ABSTRACT
Two young lovers, Leander and his girlfriend Hero, lived in towns on either side of the strait (narrow strip of sea) called the Hellespont (now known as the Dardanelles, in north-east Turkey). He lived on the western side in Abydos, and she lived in Sestos, just under a mile away across the channel. These two lovers are very different characters from Paris and Helen. There is also variety in their circumstances (they are physically separated, both are unmarried, and Leander is still subject to his parents) and in the purpose of this letter (and Hero's epistle). This time pathos is very much to the fore instead of humour, and there are also many more mythological allusions. At Metamorphoses, Ovid tells the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, another pair of parted and doomed young lovers. There is pathos in that passage too, but much more (dark) humour.
