Was Leda Really Assualted in the Myth?

A Close Look into the Greek Myth in Art

The Queen of Sparta in Greek mythology is unfortunately famous for her relations with Zeus disguised as a swan. In the myth, after her coupling with Zeus, she has intercourse with her husband and later gives birth to two eggs. Out of one emerges Helen and Pollux, while the other holds Castor and Clytemnestra. While this tale seems unusual to modern readers, the quantity of zoophilic encounters in Greek mythology is unfortunately extremely prevalent. The content driven by the idea of a swan seducing a woman has since exponentially grown.

That woman in question is Leda. Married to the King of Sparta, Tyndareus, she is a woman that Ovid describes as having dark black locks and snowy skin — a detail that does not remain consistent throughout history, especially during the 15th-century Renaissance.

(Left) Copy of Michelangelo’s lost painting, Leda and the Swan, 16th century. (Right) Paolo Veronese, Leda and the Swan, 1585, Oil on canvas, 47.6 in x 39.3 in

For example, Michelangelo and Paolo Veronese depict her hair as luminously golden. This affinity with golden hair during the Italian Renaissance was attributed to many things; it was meant to personify health, rarity, purity, as well as wealth. Italian painters preferred to paint Leda as a blonde with blue eyes, just like their many other subjects. This, coincidentally enough, is due to Helen of Troy, Leda’s daughter. Helen, described as the epitome of all beauty and the face that drove men to war, is described as having fair hair. This hair color change seems small, however adds to the lack of individuality that the artists give Leda.

If Helen is only known for her beauty, Leda is only known for the swan. Zeus, enamored with the woman, deceives her by transforming into a swan and engaging in sexual intercourse. This act of transformation followed by consummation is common in Greek mythology, especially by the sky and thunder god, Zeus. Frankly, most of the women he took advantage of were in the form of a hybrid or non-human beast. These transformations were not limited to just Zeus, but Poseidon as well.

Leda appears only briefly in Arachne’s tapestry “lying under a swan’s wing” (lines 145, 153) in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Most interpretations also describe Zues’ advances as a ‘rape’ or a kind of deception. Even though ‘rape,’ through the Latin root ‘raptus’ means to be ‘siezed’ or ‘carried away’ like an abduction, this does not apply to Leda’s case. Her body was not abducted but rather taken advantage of.

Zues’ actions — regardless of Leda’s (undisclosed) reaction towards the swan — are undisputably immoral. Leda’s situation is not unique in Greek mythology and with the other women’s rape is explicitly explained as such. For example, despite Demeter’s attempts to save her daughter from her brothers, Zeus transforms into a snake, finds Persephone in a cave and rapes her.

There are so many instances of the gods transforming into other figures. In fact, it would be unusual to assume it is anything but an unwilling victim, even without considering the deception taking place. To finalize the point that it was rape either way, Leda was tricked by the god, and to be engaged in sexual intercourse under disguise is still assault.

As a myth does, it changes with time and with each story, but the one modern readers return to is the poem “Leda and the Swan” by William Butler Yeats in 1923. Written as an allegory for Britain’s unwanted rule over Ireland, Yeats explicitly describes Leda’s experience with the swan as unwanted. He characterizes her as “helpless” and “terrified” underneath the swan’s powerful wings “before the indifferent beak could let her drop” (lines 4, 5, 15). She is described as the victim in this circumstance due to Yeats’ passive and vulnerable adjectives.

Another Irish artist, Hozier, took inspiration from the Greek myth of Leda in his song “Swan upon Leda” which illuminates the violence against women and the violation of their rights upon hearing on the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States. Hozier speaks about lost abortion rights and uses Leda’s story as a way to compare it to the experience of a modern woman who must go through with an unwanted pregnancy. Thus, Hozier makes it explicitly clear that Zeus took advantage of her.

Despite a modern reader’s empathy with Leda and united acceptance that the swan’s advances were unwarranted, we cannot ignore all the paintings that depict it as anything but unwanted.

Apulian Red Figure on Loutrophoros, 350–340 B.C.E., The J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu

This Greek ceramic pottery vessel dated between 350-340 B.C.E. was called a loutrophoros and was used to carry water for a bride’s pre-nuptial ritual bath, and during funeral rituals were placed in the tombs of the unmarried. Painted on the vessel are a multitude of different figures, including Leda and the swan. Leda is standing, and with the graceful movement of her delicate fabric, it appears like she is almost dancing with the rest of the figures. Light on his webbed feet, Zeus is eye-to-eye with the woman, wings outstretched in flight as he hovers before her. Leda has her arms held out to the swan’s head and she is pressing her lips to the beak. Both of her hands wrap around the gentle creature’s small head, and with her puckered lips, it appears more as if she is playing an aulos or flute.

Since Leda is standing and reaching out to the swan, it appears she has more choice in her love towards the animal. It is a willing embrace and a sentimental one at that. There is no resemblance of rape or an ‘unwilling taking’ occurring at all. Not only does this raise questions of how this story was interpreted and told orally in the past, but also why it was on a vessel intended right before marriage or for the unmarried dead. Perhaps it was interpreted as the moment before Leda bore important children and was meant to be similar to the odes of Aphrodite, and rather than focus on the adultery they appreciated the romantics between the unexpected.

Whatever the reason, this quiet romance between Leda and the swan is lost in modern art.

Copy of Michelangelo’s lost painting, Leda and the Swan, 16th century.

Leda was awarded a questionable resurgence of attention during the Renaissance by a number of famous artists including Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci. Even though the original painting is lost, Michelangelo’s copy resembles many of the others. Her hair is unusually golden, her body pale and voluminous, and the swan on top of her and between her thighs demonstrates a clear sexual tone.

Leda’s leg is raised up and wrapped around the creature, also allowing the viewers to see the silhouette of the bird covering her genitals. Leda looks down to where the bird’s head rests between her breasts, both of them craning — yet not unpleasantly — towards each other. Similar to the loutrophoros from nearly 19 centuries before Michelangelo, Leda’s lips are pressed gently against the swan’s beak. Here, as well as throughout most classical and Renaissance art, Leda is not only a willing participant but also an explicitly sexual person. Some of the paintings depict the swan on top of Leda gently biting at her breast or neck, a clear sexual act the male painter is enjoying through the paintbrush.

It was more acceptable to paint a woman with another creature than paint them having sex with a man, therefore Leda was a common subject because of a male’s desire to paint a woman in a compromising position while simultaneously being able to place themselves in the ‘shoes’ of a swan without breaking societal expectations. The viewer knew that the swan was really Zeus, thus in their minds, how is it different than depicting a man and a woman?

Thus, men’s sexual desires transformed Leda’s story into one of explicit and willing beastiality. With the woman’s hair color change from dark black to blonde, it is apparent that the painter is simply using their own voyeuristic pleasure of seeing a woman with an animal that they want to replace with themselves in order to satisfy their own zoophilic desires by placing her in a vulnerable position.

Contrary to popular belief, William Butler Yeats’ “Leda and the Swan” was not the first instance in society where someone interpreted this myth as being rape, but rather, Italian Rennaissance artists have tarnished the voice of the Spartan Queen into a passive and willingly adulterous woman. Leda has always been seen in a positive light, which wouldn’t be the case if the ancient Greeks saw Leda as an adulterer, which at the time was punishable by divorce and separation from society. Due to the severity with which women were punished for cheating during a marriage, Leda would surely be seen as a villain. Not only would it be weird for her to cheat, or even to enjoy the company of a swan, but these transformations are not abnormal for Zeus; her story is one of many.

As a whole, Beastiality has been a widely shunned practice, yet, still unfortunately common. In many societies, such as Paresian and Chinese many many centuries ago, it was sometimes common for men to find animals in brothels or to have sex with common farm animals, and even though ancient Greece at a time did not punish beastiality harshly nor encouraged it, so many myths and stories of rape of animals against women were used as entertainment.

Therefore, it is difficult to find an interpretation of this myth that is easy to stomach. On one hand, you have a woman who willingly copulates with a bird and cheats on her husband, or you have another myth where a god disguised as an animal rapes a woman. This story, regardless of personal interpretation, is a double-edged sword, but neither story should be portrayed for the viewer's or reader’s enjoyment. It is still a story of beastiality and includes deception.

Bronze Sculpture by Sculptor Igor Zeinalov (born 1959)

In this — in my opinion — horrific bronze sculpture of the swan ‘mounting’ Leda, her head hangs off the edge of the pedestal, her hair falling in front of her face that is frozen in an expression of ecstasy. She is once again underneath the wings of the swan, but every theme of ‘romance’ is gone. They no longer face each other lovingly and caress their bodies, but are solely engaging in sexual intercourse. It is intended as sexual, and nothing else.

This sculpture is relatively modern, too; it was created in the past twentieth century and maintains previous ideas of voyeurism and zoophilia. Disappointedly so, it removes Leda’s personality entirely and makes her into a conquest, an animal, or simply just an object to fuck.

Corryn Pettingill, Leda, 2023, oil on canvas, 5ft x 4ft.

In a feminist retelling, this painting is meant to stray from the myth entirely and reflect the desires of the Spartan queen. Her eyes are locked onto the viewer, and with the reflection of the swan in the blade and in pupils, we are able to see the recipient of Leda’s killing blow. Contrasted starkly against the cool blue, the vibrant red blood glistens on Leda’s dagger. Rather than explicitly show the rape, this painting is a portrayal of the aftermath. However, the swan is not shown explicitly, either. A god cannot be killed, and the use of reflection emphasizes Leda’s desire to take revenge on Zeus, despite her reality. This violent retelling expresses a woman’s desire to take revenge, despite the odds, despite previous retellings, and despite all circumstances.

Leda’s voice is emboldened in this painting rather than diminished. The dagger she holds shows the engraving of Nemesis, the Greek goddess of revenge — and in some interpretations — the victim of the swan’s advances. With both Leda and Nemesis’ power and strength, they are able to cut down the swan.

There is no way of viewing this myth without the knowledge of our own world and the atrocities that occur within it. We know of the statistics, of the #MeToo movement, and the reduction of women’s reproductive rights, so how can the female viewer feel anything but empathy towards Leda? Not only was she taken advantage of during the myth, but also as her character and story were used as a way for sexual gratification for irresponsible artists.

There is no way to easily swallow an explicit or unambiguous interpretation of this myth, which is why many Rennaissance paintings remain in the dead center of our morals. No matter how Leda acts, she does not benefit; if she enjoys the swan’s advantages, she is an adulterer and zoophile. If she dislikes his advances, she is being taken advantage of (which I argue to be happening regardless of her consent) and falls into another large category of women whose singular plot point is that they are victims of the male god’s lust and violence.

Even the artworks that seem seductively passive on Leda’s terms (she might not be pushing the swan away or embracing it, but she lies on her back with glazed eyes) her personality and self are gone as the swan has his way with her.

Since Leda’s story is not entirely unique, how would the myth be hurt by some creative liberties and deviations? Why don’t we acknowledge the truth of the myth: that it is a rape, and give Leda’s voice back?

Future interpretations of this myth should breathe new life into the characters rather than fall into the same themes as previous iterations and become another gratifying sex scene for men.