Helen of Troy

The Most Beautiful Woman in the World (Art by Evelyn De Morgan)

**Helen of Troy** was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, who was considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world by the Ancient Greeks. She was also the wife of King Menelaus before her abduction by Paris of Troy.

## Overview

After the goddess Aphrodite promised her to Paris, she was kidnapped by the goddess and carried off to Troy. This resulted in the Trojan War when the Achaeans set out to reclaim her.

## Appearance

As fitting for her title of the "most beautiful woman of the ancient world", Helen possesses ethereal and heavenly beauty that rivals the deathless goddesses. During Tyndareus' search for her husband, her mere presence, even when hidden behind a veil, was enough to silence the room.

She is “white-armed, long robed, and richly tressed", with golden hair that reaches her waist and her eyes are supposed to be "dark and shining as slick obsidian". Her voice is described as "low and lovely, carrying to every corner of the hall."

Helen was simply well-known to be the prettiest, loveliest, fairest, finest and utmost devastatingly beautiful and gorgeous person in the world. And simply perfect, exquisite, radiant, sublime, divine and glamorous and heavenly in every single way possible. Her unrivaled and unmatched beauty literally cost almost every man in the world to fall desperately in love with her and have her for themselves.

When she walked down the battlefield of Troy, all the soldiers, both Trojans and Achaeans, dropped their weapons and ceased their fighting to marvel at her exceptional and supreme beauty, which was said to have became greatly faded from years of mourning and anger, leaving her to become a "mere shadow of her former glory".

## Personality

Helen Of Troy was extremely smart, clever, wise and intelligent but no one seems to notice that at all. She always did possessed the loveliest, fairest and most immensely beautiful, radiant, heavenly and gorgeous body and soul in the world. And she is also really guilt ridden and depressed of being the main cause of the great destruction of troy. Helen has always hated and blamed herself for having the upmost immense and godlike beauty that severely and obviously amazed, bewitched and enchanted simply every single male and god on earth. And almost every man in the world was insanely and devastatingly in love with her and desperately wanted her all for themselves. Not only that Helen was indeed the sweetest, nicest, kindest and most generous and loving person in the world but no one ever noticed that either.

## History

### Birth

Helen is the daughter of Zeus and of Leda, the wife of the Spartan king Tyndareus. Although her putative father was Tyndareus, she was actually Zeus' daughter. In the form of a swan, the king of the 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.

### Youthful abduction by Theseus

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, the wife of Hades. Theseus took Helen and left her with his mother Aethra. Helen's abduction caused an invasion of Athens by Castor and Pollux, who captured Aethra in revenge, and returned their sister to Sparta.

### Suitors

When it 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.

### Oath of Tyndareus

Tyndareus 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. 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. 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 a daughter, Hermione.

The marriage of Helen and Menelaus marks the beginning of the end of the age of heroes. Concluding the catalog of Helen's suitors, 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.

### Kidnapping by Paris

Aphrodite, the goddess of love, 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 the wrath of Athena and Hera.

### In 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.

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. 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 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. Helen is filled with self-loathing and regret for what she has caused; by 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:

These bitter words reveal that Helen gradually realized Paris' weaknesses, and decided to ally herself with Hector. There is an affectionate relationship between the two, and Helen has harsh words for Paris when she compares the two brothers.

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

During the fall of Troy, Helen's role is ambiguous. When the Trojan Horse was admitted into 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. 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.

### Fate

Helen returned to Sparta and lived for a time with Menelaus, where she was encountered by Telemachus. She and Menelaus were completely reconciled and had a harmonious married life—he holding no grudge at her being with another man and she feeling no restraint in telling anecdotes of her life inside besieged Troy.

## Myths and Legends

According to the lost poem *Cypria*, Helen was the daughter of Zeus and Nemesis rather than Leda.

## Trivia

* Helen is considered to be one of the "Three Great Beauties", consisted of her, Cleopatra, and Yang Guifei.
* She is the original wielder of Katoptris, though not many know whether she actually used it in combat or simply as a mirror.
* Because of her experience with Aphrodite, Helen developed a hatred toward all goddesses of love and beauty, as well as their demigod children and priests.