Information AboutHelen |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT HELEN | |
| greek mythology | |
| people of the trojan war | |
| characters in the iliad | |
| characters in the odyssey | |
| offspring of zeus | |
|
Helen () was the wife of Menelaus and reputed to be the most beautiful woman in the world; her abduction by Paris brought about the Trojan War . ]] ETYMOLOGY
HELEN IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY Birth According to later , the goddess who personified the disaster that awaited those suffering from the pride of Hubris. Marriage to Menelaus Two Athenians , Theseus and Pirithous , pledged to wed daughters of Zeus . Theseus chose the child Helen. He and Pirithous kidnapped her and decided to hold onto her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chose Persephone , the wife of Hades . They left Helen with Theseus' mother, Aethra , and travelled to the Underworld , the domain of Hades, to kidnap Persephone. Hades pretended to offer them hospitality and set a feast. As soon as the pair sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and held them there. Helen was subsequently rescued by her brothers, who returned her to Sparta. When it was time for Helen to marry, many Greek kings and princes came to seek her hand or sent emissaries to do so on their behalf. Among the contenders were Odysseus , Menestheus , Ajax The Great , Patroclus and Idomeneus , but the favorite was Menelaus , who did not come in person but was represented by his brother Agamemnon , both of whom were in exile, having fled Thyestes . All but Odysseus brought many rich gifts with them. Tyndareus would not choose a suitor, or send any of the suitors away, for fear of offending them and giving grounds for a quarrel. Odysseus promised to solve the problem if Tyndareus would support him in his courting of Penelope , the daughter of Icarius . Tyndareus readily agreed and Odysseus proposed that, before the decision was made, all the suitors should swear a most solemn oath to defend the chosen husband against whoever should quarrel with him. This stratagem succeeded and Helen and Menelaus were married. Following Tyndareus' death, Menelaus became king of Sparta because the only male heirs, Castor And Polydeuces , had died and ascended to Mount Olympus . Seduction by Paris ]] Some years later, Paris , a Trojan prince, came to Sparta to marry Helen, whom he had been promised by Aphrodite after he had chosen her as the most beautiful of the goddesses, earning the wrath of Athena and Hera . Helen fell in love with him, as the goddess had promised, willingly leaving behind Menelaus and Hermione , their nine-year-old daughter, to be with her new love. Helen's relationship with Paris varies depending on the source of the story. In some, she loved him dearly (perhaps caused by Aphrodite , who had promised her to Paris). In others, she was portrayed as his unwilling captive in Troy, or as a cruel, selfish woman who brought disaster to everyone around her, and she hated him. In the version used by Euripides in his play '' Helen '', Hermes fashioned a likeness of her out of clouds at Zeus's request, and Helen never even went to Troy , having spent the entire war in Egypt . Fall of Troy When he discovered that his wife was missing, Menelaus called upon all the other suitors to fulfill their oaths, thus beginning the Trojan War . Almost all of Greece took part, either attacking Troy with Menelaus or defending it from them. Late in the Trojan War, Paris was killed by Philoctetes. After Paris died, his brother, Deiphobus, married Helen until he was killed by Menelaus. Menelaus had demanded that only he should slay his faithless wife; but, when he raised his sword to do so, the sight of her beauty caused him to let the sword drop from his hand. Instead, he led her in safety to the Greek ships. Fate Helen returned to Sparta and lived for a time with Menelaus, where she was encountered by Telemachus in '' The Odyssey ''. After Menelaus' death, Helen was exiled by Menelaus's son, Megapenthes . According to another version, used by Euripides in his play '' Orestes '', Helen had long ago left the mortal world by then, having been taken up to Olympus almost immediately after Menelaus's return. Assuming the story of Helen is, to some extent, based on a real event it is worth knowing that this and many other Greek legends point to the existence of a Matrilineal inheritance system. Thus Menelaus' right to the throne is based on his being married to the daughter of the previous king. However beautiful Helen may have been, this suggests a more pragmatic reason to fight over her. HELEN IN MODERN LITERATURE Helen is often called "the face that launched a thousand ships", though this phrase is post-classical, from Christopher Marlowe : :Was this the face that launched a thousand ships :And burnt the topless towers of Ilium ? ::'' The Tragical History Of Doctor Faustus '' In Goethe 's '' Faust '' (Part 2), Helen has a son by Faust named Euphorion . In The Divine Comedy , Dante sees Helen along with Paris in the Second Circle Of Hell , where they have been consigned for succumbing to the Sin of Lust . TIMELINE The following is an estimation of her life based on the traditional dates of the Trojan War:
SOURCES
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|