C. Meaning within the poem The nineteenth-century "discovery” of Christopher Marlowe, which transformed his status from a relatively unknown and unread poet to an exalted position as a precursor or near equal of Shakespeare, has led to a critical "discovery" in the twentieth century. Commentary on Marlowe 's dramatic, as well as non-dramatic, work has been extensive. The poem of Hero and Leander was entered in the Stationer 's Register. September 28, 1593/5. The entry read 'a booke intitu1ed HERO AND LEANDER being an amorous poem devised by CHRISTOPHER MARLOW, ' John Wolf who was the licensee, had by 1598 given the rights to the poem to Edward Blunt, or Blount, who also did not retain full publishing rights. He transferred it to a Paul Linley on March 2, 1597/8. Linley published his own edition along with George Chapman 's continuation. Both Ovid and the grammarian-poet Musaeus are sources for Marlowe 's story. Leander and Hero are lovers separated by the ill-famed Hellespont (now the Dardanelles). Mythological decoration, which abounds in Hero and Leander, is also an element of Ovid. "Abydus and Sestos were two ancient towns," Chapman explains, "one in Europe, another in Asia, opposite …" Hero is a priestess of Venus, sworn to life-long chastity. The beautiful young man, Leander, visits Sestos for the Feast of Adonis, and thus the tragedy is set in motion. “in Hellespont” (the strait which joins the Black Sea and the Aegean) which separate two lovers “The one Abydos,