Virgin priestess of
Aphrodite in
Greek mythology. A resident of
Sestos, she fell in
love with
Leander, who lived in
Abydos, a town on the opposite side of the
Hellespont. Every night she would light a
torch atop a
tower and he would use it as his guide as he swam across the
strait to meet with her. 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.