The Legend of Helen of Troy

The mythical Helen of Troy has inspired poets and artists for centuries as the woman whose beauty sparked the Trojan War.  But Helen’s character is more complex than it seems.  When considering the many Greek and Roman myths that surround Helen, from her childhood to her life after the Trojan War, a layered and fascinating woman emerges.

Helen is among the mythical characters fathered by Zeus.  In the form of a swan, Zeus either seduced or assaulted Helen’s mother Leda.  On the same night, Leda slept with her husband Tyndareus and as a result gave birth to four children, who hatched from two eggs.

“Leda and the Swan” by Cesare da Sesto, copy of lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci (1515-1520). Image source.

From one egg came the semi-divine children, Helen and Polydeuces (who is called Pollux in Latin), and from the other egg came the mortals Clytemnestra and Castor.  The boys, collectively called the Dioscuri, became the divine protectors of sailors at sea, while Helen and Clytemnestra would go on to play important roles in the saga of the Trojan War.

In another, older myth, Helen’s parents were Zeus and Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance.  In this version, too, Helen hatched from an egg.

Helen was destined to be the most beautiful woman in the world.  Her reputation was so great that even as a young child, the hero Theseus desired her for his bride.  He kidnapped her and hid her in his city of Athens, but when he was away, Helen’s brothers, the Dioscuri, rescued her and brought her home.

As an adult, Helen was courted by many suitors, out of whom she chose Menelaus, the king of Sparta.  But though Menelaus was valiant and wealthy, Helen’s love for him would prove tenuous.

Around this time there was a great event among the Olympians:  the marriage of the goddess Thetis to the mortal Peleus.  All the gods were invited to attend except for Eris, whose name means “discord.”  Furious at her exclusion, Eris comes to the party anyway and tosses an apple to the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite on which is written “for the most beautiful.”  Each goddess claims the apple is meant for her and the ensuing dispute threatens the peace of Olympus.

Zeus appoints the Trojan prince Paris to judge who is most beautiful of the three.  To sway his vote, each goddess offers Paris a bribe.  From Hera, Paris would have royal power, while Athena offers victory in battle.  Aphrodite promises him Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife, and Paris names her winner of the competition.

“The Judgment of Paris” by Peter Paul Reubens (ca. 1638). Paris contemplates the goddesses while Hermes holds up the apple.  Athena is nearest to Hermes with her characteristic weapons by her side, Aphrodite is in the middle with her son Eros hugging her leg, and Hera stands on the far right. Image source.

To claim the prize promised by Aphrodite, Paris travels to the court of Menelaus, where he is honored as guest.  Defying the ancient laws of hospitality, Paris seduces Helen and flees with her in his ship.

Roman poet Ovid writes a letter from Helen to Paris, capturing her mix of hesitance and eagerness:

I wish you had come in your swift ship back then,
When my virginity was sought by a thousand suitors.
If I had seen you, you would have been first of the thousand,
My husband will give me pardon for this judgment!
(Ovid, Heroides 17.103-6)

“The Abduction of Helen” by Gavin Hamilton (1784). Image source.

Paris sails home to Troy with his new bride, an act which was considered abduction regardless of Helen’s complicity.  When Menelaus discovers that Helen is gone, he and his brother Agamemnon lead troops overseas to wage war on Troy.

There is, however, another version of Helen’s journey from Mycenae put forth by the historian Herodotus, the poet Stesichorus, and the playwright Euripides in his play Helen.  In this version, a storm forces Paris and Helen to land in Egypt, where the local king removes Helen from her kidnapper and sends Paris back to Troy.  In Egypt, Helen is worshipped as the “Foreign Aphrodite.”  Meanwhile, at Troy, a phantom image of Helen convinces the Greeks she is there.  Eventually, the Greeks win the war and Menelaus arrives in Egypt to reunite with the real Helen and sail home.  Herodotus argues that this version of the story is more plausible because if the Trojans had had the real Helen in their city, they would have given her back rather than let so many great soldiers die in battle over her.
Nevertheless, in the most popular version of the story, that of Homer, Helen and Paris return to Troy together.  When they arrive, Paris’ first wife, the nymph Oenone, sees them together and laments that he has abandoned her.  She grows bitter and even faults Helen for having been kidnapped by Theseus as a child.  In heartbroken anger she says:

She who is abducted so often, must offer herself up to be abducted!
(Ovid, Heroides V.132)

Paris’ slight against Oenone would prove detrimental for him in the end.
The Greeks sail to Troy and ten years of war commence.
Featured image: Helen of Troy by Evelyn De Morgan (1898, London). Image source.
Coming Next in Part Two: Helen and the Final Battle in Troy

The Iliad of Homer concerns the tenth and final year of the Trojan War.  Throughout this tale, Helen regrets her part in causing the war and longs to return to her husband and daughter, Hermione.  The other Trojans scorn her, with the city elders saying:

We cannot blame the Trojans or the well-grieved Achaians,
For enduring pain all this time for the sake of such a woman,
For she looks mightily like an immortal goddess in beauty.
But even so, let her board one of their ships,
So she is not left here, a punishment for us and our children.
(Homer, Iliad 3.156-60)

Exemplifying this point, in Vergil’s Aeneid, the protagonist Aeneas calls her “the nightmare of both Troy and her homeland” and he considers killing her (Vergil, Aeneid 2.567-88).

The Trojan king Priam, however, treats Helen kindly.  As they look out over the city walls together, Priam points to Agamemnon, Odysseus, Ajax, and other warriors, while Helen describes them as she knew them.  Although she wishes to go home, Helen nevertheless gives useful and honest information about her former allies to the Trojans.

Since the war is rooted in the conflict between Paris and Menelaus, the two warriors agree to hand to hand combat.  Paris, the inferior warrior, is choked by his helmet strap and almost killed, until the goddess Aphrodite magically transports him to the safety of his palace, since she still favors him for choosing her in the contest with the apple.  But when Paris returns to the palace, Helen is not pleased with his cowardice.  She tells Aphrodite to marry Paris herself and take on the shame of being the wife of a coward.  She then says to Paris:

You’ve come back from battle, but you should have died there,
Beaten by a stronger man, he who was my husband before you.
(Homer, Iliad 3.428-9)

Helen’s shame over Paris’ cowardice highlights an important belief of this age, that a man’s worth lies in his arete, which means bravery, especially as estimated by other men.  Both Hector and Achilles exemplify this trait and are widely considered valiant.  Paris is contrarian, having eschewed Athena’s promises of valor in war in favor of the love offered by Aphrodite.

As the war wages on, Paris kills Achilles with an arrow, before he too is killed.  While Paris is dying, the Trojans appeal to his first wife, Oenone, who has the gift of healing.  But, still heartbroken, Oenone lets Paris die, killing herself shortly after.

Death of Achilles by Peter Paul Rubens, 1630-1632. Image source.

The war ends when the Greeks pretend to sail away and leave behind a huge hollow horse as an offering to the gods.  The best Greek warriors hide inside the horse and the Trojans bring it inside.  To test whether there is anyone hiding within, but without damaging the gift for the gods, the Trojans have Helen walk around it, imitating the wives of those within.  Clever Odysseus keeps them from falling for the trick and shouting out in response.  Again we see Helen aiding the Trojans, making her true allegiance at this time hard to determine.

 

“The Procession of the Trojan Horse into Troy” by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (1773). Image Source.

That night, the Greeks break out of the horse and raze Troy to the ground.  Since Paris’ death, Helen had been married to his brother Deiphobus.  Helen leads Menelaus and Odysseus to Deiphobus and they cut off his arms, ears, and nose, killing him.

When the war is won, the Trojan women become slaves to the conquering Greeks.  In Euripides Trojan Women, Queen Hecuba, the wife of Priam, mother of Hector and Paris, blames Helen for her dead children and her fate as a slave.  The play’s chorus agrees:

Poor Troy!  You have lost countless men
All for one woman and her hateful bed!
(Euripides, Trojan Women 780-1)

In this version of the story, Helen’s fate is to be killed by her husband Menelaus.  In, Homer’s Odyssey, however, the two sail home together, reunited as husband and wife.  The next time we see them, they are celebrating the wedding of their daughter Hermione to Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles.

The couple also hosts Telemachus while he searches for his father Odysseus, who never returned after the Trojan War.  They all weep as Menelaus speaks of Odysseus’ many toils and the fact that he has not returned home.

Helen in her grief puts a drug in her wine that eases suffering and keeps one from crying, the properties of which she learned from the Egyptians.  She then tells the story of the Greeks conquering Troy:

The other Trojan women wailed aloud, but my heart rejoiced!
For in my heart I had already hoped to return home.
And I lamented the madness Aphrodite gave me,
When she led me there from my beloved native land,
When I turned my back on my daughter, my home, and my husband,
A man lacking nothing in wisdom or beauty.
(Homer, Odyssey 4.259-64)

Euripides provides another version of the end of Helen’s life in his play Orestes.  Pursued by her bloodthirsty nephew, Helen is rescued by the god Apollo and carried off to Olympus to reunite with her brothers, the Dioscuri, who have become the constellation Gemini.  There, she is made an immortal goddess.

The character Helen is alternately victim and criminal, loyal wife and heartless adulteress.  As each poet and playwright added to her legend over centuries, the character grew in complexity, yielding the layered woman we know as Helen of Troy.

Featured image: Triumphant Achilles. Image source.

Primary Sources

Euripides Helen; Trojan Women; Orestes
Herodotus, The Histories
Homer, Iliad; Odyssey
Hyginus, Fabulae
Lucian, Judgment of Paris
Ovid, Heroides V, XVI, XVII
Stesichorus, Palinode
Vergil, Aeneid

Euripides Helen; Trojan Women; Orestes
Herodotus, The Histories
Homer, Iliad; Odyssey
Hyginus, Fabulae
Lucian, Judgment of Paris
Ovid, Heroides V, XVI, XVII
Stesichorus, Palinode
Vergil, Aeneid
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By Miriam Kamil