tradition. Both women became pregnant by divine intervention. Jesus, son of Mary, was born under strange circumstances, struggled in his life and was crucified. Helen, daughter of Leda was born under strange circumstances, struggled in her life, and was crucified. Some traditions have Mary give birth to twins, one divine, Jesus, and one mortal, Thomas. Leda gives birth to twins Castor and Pollux, one divine and one mortal. The meaning of the egg in the Leda story may be very similar to the meaning of the egg in the Easter story.
In the Tragedy Helen by Euripides, line 134, Helen inquires after her mother Leda. Teucer responds that Leda is dead and gone. He admits that the shame of Helen caused her death and that she tied a noose around her noble neck and hung herself. This was before seven years after the sack of Troy. This would have been about 34 years after the birth of Helen. If she was 14 when she gave birth to Helen then she was 48 when she died. This assumes that like most girls of the time she married at 13.
The story of Leda has many aspects which parallel the myths of previous Indo-European cultures. Helen as the sister of the Dioscouri Twins fits the pattern of other PIE cultures. Even Helen's name relates to a role as daughter of the sun. Deities. Leda fits the pattern of a mare goddess in that culture. These relations do not mean that the story of Leda is made up. But it strongly suggests that the myth was influenced by other stories. In this context the rape of Leda would no more be a rape than considering a thunderstorm to being a rape of the earth god by the sky god. This is suggested by Leda's name which may reference the separation of the earth and sky.
Pictures of her follow:
(image)Leda cavorts with the swan, Painted 1929, by Joseph Silhavy, BORN 1891.
To ask a question about this topic note the topic (Leda) and Click here
Question: why zeus rape leda? what is the result of ledas rape? why zeus become as a swan? what is the answer of the last two lines in leda and the swan?
Answer: It is not quite correct to say that Zeus raped Leda. Leda was, indeed, a very beautiful and desirable young woman so it seems reasonable that Zeus wanted to have sex with her. But this is, in fact, a statement of the seductive power of the beauty of women. This beauty was to ancient Greeks a creative power. But all Zeus wanted to do was create a very beautiful woman, Helen, and he thought Leda would be a good mother for Helen. In the days of the creation of myth it was thought that Zeus was usually the father of great persons. So by being born of Zeus Helen was destined to be a great person. It is important to realize that rape is not an act of passion but an act of aggression and humiliation and this is quite different from what happened to Leda.
As a result of the sexual union of Zeus and Leda an egg was produced. Most likely this was the same type of egg that occurs in many creation myths. But instead of the whole world coming from the egg (a cosmic egg) the world of the Trojan War resulted. So this egg was more limited in its scope. It is said that Zeus wanted this war to reduce the population of Greece. This it did, and it also paved the way for the coming of the Dorians upon whom the wonders of Classical Greece are based. But the stories that we have of the Trojan War do not match the archaeological record. In archaeology the people who lived in Sparta at the time of the Trojan War are called Mycenaeans. Homer refers to them as the Achaeans. It seems more likely that the Trojan War was but one battle in a larger conflict which mainland Greece actually lost and this paved the way for the Dorians.
Zeus came as a swan because Swans are beautiful creatures, because he could sneak up on Leda more easily, and because swans are born from eggs. Beauty is very important to the story of Leda and the Swan and the creative potential that results.
The story of Leda and the Swan is contained in many poems. As Aristotle says the world of myths is a world of poetry. And it was not just ancient poets, but even down to our own time. One of the best things that you can say about the ancient Greek Religion was that it created a world of myth and poetry that seems eternal in its appeal.
I have been reading "Agamemnon" Aeschylus and I looked there for mention of Leda. I did not find Leda but I did find this quote which does help explain the Trojan War:
'Tis Zeus alone who shows the perfect way Of knowledge: He hath ruled, Men shall learn wisdom, by affliction schooled." (lines 177-180)
In another drama "Helen" by Euripides his character Helen states: "... Nor is my fatherland unknown to fame, e'en Sparta, or my sire Tyndareus; for a legend tells how Zeus winged his way to my mother Leda's breast, in the semblance of a bird, even a swan, and thus as he fled from an eagle's pursuit, achieved by guile his amorous purpose,.."
You probably are asking about the last two lines of the famous poem by William Butler Yeats which go:
"Did she put on his knowledge with his power Before the indifferent beak could let her drop?"
This is a rhetorical question especially as we have no information about that happened to Leda later in her life. By the time of the Trojan War all trace of her is gone. But the answer must be in the lines quoted earlier that men learn from affliction and so Leda must have learned much from her frightening experience.
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RWAAG, Leda, Mother of Helen-->
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