In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy was named as the most beautiful woman in the world. Daughter of the god Zeus with the mortal Leda, she was known to play an important role in the Trojan War, a story told by Homer in The Iliad and the Odyssey.
Helena was described by English poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe as having "the face that launched a thousand ships."
Helen of Troy, by Evelyn de Morgan, 1898
The story of Helen of Troy
The play by Euripides, written at the end of the fifth century BC. C., is the oldest source to report that Zeus, in the form of a swan, was chased by an eagle and sought refuge in Leda, wife of Meneleus of Sparta.
The swan gained their affection and the two mated. Leda then produced an egg that, after hatching, gave rise to Helena.
Already according to the work "Cypric Fields" describes that Helena was the daughter of Zeus and the goddess Nemesis. In these poems, Nemesis did not want to relate to Zeus.
She then shape-shifted into various animals while trying to escape the god of gods, when she finally became a goose.
Zeus also transformed into a goose and mated with Nemesis, which produced eggs. These eggs were given to Leda, who was instructed to sit on an egg for it to hatch, giving rise to Helena.
Helena's wedding
When Helen was just 12 years old, the Greek hero Theseus kidnapped her and planned to make her his wife. He took her to Attica in Greece and locked her in her mother's care.
Helen's brothers, Castor and Pollux, rescued her while Theseus was out of it and brought her back to Sparta. According to some stories, before Helena left Attica, she gave birth to a daughter named Iphigenia.
Some time after Helena returned to Sparta, King Tyndarus, her adoptive father, decided it was time for the most beautiful woman in the world to marry. Suitors came from all over Greece, hoping to win the famous beauty.
Among the suitors, many were powerful leaders. Therefore, Tyndarus feared that the choice might irritate others, which could cause problems for his kingdom.
Odysseus, also one of the suitors, advised Tyndarus to make all the candidates swear to accept Helena's choice and promise to support the chosen one, if need be.
The suitors agreed and Helen chose Menelaus, a prince of Mycenae, to be her husband. Helen's sister Clytemnestra was already married to Menelaus' eldest brother Agamemnon.
the Trojan War
For a time, Helena and Menelaus lived happily together. They had a daughter, Hermiome or Hermiome, and according to some sources a son, Nicostratus. Menelaus became king of Sparta, but the marriage came to a sudden end.
Paris, a prince of Troy, traveled to Sparta following the advice of the goddess Aphrodite. She had promised him the most beautiful woman in the world after he proclaimed her the most beautiful goddess.
When Paris saw Helen, he knew that Aphrodite had kept her promise. While Menelaus was in Crete, Paris took Helen back to Troy.
Some stories say that she was willingly seduced by the prince's charms. Others claim that Paris kidnapped her and took her by force.
When Menelaus returned and discovered what had happened, he asked the Greek leaders for help, who swore to support him if necessary. The Greeks organized a great expedition and left for Troy.
His arrival in Troy marked the start of the Trojan War. During the war, Helena's sympathies were divided. Sometimes she helped the Trojans by pointing out the Greek leaders.
At other times, however, she sympathized with the Greeks and did not betray them when opportunities to do so arose.
Helen had a few children with Paris, but none survived infancy. The prince died in the Trojan War, and Helena married her brother Deiphobos.
After the Greeks won the war, she reunited with Menelaus and helped him kill Deiphobos. So Helen and Menelaus sailed to Sparta.
Helen and Paris, by Jacques-Louis David, 1788.
post-war life
The couple arrived in Sparta after a journey of several years. Some stories say that the gods, angry at the trouble Helen had caused, sent storms to take their ships to Egypt and other lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea.
Many stories say that Helena remained in Sparta until her death. Others report that she went to the island of Rhodes after the death of Menelaus, perhaps expelled from Sparta by her son Nicostratus.
At first she took refuge in Rhodes by Polyxus, the widow of Tlepolemus, one of the Greek leaders who had died in the Trojan War.
Later, however, Polixo had Helena hanged to avenge her husband's death. A very different version of Helen's story claims that the gods sent an effigy of Helen to Troy, but that she actually spent the war years in Egypt.
Helen and her stories inspired many ancient writers, including the Greek dramatist Euripides and the Roman poets.
See too:
- What is Greek Mythology?
- Who was Hercules?