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77-469: With Iphigénie, Racine returned once again to a mythological subject, following a series of historical plays ( Britannicus , Bérénice , Bajazet , Mithridate ). On the shores at Aulis , the Greeks prepare their departure for an attack on Troy . The gods quell the winds for their journey and demand the sacrifice of Iphigénie, daughter of Agamemnon , King of the Greeks. As in the original version of

154-407: A Trojan prince, came to Sparta to claim Helen, in the guise of a supposed diplomatic mission. Before this journey, Paris had been appointed by Zeus to judge the most beautiful goddess ; Hera , Athena , or Aphrodite . In order to earn his favour, Aphrodite promised Paris the most beautiful woman in the world. Swayed by Aphrodite's offer, Paris chose her as the most beautiful of the goddesses, earning

231-570: A campaign against Troy , Agamemnon entrusts his servant Arcas with a message to prevent the visit of his wife Clytemnestre and daughter Iphigénie, summoned by him supposedly for Iphigénie's marriage to Achille but in truth for her sacrifice to the goddess Diana: the oracle has pronounced that only after the sacrifice of Iphigénie will the gods unleash the becalmed winds needed to carry the Greek ships to Troy. Having doubts about his duplicitous scheme, Agamemnon's message now tells of Achille's withdrawal from

308-620: A daughter also called Helen . The three sons died during the Trojan War when an earthquake caused the roof of the room where they slept to collapse. In most sources, including the Iliad and the Odyssey , Helen is the daughter of Zeus and of Leda , the wife of the Spartan king Tyndareus . Euripides ' play Helen , written in the late 5th century BC, is the earliest source to report

385-433: A daughter, Hermione , and (according to some myths) three sons: Aethiolas , Maraphius, and Pleisthenes . The marriage of Helen and Menelaus marks the beginning of the end of the age of heroes. Concluding the catalog of Helen's suitors, Hesiod reports Zeus' plan to obliterate the race of men and the heroes in particular. The Trojan War, caused by Helen's elopement with Paris, is going to be his means to this end. Paris ,

462-473: A death sentence. This version is contradicted by two of Euripides' other tragedies, Electra , which predates The Trojan Women, and Helen , as Helen is described as being in Egypt during the events of the Trojan War in each. From Antiquity, depicting Helen would be a remarkable challenge. The story of Zeuxis deals with this exact question: how would an artist immortalize ideal beauty? He eventually selected

539-515: A goose. Zeus also transformed himself into a goose and raped Nemesis, who produced an egg from which Helen was born. Presumably, in the Cypria , this egg was somehow transferred to Leda. Later sources state either that it was brought to Leda by a shepherd who discovered it in a grove in Attica , or that it was dropped into her lap by Hermes . Asclepiades of Tragilos and Pseudo-Eratosthenes related

616-411: A harmonious married life—he holding no grudge at her having run away with a lover and she feeling no restraint in telling anecdotes of her life inside besieged Troy. According to another version, used by Euripides in his play Orestes , Helen had been saved by Apollo from Orestes and was taken up to Mount Olympus almost immediately after Menelaus' return. A curious fate is recounted by Pausanias

693-402: A host of horsemen, others of infantry and others    of ships, is the most beautiful thing on the dark earth    but I say, it is what you love Full easy it is to make this understood of one and all: for    she that far surpassed all mortals in beauty, Helen her    most noble husband Deserted, and went sailing to Troy, with never

770-572: A natural element. Helen first appears in the poems of Homer , after which she became a popular figure in Greek literature. These works are set in the final years of the Age of Heroes , a mythological era which features prominently in the canon of Greek myth. Because the Homeric poems are known to have been transmitted orally before being written down, some scholars speculate that such stories were passed down from earlier Mycenaean Greek tradition, and that

847-588: A new bride, but the Greeks refused to believe that Helen was in Egypt and not within Troy's walls. Thus, Helen waited in Memphis for ten years, while the Greeks and the Trojans fought. Following the conclusion of the Trojan War, Menelaus sailed to Memphis, where Proteus reunited him with Helen. When he discovered that his wife was missing, Menelaus called upon all the other suitors to fulfill their oaths, thus beginning

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924-509: A seduction, whereas in Renaissance paintings it was usually depicted as a "rape" (i. e., abduction ) by Paris. Christopher Marlowe 's lines from his tragedy Doctor Faustus (1604) are frequently cited: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?" The etymology of Helen's name continues to be a problem for scholars. In the 19th century, Georg Curtius related Helen ( Ἑλένη ) to

1001-408: A shrine with Menelaus. She was also worshiped in Attica and on Rhodes . Her beauty inspired artists of all times to represent her, frequently as the personification of ideal human beauty. Images of Helen start appearing in the 7th century BC. In classical Greece, her abduction by Paris—or escape with him—was a popular motif. In medieval illustrations, this event was frequently portrayed as

1078-402: A similar story, except that Zeus and Nemesis became swans instead of geese. Timothy Gantz has suggested that the tradition that Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan derives from the version in which Zeus and Nemesis transformed into birds. Pausanias states that in the middle of the 2nd century AD, the remains of an egg-shell, tied up in ribbons, were still suspended from the roof of

1155-476: A temple on the Spartan acropolis. People believed that this was "the famous egg that legend says Leda brought forth". Pausanias traveled to Sparta to visit the sanctuary, dedicated to Hilaeira and Phoebe , in order to see the relic for himself. Pausanias also says that there was a local tradition that Helen's brothers, "the Dioscuri " (i.e. Castor and Pollux), were born on the island of Pefnos , adding that

1232-416: A thought for    her daughter and dear parents. Dio Chrysostom gives a completely different account of the story, questioning Homer's credibility: after Agamemnon had married Helen's sister, Clytemnestra, Tyndareus sought Helen's hand for Menelaus for political reasons. However, Helen was sought by many suitors, who came from far and near, among them Paris who surpassed all the others and won

1309-648: A treacherous Helen who simulated Bacchic rites and rejoiced in the carnage she caused. In some versions, Helen does not arrive in Troy, but instead waits out the war in Egypt . Ultimately, Paris was killed in action, and in Homer's account Helen was reunited with Menelaus, though other versions of the legend recount her ascending to Olympus instead. A cult associated with her developed in Hellenistic Laconia , both at Sparta and elsewhere; at Therapne she shared

1386-583: A tree, and for this reason the Rhodians have a sanctuary of Helen of the Tree." There are other traditions concerning the punishment of Helen. For example, she is offered as a sacrifice to the gods in Tauris by Iphigeneia , or Thetis , enraged when Achilles dies because of Helen, kills her on her return journey. Tlepolemus was a son of Heracles and Astyoche. Astyoche was a daughter of Phylas, King of Ephyra who

1463-570: A veil on his face. There are detailed contemporary reports of the first performance at Versailles. André Felibien, secretary of the Royal Academy of architecture, recorded his impressions in a booklet: The German classical composer Christoph Willibald Gluck 's opera Iphigénie en Aulide , first performed at the Paris Opéra in 1774, was based on Racine's play. Britannicus (play) Too Many Requests If you report this error to

1540-482: A veil to conceal his sensitive nature from his generals, but by this means to show nevertheless the extent of his grief. In the play Arcas relates to Clytemnestra that at the moment of Iphigenia's sacrifice Le triste Agamemnon, qui n'ose l'avouer, Pour détourner ses yeux des meurtres qu'il présage, Ou pour cacher ses pleurs, s'est voilé le visage. Distraught Agamemnon, daring not to approve, To ensure that no murders fell under his gaze, Or to cover his tears, wore

1617-707: A young girl in their charge, captured by Achille on the island of Lesbos, an ally of Troy: the message has not reached them. Act II. Eriphile discloses her troubled state to her confidante Doris: she will never know the secret circumstances of her high birth that would have been revealed in Troy according to Doris' father, killed during the overthrow of Lesbos; and, far from hating the conquering Achille, she has been overcome by an uncontrollable passion for him, feeling she has either to separate him from Iphigénie or take her own life. Iphigénie confides to Eriphile her unease at her reception: Achille's absence and Agamemnon's cold evasiveness, telling her only that she will be present at

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1694-462: Is an affectionate relationship between the two, and Helen has harsh words for Paris when she compares the two brothers: Howbeit, seeing the gods thus ordained these ills, would that I had been wife to a better man, that could feel the indignation of his fellows and their many revilings. [...] But come now, enter in, and sit thee upon this chair, my brother, since above all others has trouble encompassed thy heart because of shameless me, and

1771-421: Is beside herself with grief and despair, conjuring up the god of thunder at the end of her apocalyptic invocations. Arcas comes to fetch her on behalf of Achille, who with his soldiers has interrupted the sacrifice; but then Ulysse arrives to reassure Clytemnestre that her daughter has been saved as the result of an unexpected miracle. At the moment that Achille and the other Greeks were facing each other for combat,

1848-506: Is not the case, however, in Laconic art: on an Archaic stele depicting Helen's recovery after the fall of Troy, Menelaus is armed with a sword but Helen faces him boldly, looking directly into his eyes; and in other works of Peloponnesian art, Helen is shown carrying a wreath, while Menelaus holds his sword aloft vertically. In contrast, on Athenian vases of c. 550–470, Menelaus threateningly points his sword at her. The abduction by Paris

1925-748: Is pierced by the extreme suffering of his wife and daughter. Act IV. The plight of Iphigénie only serves to increase Eriphile's envy of her: Achille's efforts to save her; Agamemnon's continuing hesitation despite the secrecy of the sacrificial victim's name. She decides to reveal everything she has heard in order to sow more trouble and discord, thus averting the threat hanging over Troy. Clytemnestre leaves Iphigénie, who still takes her father's side, and waits for her husband. Agamemnon eventually appears, blaming her for her daughter's delay. When Iphigénie enters in tears, he realizes that they know everything. Iphigénie pleads for her life with restraint, nevertheless piercingly reminding her father that her pleas are made for

2002-482: Is presented as a young princess wrestling naked in the palaestra , alluding to a part of girls' physical education in classical (not Mycenaean) Sparta. Sextus Propertius imagines Helen as a girl who practices arms and hunts with her brothers: [...] or like Helen, on the sands of Eurotas, between Castor and Pollux, one to be victor in boxing, the other with horses: with naked breasts she carried weapons, they say, and did not blush with her divine brothers there. When it

2079-724: Is said to have aided the Dioscuri brothers in returning Helen home. In most accounts of this event, Helen was quite young; Hellanicus of Lesbos said she was seven years old and Diodorus makes her ten years old. On the other hand, Stesichorus said that Iphigenia was the daughter of Theseus and Helen, which implies that Helen was of childbearing age. In most sources, Iphigenia is the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra , but Duris of Samos and other writers, such as Antoninus Liberalis , followed Stesichorus' account. Ovid 's Heroides give us an idea of how ancient and, in particular, Roman authors imagined Helen in her youth: she

2156-436: Is she who is to be sacrificed. Clytemenestre entrusts her daughter to Achille and rushes off to petition the king. Achille vents his rage at being used as a pawn by Agamemnon and vows to be avenged, while Iphigénie nobly rises to the defense of her father. Prevented from entering the king's presence, Clytemnestre implores Achille to help, but Iphigénie prevails upon him to wait until Agamemnon is obliged to fetch her in person and

2233-604: The Oath of Tyndareus ) promising to provide military assistance to the winning suitor, if Helen were ever stolen from him. The obligations of the oath precipitated the Trojan War. When she married Menelaus she was still very young; whether her subsequent departure with Paris was an abduction or an elopement is ambiguous (probably deliberately so). The legends of Helen during her time in Troy are contradictory: Homer depicts her ambivalently, both regretful of her choice and sly in her attempts to redeem her public image. Other accounts have

2310-588: The Age of Heroes may itself reflect a mythologized memory of that era. Recent archaeological excavations in Greece suggest that modern-day Laconia was a distinct territory in the Late Bronze Age , while the poets narrate that it was a rich kingdom. Archaeologists have unsuccessfully looked for a Mycenaean palatial complex buried beneath present-day Sparta. Modern findings suggest the area around Menelaion in

2387-465: The Greek proper word and god for the sun, Helios . In particular, her marriage myth may be connected to a broader Indo-European "marriage drama" of the sun goddess, and she is related to the divine twins , just as many of these goddesses are. Martin L. West has thus proposed that Helena ("mistress of sunlight") may be constructed on the PIE suffix -nā ("mistress of"), connoting a deity controlling

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2464-500: The Spartan poet Alcman also said this, while the poet Lycophron 's use of the adjective "Pephnaian" ( Πεφναίας ) in association with Helen, suggests that Lycophron may have known a tradition which held that Helen was also born on the island. Two Athenians , Theseus and Pirithous , thought that since they were sons of gods, they should have divine wives; they thus pledged to help each other abduct two daughters of Zeus . Theseus chose Helen, and Pirithous vowed to marry Persephone ,

2541-645: The Trojan War. The Greek fleet gathered in Aulis , but the ships could not sail for lack of wind. Artemis was enraged by a sacrilege, and only the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter, Iphigenia , could appease her. In Euripides Iphigenia in Aulis , Clytemnestra, Iphigenia's mother and Helen's sister, begs her husband to reconsider his decision, calling Helen a "wicked woman". Clytemnestra tries to warn Agamemnon that sacrificing Iphigenia for Helen's sake is, " buying what we most detest with what we hold most dear ". Before

2618-577: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.236 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 952960849 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:53:31 GMT Helen of Troy Helen ( Ancient Greek : Ἑλένη , romanized :  Helénē ), also known as Helen of Troy , Helen of Argos , or Helen of Sparta , and in Latin as Helena ,

2695-526: The best features from five virgins. The ancient world starts to paint Helen's picture or inscribe her form on stone, clay and bronze by the 7th century BC. Dares Phrygius describes Helen in his History of the Fall of Troy : "She was beautiful, ingenuous, and charming. Her legs were the best; her mouth the cutest. There was a beauty-mark between her eyebrows." Helen is frequently depicted on Athenian vases as being threatened by Menelaus and fleeing from him. This

2772-420: The city and forbidden ever again to speak to Achille, feels that sacrificial death is the only choice left. Achille arrives to offer her the support of his troops. She continues to defend her father and insists on the need for her sacrifice. Achille leaves her, still resolved to defend her. Her mother's entreaties are met with a similar response; she departs to make her own way to the sacrificial altar. Clytemnestre

2849-454: The city, she feigned Bacchic rites , leading a chorus of Trojan women, and, holding a torch among them, she signaled to the Greeks from the city's central tower. In the Odyssey , however, Homer narrates a different story: Helen circled the Horse three times, and she imitated the voices of the Greek women left behind at home—she thus tortured the men inside (including Odysseus and Menelaus) with

2926-504: The decision was made, all the suitors should swear a most solemn oath to defend the chosen husband against whoever should quarrel with him. After the suitors had sworn not to retaliate, Menelaus was chosen to be Helen's husband. As a sign of the importance of the pact, Tyndareus sacrificed a horse . Helen and Menelaus became rulers of Sparta, after Tyndareus and Leda abdicated. Menelaus and Helen rule in Sparta for at least ten years; they have

3003-418: The efforts of the Greek leaders to prevent his marriage. Smitten by jealousy, Eriphile resolves to profit from this confusion. Act III. Clytemnestre announces to Agamemnon that she and her daughter will no longer leave, since Achille has convinced them of his sincerity and his wish for an immediate marriage to Iphigénie. After his attempts at discouragement fail, Agamemnon forbids her to accompany Iphigénie to

3080-521: The end of the war, the Trojans have come to hate her. When Hector dies, she is the third mourner at his funeral, and she says that, of all the Trojans, Hector and Priam alone were always kind to her: Wherefore I wail alike for thee and for my hapless self with grief at heart; for no longer have I anyone beside in broad Troy that is gentle to me or kind; but all men shudder at me. These bitter words reveal that Helen gradually realized Paris' weaknesses, and decided to ally herself with Hector. There

3157-406: The ending: another princess Ériphile is revealed to be the true "Iphigénie" whose life is sought by the gods and thus the tragic heroine of the play is spared. Although a great success when it was first produced, Iphigénie is rarely performed today. The play is set in Aulis, in the royal tent of Agamemnon. Act I. At dawn in the Greek camp at Aulis, where the Greek fleets are moored in wait for

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3234-522: The entire war in Egypt . An eidolon is also present in Stesichorus ' account, but not in Herodotus' rationalizing version of the myth. In addition to these accounts, Lycophron (822) states that Hesiod was the first to mention Helen's eidolon . This may mean Hesiod stated this in a literary work, or that the idea was widely known/circulated in early archaic Greece during the time of Hesiod and

3311-402: The favor of Tyndareus and his sons. Thus he won her fairly and took her away to Troia, with the full consent of her natural protectors. Cypria narrate that in just three days Paris and Helen reached Troy. Homer narrates that during a brief stop-over in the small island of Kranai , according to Iliad , the two lovers consummated their passion. On the other hand, Cypria note that this happened

3388-547: The first a Spartan goddess, connected to one or the other natural light phenomenon (especially St. Elmo's fire ) and sister of the Dioscuri , the other a vegetation goddess worshiped in Therapne as Ἑλένα Δενδρῖτις ("Helena of the Trees"). Others have connected the name's etymology to a hypothetical Proto-Indo-European sun goddess , noting the name's connection to the word for "sun" in various Indo-European cultures including

3465-459: The folly of Alexander. After Paris was killed in combat, there was some dispute among the Trojans about which of Priam's surviving sons she should remarry: Helenus or Deiphobus , but she was given to the latter. During the fall of Troy, Helen's role is ambiguous. In Virgil 's Aeneid , Deiphobus gives an account of Helen's treacherous stance: when the Trojan Horse was admitted into

3542-456: The geographer (3.19.11–13), which has Helen share the afterlife with Achilles. Pausanias also has another story (3.19.9–10): "The account of the Rhodians is different. They say that when Menelaus was dead, and Orestes still a wanderer, Helen was driven out by Nicostratus and Megapenthes and came to Rhodes , where she had a friend in Polyxo , the wife of Tlepolemus . For Polyxo, they say,

3619-533: The gods for this deliverance. During the 17th century, the legend of Iphigenia was popular amongst playwrights. The lost painting of Timanthes from Ancient Greece copied in a first-century fresco in Pompeii was one of the most celebrated representations of the sacrifice of Iphigenia from antiquity, to which Cicero , Quintillian , Valerius Maximus and Pliny the Elder all made reference. The aesthetic impact of

3696-431: The guards to fetch her, he finally decides to save her, but solely so he can choose another husband for her and thus humiliate Achille. He instructs Clytemnestre that she must secretly leave the camp with Iphigénie and flee from Aulis, under protection of his own guards. Instead of following them, Eriphile vindictively decides to reveal all to the high priest Calchas. Act V. In her despair Iphigénie, prevented from leaving

3773-513: The high priest Calchas revealed that, according to the oracle, Eriphile, the secret daughter of Hélène and Thésée , was also called "Iphigénie" and it was she whom the gods had required to be sacrificed. Eriphile then stabbed herself on the altar, her death being immediately followed by a cosmic cataclysm: lightning, thunder, winds, motions of the waves and a pyre of flames in which the goddess Diana herself appeared. Clytemnestre leaves to join her now reconciled family and future son-in-law, thanking

3850-611: The memory of their loved ones, and brought them to the brink of destruction. After the deaths of Hector and Paris, Helen became the paramour of their younger brother, Deiphobus; but when the sack of Troy began, she hid her new husband's sword, and left him to the mercy of Menelaus and Odysseus. In Aeneid , Aeneas meets the mutilated Deiphobus in Hades ; his wounds serve as a testimony to his ignominious end, abetted by Helen's final act of treachery. However, Helen's portraits in Troy seem to contradict each other. From one side, we read about

3927-463: The moon ( Selene ; Σελήνη ). But two early dedications to Helen in the Laconian dialect of ancient Greek spell her name with an initial digamma (Ϝ, probably pronounced like a w), which rules out any etymology originally starting with simple *s- . In the early 20th century, Émile Boisacq considered Ἑλένη to derive from the well-known noun ἑλένη meaning "torch". It has also been suggested that

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4004-404: The most familiar account of Helen's birth: that, although her putative father was Tyndareus, she was actually Zeus' daughter. In the form of a swan, the king of gods was chased by an eagle, and sought refuge with Leda. The swan gained her affection, and the two mated. Leda then produced an egg , from which Helen emerged. The First Vatican Mythographer introduces the notion that two eggs came from

4081-475: The night before they left Sparta. At least three Ancient Greek authors denied that Helen ever went to Troy; instead, they suggested, Helen stayed in Egypt during the Trojan War. Those three authors are Euripides, Stesichorus, and Herodotus. In the version put forth by Euripides in his play Helen , Hera fashioned a likeness ( eidolon , εἴδωλον) of Helen out of clouds at Zeus' request, Hermes took her to Egypt, and Helen never went to Troy, but instead spent

4158-444: The opening of hostilities, the Greeks dispatched a delegation to the Trojans under Odysseus and Menelaus; they endeavored without success to persuade Priam to hand Helen back. A popular theme, The Request of Helen (Helenes Apaitesis, Ἑλένης Ἀπαίτησις), was the subject of a drama by Sophocles , now lost. Homer paints a poignant, lonely picture of Helen in Troy. She is filled with self-loathing and regret for what she has caused; by

4235-524: The other hand, in the Cypria , part of the Epic Cycle , Helen was the daughter of Zeus and the goddess Nemesis . The date of the Cypria is uncertain, but it is generally thought to preserve traditions that date back to at least the 7th century BC. In the Cypria , Nemesis did not wish to mate with Zeus. She therefore changed shape into various animals as she attempted to flee Zeus, finally becoming

4312-487: The painting was such that it was even cited by the Abbé d'Aubignac in his celebrated "Theatrical Practice", published in 1657 and annotated by Racine. He wrote that in order to depict the sacrifice of Iphigenia one should imitate the different degrees of grief amongst those present: the sadness of the Greek princes, the extreme affliction on Menelaus ' face, Clytemnestra's tears of despair, and finally Agamemnon, his face masked by

4389-425: The planned marriage. Achille, unaware of these events, cannot be dissuaded from his wish to marry Iphigénie and leave for Troy, even though it has been predicted that he will die there. In Achille's absence, Ulysse convinces Agamemnon that his daughter's sacrifice is necessary to avenge the honour of Helen of Troy and for the eternal glory of Greece. The arrival is announced of Clytemnestre and Iphigénie with Eriphile,

4466-478: The play by Euripides , Iphigenia in Aulis , the morally strongest character in the play is not Agamemnon, a pusillanimous leader, but Iphigénie, driven by duty to father and country to accept the will of the gods. In the final sacrificial scene of Euripides' play, the goddess Artemis substitutes a deer for Iphigenia, who is swept through the heavens by the gods to Tauris . Based on the writings of Pausanias , Racine decided upon an alternative dramatic solution for

4543-455: The sacrifice currently in preparation. Clytemnestra, outraged after having at last received her husband's message from Arcas, tells Iphigénie that they cannot stay, Achille having reportedly chosen not to marry her because of Eriphile. Distraught with grief at her cruel and vicious betrayal by Eriphile, Iphigénie leaves dejectedly on being discovered by Achille. In turn astonished and confused by her presence in Aulis, Achille expresses his dismay at

4620-413: The sacrificial altar. Perplexed by his motives, she nevertheless accedes to his wishes. Achille appears to inform Agamemnon of his good news and of the high priest Calchas' predictions of favourable winds. He promises to Iphigénie that he will give Eriphile her liberty as soon as they are married. Arcas arrives to announce that Agamemnon has summoned Iphigénie to the altar, revealing to the horror of all that

4697-485: The sake of others – her mother and her betrothed – rather than herself. In turn Clytemnestre vents her wrath upon Agamemnon, condemning his barbarity and inhumanity in being so easily swayed to spill his innocent daughter's blood. Finally Achille calls him to account, barely containing his fury. In a heated exchange, Agamemnon defies Achille's attempts to question the personal actions of a king and commander, saying that he must share responsibility for Iphigénie's fate as one of

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4774-455: The soldiers pushing to leave for Troy and hinting that his services are not indispensable. Achille counters, saying that Iphigénie is more important to him than the Trojan war, that the bond forged with her could not be so easily broken and that he would do all in his power to defend her. Achille's threats only serve to harden Agamemnon's resolve to sacrifice Iphigénie; however, instead of ordering

4851-501: The southern part of the Eurotas valley seems to have been the center of Mycenaean Laconia. Helen and Menelaus had a daughter, Hermione . Different sources say she was also the mother of one or more sons, named Aethiolas , Nicostratus , Megapenthes and Pleisthenes . Still, according to others, these were instead illegitimate children of Menelaus and various lovers. Helen and Paris had three sons, Bunomus , Aganus , Idaeus , and

4928-431: The treacherous Helen who simulated Bacchic rites and rejoiced over the carnage of Trojans. On the other hand, there is another Helen, lonely and helpless; desperate to find sanctuary, while Troy is on fire. Stesichorus narrates that both Greeks and Trojans gathered to stone her to death. When Menelaus finally found her, he raised his sword to kill her. He had demanded that only he should slay his unfaithful wife; but, when he

5005-413: The union: one containing Castor and Pollux ; one with Helen and Clytemnestra . Nevertheless, the same author earlier states that Helen, Castor and Pollux were produced from a single egg. Fabius Planciades Fulgentius also states that Helen, Castor and Pollux are born from the same egg. Pseudo-Apollodorus states that Leda had intercourse with both Zeus and Tyndareus the night she conceived Helen. On

5082-558: The wife of Hades . Theseus took Helen and left her with his mother Aethra or his associate Aphidnus at Aphidnae or Athens . Theseus and Pirithous then traveled to the underworld , the domain of Hades, to kidnap Persephone. Hades pretended to offer them hospitality and set a feast, but, as soon as the pair sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and held them there. Helen's abduction caused an invasion of Athens by Castor and Pollux, who captured Aethra in revenge, and returned their sister to Sparta. In Goethe 's Faust , Centaur Chiron

5159-543: The wrath of Athena and Hera . Although Helen is sometimes depicted as being raped (i.e. abducted ) by Paris, Ancient Greek sources are often elliptical and contradictory. Herodotus states that Helen was abducted, but the Cypria simply mentions that after giving Helen gifts, "Aphrodite brings the Spartan queen together with the Prince of Troy." Sappho argues that Helen willingly left behind Menelaus and their nine-year-old daughter, Hermione , to be with Paris: Some say

5236-479: The λ of Ἑλένη arose from an original ν, and thus the etymology of the name would be connected with the root of Venus . Linda Lee Clader, however, says that none of the above suggestions offers much satisfaction. More recently, Otto Skutsch has advanced the theory that the name Helen might have two separate etymologies, which belong to different mythological figures respectively, namely *Sṷelenā (related to Sanskrit svaraṇā "the shining one") and *Selenā ,

5313-483: Was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda or Nemesis , and the sister of Clytemnestra , Castor, Pollux , Philonoe , Phoebe and Timandra . She was married to King Menelaus of Sparta "who became by her the father of Hermione , and, according to others, of Nicostratus also." Her abduction by Paris of Troy

5390-460: Was afraid to select a husband for his daughter, or send any of the suitors away, for fear of offending them and giving grounds for a quarrel. Odysseus was one of the suitors, but had brought no gifts because he believed he had little chance to win the contest. He thus promised to solve the problem, if Tyndareus in turn would support him in his courting of Penelope , the daughter of Icarius . Tyndareus readily agreed, and Odysseus proposed that, before

5467-409: Was an Argive by descent, and when she was already married to Tlepolemus, shared his flight to Rhodes. At the time she was queen of the island, having been left with an orphan boy. They say that this Polyxo desired to avenge the death of Tlepolemus on Helen, now that she had her in her power. So she sent against her when she was bathing handmaidens dressed up as Furies , who seized Helen and hanged her on

5544-486: Was another popular motif in ancient Greek vase-painting ; definitely more popular than the kidnapping by Theseus. In a famous representation by the Athenian vase painter Makron , Helen follows Paris like a bride following a bridegroom, her wrist grasped by Paris' hand. The Etruscans , who had a sophisticated knowledge of Greek mythology, demonstrated a particular interest in the theme of the delivery of Helen's egg, which

5621-584: Was consequently attributed to him. Herodotus adds weight to the "Egyptian" version of events by putting forward his own evidence—he traveled to Egypt and interviewed the priests of the temple ( Foreign Aphrodite , ξείνη Ἀφροδίτη) at Memphis . According to these priests, Helen had arrived in Egypt shortly after leaving Sparta, because strong winds had blown Paris's ship off course. King Proteus of Egypt , appalled that Paris had seduced his host's wife and plundered his host's home in Sparta, disallowed Paris from taking Helen to Troy. Paris returned to Troy without

5698-411: Was killed by Heracles. Tlepolemus was killed by Sarpedon on the first day of fighting in the Iliad . Nicostratus was a son of Menelaus by his concubine Pieris, an Aetolian slave. Megapenthes was a son of Menelaus by his concubine Tereis, with no further origin. In Euripides 's tragedy The Trojan Women , Helen is shunned by the women who survived the war and is to be taken back to Greece to face

5775-486: Was ready to do so, she dropped her robe from her shoulders, and the sight of her beauty caused him to let the sword drop from his hand. Electra wails: Alas for my troubles! Can it be that her beauty has blunted their swords? Helen returned to Sparta and lived with Menelaus, where she was encountered by Telemachus in Book 4 of The Odyssey . As depicted in that account, she and Menelaus were completely reconciled and had

5852-591: Was the most immediate cause of the Trojan War . Elements of her putative biography come from classical authors such as Aristophanes , Cicero , Euripides , and Homer (in both the Iliad and the Odyssey ). Her story reappears in Book ;II of Virgil 's Aeneid . In her youth, she was abducted by Theseus . A competition between her suitors for her hand in marriage saw Menelaus emerge victorious. All of her suitors were required to swear an oath (known as

5929-429: Was time for Helen to marry, many kings and princes from around the world came to seek her hand, bringing rich gifts with them or sent emissaries to do so on their behalf. During the contest, Castor and Pollux had a prominent role in dealing with the suitors, although the final decision was in the hands of Tyndareus. Menelaus, her future husband, did not attend but sent his brother, Agamemnon , to represent him. Tyndareus

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