Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Leda

Leda

1 9.9
A Spartan queen forced by Zeus in the form of a swan to give birth to Helen of Troy
  • proper noun
  • Offensive
: Leda
  • Rubens took Michelangelo's muscular but blissfully languorous Leda and made her more conventionally female.
  • Leda and the swan

Examples

  • According to legend, Leda gave birth to two sets of twins as a result of her encounter with Zeus.

  • Over in the corner is Leda and the Swan.

    Harold and Maude (1971)

  • But is it only artistic "privilege" that distinguishes "Leda and the Swan" from a porn video of a woman and a dog?

    Academic text (2001)

  • Rothko seized on the myth of Leda, who had a sexual encounter with a swan who was Jupiter in disguise.

  • Leda was known in Greek mythology as the queen of Sparta and the mother of Helen of Troy.

  • The story of Leda and the Swan is a famous myth in which Zeus disguises himself as a swan.

Surface Forms

Leda main

Etymology

Leda is the name of a queen in ancient Greek myth who met the god Zeus when he came to her as a swan and later became the mother of Helen of Troy. A helpful way to remember the name is to picture Leda with a swan, because many paintings and poems show that scene. Today Leda is used as the proper name for that mythic woman, so the swan image links the name to her story.