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100-478: The concept of Helen of Troy 's eidolon was explored both by Homer and Euripides . Homer uses the concept as a free-standing idea that gives Helen life after death . Euripides entangles it with the idea of kleos , the one being the product of the other. Both Euripides and Stesichorus , in their works concerning the Trojan Horse , use the concept of the eidolon to claim that Helen was never physically present in

200-407: 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

300-512: A black sail, promising to his father, Aegeus, that if successful he would return with a white sail. Like the others, Theseus was stripped of his weapons when they sailed. On his arrival in Crete, Ariadne , King Minos' daughter, fell in love with Theseus and, on the advice of Daedalus, gave him a ball of thread (a clew), so he could find his way out of the Labyrinth. That night, Ariadne escorted Theseus to

400-600: 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

500-433: 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 ,

600-469: 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

700-507: 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

800-466: A great abductor of women, and his bosom companion, Pirithous , since they were sons of Zeus and Poseidon, pledged themselves to marry daughters of Zeus. Theseus, in an old tradition, chose Helen , and together they kidnapped her, intending to keep her until she was old enough to marry. Pirithous chose Persephone , even though she was already married to Hades , king of the underworld. They left Helen with Theseus's mother, Aethra at Aphidna , whence she

900-411: 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

1000-402: 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

1100-414: A huge rock and told Aethra that when their son grew up, he should move the rock, if he were heroic enough, and take the tokens for himself as evidence of his royal parentage. In Athens, Aegeus was joined by Medea , who had left Corinth after slaughtering the children she had borne to Jason , and had taken Aegeus as her new consort. Thus Theseus was raised in his mother's land. When Theseus grew up to be

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1200-612: 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

1300-623: 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

1400-407: A realm haunted by "ill angels only" and reserved for the ones whose "woes are legion" and who "walk in shadow". Walt Whitman 's poem by the same name in 1876 used a much broader understanding of the term, expanded and detailed in the poem. In Whitman's use of the term we can see the use broaden to include the concept of an oversoul composed of the individual souls of all life and expanding to include

1500-466: A sacrifice to Zeus if Theseus were successful in capturing the bull. Theseus did capture the bull, but when he returned to Hecale's hut, she was dead. In her honor, Theseus gave her name to one of the demes of Attica, making its inhabitants in a sense her adopted children. When Theseus returned victorious to Athens, where he sacrificed the Bull, Medea tried to poison him. At the last second, Aegeus recognized

1600-503: 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

1700-408: 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

1800-402: 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

1900-471: 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

2000-416: 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

2100-631: 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

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2200-570: 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

2300-534: A wild bull that terrified Hippolytus's horses. A cult grew up around Hippolytus, associated with the cult of Aphrodite . Girls who were about to be married offered locks of their hair to him. The cult believed that Asclepius had resurrected Hippolytus and that he lived in a sacred forest near Aricia in Latium . According to some sources, Theseus also was one of the Argonauts , although Apollonius of Rhodes states in

2400-478: A young man, he moved the rock and recovered his father's tokens. His mother then told him the truth about his father's identity and that he must take the sword and sandals back to the king Aegeus to claim his birthright. To journey to Athens, Theseus could choose to go by sea (which was the safe way) or by land, following a dangerous path around the Saronic Gulf , where he would encounter a string of six entrances to

2500-462: 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

2600-507: Is depicted in relief mirrors. Theseus Theseus ( UK : / ˈ θ iː sj uː s / , US : / ˈ θ iː s i ə s / ; Ancient Greek : Θησεύς [tʰɛːsěu̯s] ) was a divine hero in Greek mythology , famous for slaying the Minotaur . The myths surrounding Theseus, his journeys, exploits, and friends, have provided material for storytelling throughout the ages. Theseus

2700-678: Is his slaying of the Minotaur, half man and half bull. He then goes on to unite Attica under Athenian rule: the synoikismos ('dwelling together'). As the unifying king, he is credited with building a palace on the fortress of the Acropolis . Pausanias reports that after synoikismos , Theseus established a cult of Aphrodite ('Aphrodite of all the People') on the southern slope of the Acropolis. Plutarch 's Life of Theseus makes use of varying accounts of

2800-501: 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

2900-482: 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

3000-719: 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

3100-416: Is sometimes described as the son of Aegeus , king of Athens, and sometimes as the son of the god Poseidon . He is raised by his mother, Aethra , and upon discovering his connection to Aegeus, travels overland to Athens, having many adventures on the way. When he reaches Athens, he finds that Aegeus is married to Medea (formerly wife of Jason ), who plots against him. The most famous legend about Theseus

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3200-566: The Argonautica that Theseus was still in the underworld at this time. Both statements are inconsistent with Medea being Aegeus' wife by the time Theseus first came to Athens. With Phaedra, Theseus fathered Acamas , who was one of those who hid in the Trojan Horse during the Trojan War . Theseus welcomed the wandering Oedipus and helped Adrastus to bury the Seven against Thebes . Lycomedes of

3300-537: 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 the Oath of Tyndareus ) promising to provide military assistance to the winning suitor, if Helen were ever stolen from him. The obligations of

3400-622: The Panathenaic Games , which were held there every four years. Being strong and skillful, he did very well, winning some events outright. He soon became a crowd favorite, much to the resentment of the Pallantides, who assassinated him, incurring the wrath of Minos. When King Minos heard what had befallen his son, he ordered the Cretan fleet to set sail for Athens. Minos asked Aegeus for his son's assassins, saying that if they were to be handed to him,

3500-555: The Underworld , each guarded by a chthonic enemy. Young, brave, and ambitious, Theseus decided to go alone by the land route and defeated many bandits along the way. The six entrances to the underworld, more commonly known as the Six Labours, are as follows: When Theseus arrived in Athens, he did not reveal his true identity immediately. Aegeus gave him hospitality but was suspicious of

3600-574: 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

3700-515: The Ancient Greek understanding of an eidolon) appear as occasional antagonists who take control of the bodies of several of the books' protagonists via their power of spirit possession . They first appear in the opening chapters of The Mark of Athena , the third book of the five-book series. They appear twice more over the course of the book before Piper McLean manages to permanently eject them using her charmspeak power. Sandeep Parmar's Eidolon won

3800-516: The Athenians and was successful. He then demanded that, at nine-year intervals, seven Athenian boys and seven Athenian girls were to be sent to Crete to be devoured by the Minotaur , a half-man, half-bull monster that lived in the Labyrinth created by Daedalus . On the third occasion, Theseus volunteered to talk to the monster to stop this horror. He took the place of one of the youths and set off with

3900-590: The Earth itself and the hierarchy of the planets, Sun, stars and galaxy. Clark Ashton Smith wrote a story called The Dark Eidolon , which chronicles the life and death of the dread sorcerer Namirrha. In the Italian Disney comic book PKNA , there is a character named Odin Eidolon who is a body double for the character One. In The Heroes of Olympus book series by Rick Riordan , entities referred to as eidolons (based on

4000-462: 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

4100-411: The Labyrinth, and Theseus promised that if he returned from the Labyrinth he would take Ariadne with him. As soon as Theseus entered the Labyrinth, he tied one end of the ball of string to the doorpost and brandished his sword which he had kept hidden from the guards inside his tunic. Theseus followed Daedalus' instructions given to Ariadne: go forwards, always down, and never left or right. Theseus came to

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4200-514: The Ledbury prize for a second collection. 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 , 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

4300-500: 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 ,

4400-637: 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

4500-522: 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

4600-414: The childless Aegeus would be lost if they did not get rid of Theseus (the Pallantides were the sons of Pallas and nephews of King Aegeus , who was then living at the royal court in the sanctuary of Delphic Apollo). So they set a trap for him. One band of them would march on the town from one side while another lay in wait near a place called Gargettus in ambush. The plan was that after Theseus, Aegeus, and

4700-482: The city at all. The concept of the eidola of the dead has been explored in literature regarding Penelope , who in later works was constantly laboring against the eidola of Clytemnestra and later of Helen herself. Homer's use of eidola also extends to the Odyssey where, after the death of the suitors of Penelope , Theoclymenus notes that he sees the doorway of the court filled with them. In Dream-Land , an 1844 poem by Edgar Allan Poe , an Eidolon rules over

4800-463: The city would be spared. However, not knowing who the assassins were, King Aegeus surrendered the whole city to Minos' mercy. His retribution was to stipulate that at the end of every Great Year , which occurred after every seven cycles on the solar calendar, the seven most courageous youths and the seven most beautiful maidens were to board a boat and be sent as tribute to Crete, never to be seen again. In another version, King Minos had waged war with

4900-450: 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

5000-659: The daughter of King Minos, bore Theseus two sons, Demophon and Acamas . While these two were still in their infancy, Phaedra fell in love with Hippolytus , Theseus' son by the Amazon queen Hippolyta . According to some versions of the story, Hippolytus had scorned Aphrodite to become a follower of Artemis , so Aphrodite made Phaedra fall in love with him as punishment. He rejected her out of chastity. Alternatively, in Euripides' version, Hippolytus , Phaedra's nurse told Hippolytus of her mistress's love and he swore he would not reveal

5100-522: The death of the Minotaur, Theseus's escape, and his romantic involvement with and betrayal of Ariadne , daughter of King Minos . Plutarch's avowed purpose is to construct a life that parallels the Life of Romulus , the founding myth of Rome. Plutarch's sources, not all of whose texts have survived independently, include Pherecydes (mid-fifth century BC), Demon (c. 400 BC), Philochorus , and Cleidemus (both fourth century BC). As

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5200-500: 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

5300-521: 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

5400-511: 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

5500-402: 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

5600-538: 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

5700-399: 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

5800-452: 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,

5900-476: The god. To preserve the purity of the occasion, no executions were permitted between the time when the religious ceremony began to when the ship returned from Delos, which took several weeks. To preserve the ship, any wood that wore out or rotted was replaced; it was thus unclear to philosophers how much of the original ship remained, giving rise to the philosophical question of whether it should be considered "the same" ship or not. Such philosophical questions about

6000-408: The heart of the Labyrinth and upon the sleeping Minotaur. The beast awoke and a tremendous fight occurred. Theseus overpowered the Minotaur with his strength and stabbed the beast in the throat with his sword (according to one scholium on Pindar's Fifth Nemean Ode, Theseus strangled it). After decapitating the beast, Theseus used the string to escape the Labyrinth and managed to escape with all of

6100-440: The island of Skyros threw Theseus off a cliff after he had lost popularity in Athens. In 475 BC, in response to an oracle, Cimon of Athens, having conquered Skyros for the Athenians, identified as the remains of Theseus "a coffin of a great corpse with a bronze spear-head by its side and a sword." (Plutarch, Life of Theseus ). The remains found by Cimon were reburied in Athens. The early modern name Theseion (Temple of Theseus)

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6200-510: The island of Sphairia that lay close to Troezen's shore. There, she poured a libation to Sphairos (Pelops's charioteer) and Poseidon and was possessed by the sea god in the night. The mix gave Theseus a combination of divine as well as mortal characteristics in his nature; such double paternity, with one immortal and one mortal, was a familiar feature of other Greek heroes . After Aethra became pregnant, Aegeus decided to return to Athens. Before leaving, however, he buried his sandals and sword under

6300-703: The literary epic. Later, Pirithous was preparing to marry Hippodamia . The centaurs were guests at the wedding feast, but got drunk and tried to abduct the women, including Hippodamia. The Lapiths won the ensuing battle. In Ovid 's Metamorphoses Theseus fights against and kills Eurytus , the "fiercest of all the fierce centaurs" at the wedding of Pirithous and Hippodamia . Also according to Ovid, Phaedra, Theseus' wife, felt left out by her husband's love for Pirithous and she used this as an excuse to try to convince her stepson, Hippolytus, to accept being her lover, as Theseus also neglected his son because he preferred to spend long periods with his companion. Theseus,

6400-607: 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

6500-458: 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

6600-404: 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

6700-619: The nature of identity are sometimes referred to as the " Ship of Theseus " paradox. Regardless of these issues, the Athenians preserved the ship. They believed that Theseus had been an actual, historical figure and the ship gave them a tangible connection to their divine provenance. Theseus's best friend was Pirithous , king of the Lapiths . Pirithous had heard stories of Theseus's courage and strength in battle but wanted proof so he rustled Theseus's herd of cattle and drove it from Marathon and Theseus set out in pursuit. Pirithous took up his arms and

6800-475: 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

6900-442: The nurse as his source of information. To ensure that she would die with dignity , Phaedra wrote to Theseus on a tablet claiming that Hippolytus had raped her before hanging herself. Theseus believed her and used one of the three wishes he had received from Poseidon against his son. The curse caused Hippolytus' horses to be frightened by a sea monster, usually a bull, and drag their rider to his death. Artemis would later tell Theseus

7000-408: 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

7100-485: The old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place... The ship had to be maintained in a seaworthy state, for, in return for Theseus's successful mission, the Athenians had pledged to honor Apollo every year henceforth. Thus, the Athenians sent a religious mission to the island of Delos (one of Apollo's most sacred sanctuaries) on the Athenian state galley—the ship itself—to pay their fealty to

7200-444: 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

7300-514: 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

7400-663: The pair met to do battle but were so impressed with each other's gracefulness, beauty and courage they took an oath of friendship and joined the Calydonian boar hunt . In Iliad I, Nestor numbers Pirithous and Theseus "of heroic fame" among an earlier generation of heroes of his youth, "the strongest men that Earth has bred, the strongest men against the strongest enemies, a savage mountain-dwelling tribe whom they utterly destroyed." No trace of such an oral tradition, which Homer's listeners would have recognized in Nestor's allusion, survived in

7500-522: The palace guards had been forced out the front, the other half would surprise them from behind. However, Theseus was not fooled. Informed of the plan by a herald named Leos, he crept out of the city at midnight and surprised the Pallantides. "Theseus then fell suddenly upon the party lying in ambush, and slew them all. Thereupon the party with Pallas dispersed," Plutarch reported. Pasiphaë , wife of King Minos of Crete, had several children. The eldest of these, Androgeus , set sail for Athens to take part in

7600-458: The sandals and the sword and knocked the poisoned wine cup from Theseus's hands. Thus father and son were reunited, and Medea fled to Asia . When Theseus appeared in the town, his reputation had preceded him, as a result of his having traveled along the notorious coastal road from Troezen and slain some of the most feared bandits there. It was not long before the Pallantides ' hopes of succeeding

7700-532: The sea, causing this body of water to be named the Aegean Sea. According to Plutarch 's Life of Theseus , the ship Theseus used on his return from Minoan Crete to Athens was kept in the Athenian harbor as a memorial for several centuries. The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus , for they took away

7800-443: 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 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

7900-496: 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

8000-509: The subject of myth, the existence of Theseus as a real person has not been proven, but scholars believe that he may have been alive during the Late Bronze Age, or possibly as a king in the 8th or 9th century BC. Aegeus , one of the primordial kings of Athens , was childless. Desiring an heir, he asked the Oracle of Delphi for advice. Her cryptic words were "Do not loosen the bulging mouth of

8100-431: 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

8200-659: The truth, promising to avenge her loyal follower on another follower of Aphrodite. In a version recounted by the Roman playwright Seneca , entitled Phaedra , after Phaedra told Theseus that Hippolytus had raped her, Theseus called upon Neptune (as he did Poseidon in Euripides' interpretation) to kill his son. Upon hearing the news of Hippolytus' death at the hands of Neptune's sea monster, Phaedra committed suicide out of guilt, for she had not intended for Hippolytus to die. In yet another version, Phaedra simply told Theseus Hippolytus had raped her and did not kill herself. Dionysus sent

8300-491: The underworld for his 12th task. There he persuaded Persephone to forgive him for the part he had taken in the rash venture of Pirithous. So Theseus was restored to the upper air but Pirithous never left the kingdom of the dead, for when Heracles tried to free Pirithous, the underworld shook. They then decided the task was beyond any hero and left. When Theseus returned to Athens, he found that the Dioscuri had taken Helen and Aethra to Sparta . Phaedra , Theseus' second wife and

8400-413: 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

8500-558: 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

8600-406: The wineskin until you have reached the height of Athens, lest you die of grief." Aegeus did not understand the prophecy and was disappointed. He asked the advice of his host Pittheus , king of Troezen . Pittheus understood the prophecy, got Aegeus drunk, and gave Aegeus his daughter Aethra . But following the instructions of Athena in a dream, Aethra left the sleeping Aegeus and waded across to

8700-539: 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

8800-407: The young Athenians a dance still performed by the inhabitants of the island, consisting of twisting and twisted movements that reproduce the shapes of the labyrinth. Dicearchos states that this dance is called 'Crane'." Theseus forgot to put up the white sails instead of the black ones, so his father, the king, believing he was dead, committed suicide, throwing himself off a cliff of Sounion and into

8900-417: The young Athenians and Ariadne as well as her younger sister Phaedra . Then he and the rest of the crew fell asleep on the beach of the island of Naxos, where they stopped on their way back, looking for water. Theseus then abandoned Ariadne, where Dionysus eventually found and married her. On his way back from Crete, he also stopped on the island of Delos , where, according to Plutarch , "Theseus danced with

9000-514: The young, powerful stranger's intentions. Aegeus's consort Medea recognized Theseus immediately as Aegeus' son and worried that Theseus would be chosen as heir to Aegeus' kingdom instead of her son Medus . She tried to arrange to have Theseus killed by asking him to capture the Marathonian Bull , an emblem of Cretan power. On the way to Marathon , Theseus took shelter from a storm in the hut of an ancient woman named Hecale . She swore to make

9100-479: 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 ,

9200-460: 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

9300-409: 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

9400-430: 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

9500-584: 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

9600-404: Was crying out. Around him gathered the terrible band of Furies with snakes in their hair, torches, and long whips in their hands. Before these monsters, the hero's courage failed and he was led away to eternal punishment. For many months in half-darkness, Theseus sat immovably fixed to the rock, mourning for both his friend and for himself. In the end, he was rescued by Heracles who had come to

9700-411: 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

9800-482: 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

9900-418: Was rescued by the Dioscuri . On Pirithous's behalf they rather unwisely traveled to the underworld, domain of Persephone and her husband Hades . As they wandered through the outskirts of Tartarus , Theseus sat down to rest on a rock. As he did so he felt his limbs change and grow stiff. He tried to rise but could not. He was fixed to the rock. As he turned to cry out to his friend, he saw that Pirithous too

10000-429: 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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