In Greek mythology, Leda, also rendered as Lede, was an Aetolian princess who became queen consort of Sparta through her marriage to King Tyndareus. Zeus fell in love with Leda, and to avoid his wife
Ancient fresco from Pompeii depicting Leda and the swan.
Leda and the Swan, 16th-century copy after the lost painting by Michelangelo
1st-century sculpture of Leda and the Swan in the Getty Villa
Helen, commonly known as Helen of Troy and sometimes as Helen of Sparta, is a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daugh
Leda (mythology)
…to avoid his wife Hera's jealousy, assaulted her while disguised as a swan. Leda was named as the mother of four famous children in Greek mythology: Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, and the twins Castor and Pollux. Leda and the Swan was a popular motif in the visual arts, particularly during the Renaissance. While…
Helen of Sparta boards a ship for Troy, fresco from the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii
The Love of Helen and Paris by Jacques-Louis David (oil on canvas, 1788, Louvre, Paris)
The birth of Helen on an Athenian red-figure cup by the Xenotimos Painter, c. 430–420 BC. The egg, watched over by the eagle of Zeus, rests on an altar flanked by Tyndareus and Leda; behind Tyndareus stands Clytemnestra.
Leda and the Swan by Cesare da Sesto (c. 1506–1510, Wilton). The artist has been intrigued by the idea of Helen's unconventional birth; she and Clytemnestra are shown emerging from one egg; Castor and Pollux from another.