Helen Of Troy And Greek Mythology

Helen of Sparta’s portrayals in many different accounts of mythology and history are extremely dissimilar. Helen was said to be the daughter of Zeus and Leda (Queen of Sparta), and was the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. Helen was abducted by Paris of Troy and when Menelaus came to retrieve Helen, the Trojan war began. In “The Odyssey”, Helen is shown as living happily with Menelaus after he brought her back from Sparta. She is portrayed as an intelligent person who sees things for what they truly are, but is mostly reserved to wifely duties. In “Trojan Women” by Euripides, Helen is shown as a person who was used by the gods as a reward for Paris with nothing else in mind. However, she fights vehemently for her own innocence in the

There are various accounts for why Helen left Sparta and to why Paris abducted Helen. Some attribute the abduction as a means to power and politics. According to Strauss, Anatolia was a place that offered women more political freedom (Strauss, 16). Freedom and power alone could have enticed Helen to leaving her husband and running off with Paris. Homer heavily

The Trojan war was a ten year siege on the city of the city of Troy at the hands of the Greek forces led by a psychopathic king, Agamemnon. This conflict, which took place about 1200 B.C has become one of the most well known Greek mythology events in history. In the 13th century B.C, Troy and Sparta had stopped their wars and become allies, this was until Paris the youngest prince of Troy seduced Helen, the Queen of Sparta and left with her back to Troy. When Menelaos (The King of Sparta) found out what had happened, he vowed

The chorus during one of their observations blames the Trojan War on Helen, the most beautiful women of all the land who was whisked away by Paris of Greece. "He had skill in the swordplay, He went down so tall in the onslaught, All for another's women" page 119. The chorus was talking about the men of Greece sent to go to war. Explaining that the men may have fought a good battle

Each of the goddesses promised to give Paris something in return for giving her the apple. Hera offered Paris power and the richest kingdom on earth. Athena promised to make him a great hero and to give him wealth. Finally, Aphrodite promised a marriage to the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta (Joe "Trojan War"). Paris immediately chose Aphrodite to be the fairest, causing much discord for the others. He quickly set off to Sparta to fetch Helen; however, she was the wife of the Spartan king, Menelaus. When Paris reached Sparta, he saw that Menelaus was not there and he proceeded to abduct Helen. Menelaus was infuriated by this deviousness. He called upon all of Helen’s old suitors who had promised to keep her honor. These suitors did not truly want to go to war, in fact, Odysseus feigned insanity and

The War started as a way for Zeus to condense population of humanity as an expedition to reclaim Helen. Helen was the most beautiful lady in Troy and wife of

The Trojans and Greeks fought a frivolous war that began with a golden apple and a trio of precarious goddesses. It initiated when Prince Paris was given an apple from the “evil goddess of Discord, Eris,” and told him to choose the fairest goddess between three. Paris ludicrously chose the goddess who offered him the most beautiful woman. This woman was Helen, queen of Sparta. But Paris stole her from her husband and refused to give her back to Menelaus.

To begin the story, she is the cause of the entire Trojan war that had men fighting in a bloodbath for nine years. All the misfortune, struggling and killing resulted over the hand of a gorgeous mortal, and Helen had no intention of stopping it, proving her with a wicked mind. Later on, when Telemachus arrives at Pylos, the first thing she says leads to him weeping. “I cannot help saying what I think. Never yet have I seen either man or woman so like somebody else (indeed when I look at him I hardly know what to think) as this young man is like Telemachus, whom Odysseus left as a baby behind him, when you Achaeans went to Troy with battle in your hearts, on account of my most shameless self.”

“This will be the greatest war the world has ever seen. We need the greatest warrior.” Nestor informs King Agamemnon of this during preparations for war in the movie adaptation of the famous Trojan War. Trojan princes, Paris and Hector, arrive in Sparta to begin peace talks, yet the young prince Paris falls in love with the beautiful Queen of Sparta. Helen reveals her disdain for the King and agrees to flee with Paris to Troy, despite the war such an action would bring. Once her disappearance is discovered by King Menelaus, of Sparta, he goes to his brother to request aid in destroying Troy. At this request, King Agamemnon is overjoyed with the chance to finally destroy Troy and calls for all the leaders of Greece along with the greatest warrior,

In Greek, Helen was Menelaus’ wife until Paris took her back to Troy. Because she was not fairly obtained as a prize through battle, Paris is ‘that man [who] robbed / of [Menelaus’] sumptuous, warm wife” (Iliad, III, 61-62). A wife is usually seen as a prized treasure to Greek and Trojan men alike, so when Helen was stolen, it was an insult to Menelaus’ pride. Had he done nothing about it, then the Greeks would be cowards for not fighting to claim back what was rightfully theirs, and letting anyone step over them and casually taking things from them. A war on pride was fought between Achilles and Agamemnon when Agamemnon took “Briseis in all her beauty, [Achilles’] own prize - / so [he] can learn just how much greater [Agamemnon is] than [him]” (Iliad, I, 218-219). Agamemnon felt that his time was taken away, and to replace what is being lost, he deliberately makes Achilles’ suffer through the same humiliation to restore his own glory and to assert his position as king.

To start off we have Helen of Troy, a mortal woman, thought to be one of the most beautiful in her time. She left her husband Menelaus of Sparta for Paris of Troy and because of that and her beauty a 10 year war surged between Sparta

While this circumstance may be easy enough to understand, such setting or background in the plot actually entails more history: Even before Paris was born, a prophecy was carried out that the handsome prince would cause the destruction of Troy; thus, King Priam and his queen banished the baby to be raised in the wilderness. Later on, as a shepherd, he encountered the three goddesses, Hera, Pallas Athene, and Aphrodite, and set the motion of what would be the war that extinguished the Trojan line—Paris was to decide who is the most beautiful of the goddesses. Each goddess tried to bribe him with promises of power, riches, fame, and glory, but it was Aphrodite who succeeded in the end as she promised Paris that he can have the most beautiful mortal, Helen. This simple arrangement would then serve as the catalyst of a war that would kill thousands of Trojans and Greeks as soon it is revealed that Paris has stolen Helen and the gods and goddesses of Olympus have each taken sides on the war which would further complicate the lives of the people of Troy and Greece. (Buck Jr. , 11-12)

The suspected start of the war- over the abduction of Helen, Queen of Sparta- was caused entirely by a godly conflict over who was the most beautiful- Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, was selected to judge. He chose Aphrodite, who in turn gave him Helen, who was her equivalent in beauty amongst humans. In both versions, Paris is portrayed as a wife stealing, thief in the night. His brother Hector and he were on a peace mission in Sparta on behalf of Troy visiting the king, Menelaus, when Paris ran off with Menelaus' wife, Helen. This action divides the Gods who constantly meddle with the mortal's lives. Naturally, Aphrodite is on the Trojans' side, as was her lover and God of War, Ares, and Apollo. Although Zeus, King of Gods, tried to be neutral, he was pro-Trojan. Hera, Queen of Gods, and Athena help the Greeks because they were mad that Paris chose Aphrodite. Poseidon, God of the Sea and Zeus' brother, also sided with the Greeks whenever Zeus was not looking. An example of this constant intrusiveness of the Gods in the Iliad was when King "Menelaus hurls his spear, lightly wounding Paris. Paris' helmet strap becomes caught at his chin and Menelaus has nearly dragged him away before Aphrodite intervenes, breaking the strap. She then wraps Paris in a mist, sets him in his own perfumed bedchamber, and hurries to catch Helen" (Bloom 13). Of

A Comparison of the Relationship between Paris and Helen and the Relationship between Hector and Andromache

Helen, the fairest woman on earth, was already married. Her husband, Menealus, was the king of Sparta. Paris, under Aphrodite's protection, sailed to Sparta, won Helen's love, and carried her off to Troy. Menelaus had to go to battle against Troy to defend his honor and retake Helen as his wife. Thus a combination of Eris's temper; Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite's jealousy; and Helen's beauty caused the war.