Leonardo da Vinci's: "Leda and Her Two Sons Castor and Pollux." Pollux is the Latin version of Polydeuces. Castor was the son of Leda and her husband Tyndareus, the king of Sparta.
Painting (c.XV-XVI century). Borghese Gallery, Rome, Italy.
Click on image for full size
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Leda and the Constellation Cygnus
For the ancient Greeks, the constellation Cygnus, which means "swan", was related to
the myth of
Zeus and Leda, the queen of
Sparta. The queen of sparta was so beautiful that Zeus was attracted to her.
After numerous attempts to conquer
Leda's love, Zeus
changed himself into a wonderful white swan. The swan was magnificent and Leda
fell in love with him. Leda then delivered a blue egg. When the egg was hatched, two lovely
children came out of it: Polydeuces and the beautiful Helen who later became famous as Helen of Troy.
The constellation Cygnus was then formed to celebrate the lovely swan.
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