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Leander

Mythology
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Greek mythological figure who drowned swimming the Hellespont nightly to reach his lover Hero, whose suicide followed his death.

Detailed Definition
Leander drowned during a storm while swimming to Hero, who then killed herself. Their tragic romance, celebrated by Musaeus and later poets, symbolizes devoted love and fatal passion. Poets invoke Leander to explore themes of longing, risk, and the sea as both connector and destroyer.
Example
Example in poetry:
Musaeus’s Hero and Leander tells of Leander’s nightly swim and tragic drowning; Ovid’s Heroides includes a letter from Hero to Leander; In Marlowe’s poem, Leander embodies passionate, doomed love; Later Elizabethan sonnets use him as a symbol of erotic devotion; In allegory, Leander represents the soul’s perilous journey toward divine love.
Additional Notes
Leander drowns swimming to Hero; his story (Musaeus, Marlowe) epitomizes passionate, fatal love. Students should analyze the Hellespont as both barrier and conduit, and the lamp as fragile hope. Their myth becomes a Renaissance touchstone for erotic devotion and tragic error. Related: Hero, Hellespont, swimming motifs.
Also Known As
Leander the Swimmer Lover of Hero Hellespont Diver Tragic Torch-Follower
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