In Greek mythology, Hilaeira (Ancient Greek: Ἱλάειρα; also spelled Ilaeira) was a Messenian princess, the daughter of Leucippus. Together with her sister Phoebe she is known as one of the Leucippides ("daughters of Leucippus"), priestesses who were abducted by the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux. Hilaeira became the wife of Castor. Stephanus of Byzantium recorded a variant form of her name as Elaeira (Ἐλάειρα).
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I.Family
Hilaeira was a daughter of Leucippus of Messenia and Philodice, who was herself a daughter of Inachus. She and her sister Phoebe are commonly referred to as the Leucippides, that is, the "daughters of Leucippus." An alternative account instead identifies the two sisters as daughters of Apollo.
Hilaeira married Castor and bore him a son, named either Anogon or Anaxis, and possibly a daughter named Aulothoe.
II.Mythology
Hilaeira and her sister Phoebe were priestesses of Artemis and Athena, and were betrothed to Lynceus and Idas, the sons of Aphareus. The Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, were drawn by the beauty of the two women and carried them off.
When Idas and Lynceus attempted to recover their betrothed brides, a conflict followed in which both of the sons of Aphareus were killed, but Castor also fell. Pollux then persuaded Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his brother Castor.
III.Cultural depictions
Hilaeira and Phoebe are both portrayed in the painting The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus, which depicts the moment of their abduction by the Dioscuri.