Leda and the swanToday I want to present a coin with the depiction of one of the most famous myths of ancient times: Leda and the
swan. Besides all other erotic adventures of
Zeus like Alkmene, Danae,
Europa, Io or Ganymed this seems to be the most popular. Thanks to Pete Burbules for the coin!
The coin:
Bithynia,
Nicomedia,
Severus Alexander AD 222-235
AE 19
obv. M AVR CEV ALEZANDROC
AVG Bust, draped,
radiate, r.
rev. NIKOMHD - EWN
DIC NEO / KORWN (MH and WN
ligate)
Leda, with
wreath on her
head, nude to hips, with raised r. hand, standing frontal,
head turned r. to a
swan, which is standing l. with opened wings and is drawing her
garment which she hold with her l. hand.
Receuil General I 3, 557, 316, pl.96, 22
extremely
rare (only 3 ex. known), VZ (this seems to be the nicest!), nice deep green
patinaMythology:
There are several different versions of Leda and the
swan. The most popular has its origin by Euripides: Leda, the daughter of the Aitolian
king Thestios and
his wife Eurythemis, was the wife of the Lakedaimonian
king Tyndareus. Once when she was near the bank of the river Eurotas
Zeus approached her in the shape of a
swan and united with her. The fruit of this unification was an
egg from which
Helena, Kastor and Polydeukes arose. Leda after that was received by the gods as
Nemesis (Laktanz I, 221; Hyginus, Fabel 77). The marriage with the
swan now became complicated because Leda in the same night shared her bed with her husband Tyndareus too. Because of that some saw Tyndareus as father of the twins Kastor and Poldeukes whereas others saw them as sons of
Zeus adding - besides
Helena - Klytaimnestra too (
Homer, Odyss. XI, 299; Ilias III, 426; Euripides,
Helena 254, 1497 and 1680). Finely there was another distribution: Kastor and Klytaimnestra as children of Tyndareus,
Helena and Polydeukes as children of
Zeus (
Pindar,
Nem.Od. X, 80; Apollodor III, 6-7)
Referring to an older myth
Zeus fell in love with
Nemesis, daughter of the Night and Okeanos, the goddess of just enragement. To escape the pursuit by
Zeus she turned into a
fish, then in several four-footed
animals and at last into a
goose.
Zeus chased her and was transforming himself too all the time. Finely he took the shape of a
swan and raped Leda. This was said to be happened at Rhamnos in
Attica. Because of that a big temple was built for
Nemesis in Rhamnos. Thereupon
Nemesis retired back to Sparta and gave birth to a hycinth-colored
egg which was found by Leda. Leda put it into a chest until
Helena came out of it who later was so disastrous for mankind by creating the Troyan War. Referring to another story a herdsman found the
egg and brought it to the queen, or
Hermes threw it into the bosom of Leda who then put it into a drawer until
Helena was born from it.
It is told also that under the peak of the Taygetos mountain
Zeus created with Leda the
dioscuri Kastor and Polydeukes. Dios kuroi, 'the sons of Zeus', was the name of these Lakedaimonian twins and they became the saviors of many human beings especially in battles and on the sea. In a story depicted on some vase pictures they were already
youth when their mother bore the
egg. When it should be sacrificed to the gods
Helena sprung from it.
It is told too from two twin eggs. From one the
dioscuri were born, from the other
Helena, and perhaps Klytaimnestra too the killer of her husband Agamemnon who then was killed by her own son Orestes. The House of Atreids to which Tyndareus and Klytaimnestra belonged was cursed because of the deeds of Tantalos and Atreus.
Is is told too about the twins that Polydeukes was immortal but Kastor in contrast mortal. When he
had to die the brothers didn't want to
part. So both stayed one day together in the underworld the other day with their father
Zeus. Klytaimnestra too was mortal in contrast to the
Zeus daughter
Helena. So it was assumed that she and Kastor were created by Tyndareus who after
Zeus joined Leda and by whom she received the second
egg. But this story sounds very rationalistic and therefore seems to be younger.
Some background:
The flight of
Nemesis from
Zeus with its constant transformations is a typical fairy motive, called the 'magic flight', which is known from the Tales of Thousand and One Nights or from the 'Puss in Boots'. The
egg is an old religious motive and corresponds to the 'World Egg' which here is sunk to the fairy motive of the wunderkind out of the
egg. It is the attempt to find a compromise between the tradition of a divine mother with the earthly mother of
Helena. The
egg of Leda was a particular object of interest in the sanctuary of the Leukippids in Sparta (Pausan. 3, 16, 1). Whereas in the attic Rhamnos the tradition that
Nemesis was the mother of
Helena was held on (cult statue of Agrakritos) that tradition was decreasing during the development of the myth in literature and fine arts.
If it is true that Leda is originating from the lykian word 'lada' for 'Wife' - for Kerenyi the 'primal wife' - then the myth could have some pre-hellenic elements. Perhaps
Zeus celebrated the
Swan Marriage with a goddess who - besides Mother Earth - was the first female being of the world and who therefore was called simply Leda, the 'wife'.
An inartificial explanation of the story of Leda I found in the 'Hederich' which I don't want to keep back: "As the meeting of Leda and
Zeus was said to be happened at the
banks of the river Eurotas where
plenty of swans seemed to have existed so some wanted that she has a love affair with a local
man and then to hide her dishonour has pretended
Zeus has turned into a
swan and approached her too close". Nice, isn't it?
History of art:
The sculptors preferred at first the meeting of
Zeus and Leda in that way, that Leda tries to cover a
swan who requests for
help from an
eagle (
Zeus too!) with her left hand by her cloak pressing him against her bosom. Such a statue in the Museo Capitolino in
Rome seems to go back to Timotheus 4th century BC. In later times the
sculpture has more stressed the erotic aspect. In imperial times the Leda motive is found numerously on intaglios,
lamps, sarcophaguses, mosaics and wall paintings. On coins however only this
type from
Nikomedia is known!
Baroque and Renaissance have treated this theme in many versions. On a drawing of Leonardo da Vinci (passed down in a copy only) the nude standing Leda playfully grasps the swan's neck, like already in ancient depictions (silver bucket of Concesti, c.400 BC, Erimitage in St.Petersburg). More catchy is the situation in Michelangelo's painting also known as copy only, see the after-creations of Rosso Fiorentino (1530,
London, NG) and Rubens (1603/4, Dresden, AM); here the
swan intrudes directly the outstretched resting Leda. The long flexible neck allows some variants of the depiction (Corregio, 1531,
Berlin, GG), which by pointing to the private parts of the woman could get a particular insinuating meaning. In the 20th century Bourdelle (Relief, 1904;
Paris) and Brancusi (1920; Chicago, Art Institute) have handled this subject.
Sources:
- Benjamin Hederich, Gründliches mythologisches Lexikon
-
Robert von Ranke-Graves, Griechische Mythologie, Rowohlt
- Karl Kerenyi, Die Mythologie der Griechen, dtv
- Der kleine
Pauly (backgrounds)
- Aghion/Barbillon/Lissarrague, Lexikon der antiken Götter und Heroen in der Kunst, Reclam
I have attached
- a pic of the famous mosaic from Paphos on
Crete which shows Leda in the same position
as on the coin, and
- the
sculpture from the Museo Capitolino in
Rome.
Best regards