Menelaus

**Menelaus** (Ancient Greek: Μενέλαος) was a king of Mycenaean Sparta from Greek mythology. He was a son of Atreus and Aerope and the brother of Agememnon, the king of Mycenae. Menelaus was married to Helen and they had several children, including Hermione, Aethiolas, Nicostratus, Maraphius, and Pleisthenes.

Megapenthes was a son of Menelaus by a concubine named either Pieris or Tereis. He was born during the Trojan War.

## Mythology

After Atreus was murdered by Aegisthus, Menelaus and Agamemnon were exiled from Mycenae. At first, they stayed in Sicyon with King Polyphides but then stayed in Calydon with King Oeneus. Eventually, the brothers returned to Mycenae and overthrew Thyestes with the help of Tyndareus of Sparta. Agamemnon became the king of Mycenae.

When Tyndareus' step-daughter Helen was ready to marry, many men wished for her hand, including Odysseus, Menestheus, Ajax, Patroclus, Idomeneus, and Menelaus. Tyndareus refused to accept any gifts from any of Helen's suitors but also would not refuse to allow them to marry her out of fear for offending them.Tyndareus made all of her suitors promise to support whoever was chosen to be Helen's huband and had them all draw straws for who would get to marry her. Menelaus won Helen's hand and, not wanting to offend Agamemnon, Tyndareus gave him Clytemnestra as a bride.

### Trojan War

As a reward for giving Aphrodite the golden apple that was marked "to the fairest", she made Paris and Helen fall in love with each other. When Menelaus was away, Paris led an expedition and left with Helen to Troy. Since many former suitors of Helen had promised their loyalty to Menelaus, he led a fleet of one thousand ships to Troy to recover his wife.

Sometime during the Trojan War, Menelaus challenges Paris to a duel for Helen. Despite beating Paris in the fight, Aphrodite saves Paris and brings him inside the walls of Troy. While the Greeks argued with the Trojans as to who won the duel, Athena caused Pandarus to shoot Menelaus with an arrow. However, she did not want him to die so she also protected Menelaus and he was only injured.

Throughout the entirety of the Trojan War, Menelaus was said to have killed eight men and was one of the men hidden inside the Trojan horse. Whilst inside the walls of Troy, Menelaus killed Deiphobus since he married Helen after the death of Paris.

### Reunion with Helen

There are four versions of when Helen and Menelaus reunited:

* Menelaus decided to kill Helen for leaving him for Paris but she began to weep and he forgave her and took her back as his wife.
* Menelaus planned to kill Helen but he was in awe at her beauty so he took her back as his wife.
* When Menelaus raised his sword to kill her, she ripped off her clothes and his wrath went away.
* Menelaus sent her to his soldiers to be stoned to death. When she was about to be stoned, Helen ripped off her clothes and the soldiers dropped all of their stones.

### After the War

Menelaus was blown off course while sailing home and were sent to Crete and Egypt. He was unable to sail away because there was no wind so Menelaus and his soldiers trapped Proteus, a prophetic sea god. After Proteus told them how to sail home, they did and Menelaus and Helen's marriage became strained because the couple has no male heir.

After the death of Menelaus and Helen, they were reunited in the Isle of the Blessed.