The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Hero, in Greek mythology
in Greek mythology, priestess of Aphrodite in Sestos. Her lover, Leander, swam the Hellespont nightly from Abydos to see her. During a storm the light by which she guided him blew out, and he drowned. Hero, in despair, then threw herself into the sea. Christopher Marlowes poem Hero and Leander is based on the story.