Hero

Hero is a female name from Greek mythology; it comes from “hḗrōs” (ἥρως) meaning “demi-god”. In Latin, the word “heros” was borrowed to mean more specifically a person with superhuman strength and unbreakable courage; one who protects and defends others in a self-sacrificial way. Thanks to ancient Greek mythology, however, Hero is a female name who will forever be tied to her lover Leander. In fact, the tragic love story surrounding Hero and Leander has provided the inspiration for many artists who have immortalized the pair in many classical works throughout the centuries (paintings, sculptures, poems, etc). Hero was a beautiful priestess of Aphrodite (the goddess of love and beauty) who dwelled in Sestos. Sestos was an ancient Greek town along the narrow water straight called Hellespont which connected the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea by way of the Sea of Marmara (the straight is now known as the Dardanelles located in present day Turkey; the ruins of Sestos remain on the Gallipoli Peninsula). At the time of the mythical story, however, in the centuries B.C., the region belonged to Greece and so sat Sestos along the Hellespont. Directly on the other side of the straight was another town called Abydos where a young man by the name of Leander lived. Leander fell in love with the fair Hero and so swam the roughly two mile distance across the Hellespont every night to be with his sweetheart; and every night Hero would shine a light from her tower to help guide his way. One particularly stormy night, however, the wind extinguished Hero’s light and Leander lost his way, finally drowning in the turbulent waves. His body washed ashore the next morning and, upon seeing the corpse of her lover, the grief-stricken Hero jumped from the tower, throwing herself into the sea to be with her beloved for eternity. Early Roman poets Virgil and Ovid pay tribute to the story of Hero and Leander in their poetry. English dramatists Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were also inspired by the Greek legend as were poets John Keats and Lord Byron. In fact, Shakespeare used the name Hero for one of his young “heroines” in his comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” (c. 1598). In the early 19th century, poet Lord Byron actually swam the Hellespont in order to recreate Leander’s exact passageway to Hero. How romantic!