Leda was the daughter of
Thestius, King of Aetolia, who became the wife of
Tyndareüs, king of Sparta and the
mother of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux) and Helen. She is usually associated with the fact that
Zeus visited her disguised as a swan and coupled with her. Her name is said to mean 'lady', not from the
English word but from a Lycian (i.e. Cretan) word, and to be related to Leto (or Latona). (Although Leto's name, which see, could mean 'darkness', in which case Leda's husband's name, Tyndareüs, could be complementary, since it means 'light'.)
