Youth who, in
Greek mythology, fell in love with
Hero,
virgin priestess of
Aphrodite. A resident of
Abydos, he swam across the
Hellespont every night to meet with her in
Sestos, guided by a
torch she placed atop a
tower. One night a great
tempest arose and extinguished the torch. Without the light to guide him Leander lost his way and
drowned. The waves bore his body to the
European shore, and when Hero saw it from her tower she cast herself into the
sea.
Hero and Leander are two of the classic doomed lovers in literature.