Helen has a flick of rouge on her cheeks. She is a woman who is at times applauded, but more often damned, for being sexually active — and is, furthermore, branded a whore. Her many sexual partners — the hero Theseus, her husband Menelaus, her lover Paris, her second Trojan husband Deiphobus, and some whispered Achilles after both he and Helen were dead — are trotted out by ancient and modern authors alike as the gossip columns would the client-list of a high-class prostitute.
My son Paris was a heart-stopping boy, And you, adulterous witch, wanted him. And he was rich. Your heart flew at that. Oddly — in an accrued narrative that is nine-tenths fiction and one-tenth fact — the notion that a visiting Trojan prince would have brought untold treasures to the Spartan court in the Late Bronze Age the most likely period for a conflict we call the Trojan War does have real historical weight.
Both Troy and Sparta were important and strategic settlements between — BC — the kinds of places that would have sent envoys across the Aegean to negotiate with one another, to debate rights over trade routes, to promote marriage alliances.
Detailed written evidence in the form of inscribed hieroglyphic and cuneiform tablets produced by the bureaucrats of the Egyptian and Hittite courts make it clear that the rulers of the day showered one another with gifts. Extravagant gift-giving allowed aristocrats to trade without seeming to stoop to the ranks of merchant men. Gift-exchange also bound states together in an abstract convention known as xenia — or xenwia as it appears in the Greek Late Bronze Age script, now called Linear B. The formal transfer of the richest of material goods, xenia in action, gave the Eastern Mediterranean some cohesion in the Late Bronze Age.
There is not a shred of evidence that a Bronze Age Helen bestowed sexual favours in return for booty — but equally there is no question that a Mycenaean aristocrat such as Helen would have received rich gifts from visiting foreign dignitaries — particularly from a city as wealthy as Troy.
That woman was Helen. Unfortunately, Helen was taken. She was the bride of the Spartan king Menelaus. Whether or not there was love between Menelaus and Helen is unclear. In the end, they may have been reconciled, but meanwhile, when Paris came to the court of Menelaus as a guest, he may have aroused unaccustomed desire in Helen, since in the "Iliad," Helen takes some responsibility for her abduction.
Menelaus received and extended hospitality to Paris. Then, when Menelaus discovered that Paris had taken off for Troy with Helen and other prized possessions Helen may have considered part of her dowry, he was enraged at this violation of the laws of hospitality.
Paris offered to return the stolen possessions, even though he was unwilling to return Helen, but Menelaus wanted Helen, too. Before Menelaus won out in the bid for Helen, all the leading princes and unmarried kings of Greece had sought to marry Helen.
Before Menelaus married Helen, Helen's earthly father Tyndareus extracted an oath from these, the Achaean leaders, that should anyone try to kidnap Helen again, they would all bring their troops to win back Helen for her rightful husband.
When Paris took Helen to Troy, Agamemnon gathered together these Achaean leaders and made them honor their promise. That was the beginning of the Trojan War. Updated by K. Kris Hirst. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content.
As her story passed down the generations it held up a mirror to the prejudices of society and to some of its truths. Helen might not be real — but she never loses her relevance. Academic Nigel Tallis, takes us through the story of Troy.
Play the quiz and find out how much you know about Troy. Home Episodes Clips Characters. Main content. Who was Helen of Troy? Eris is a minor goddess of Greek mythology. She is the goddess of strife or quarrels. It is Eris who sparks the dispute between the three more important goddesses, Aphrodite, Athena and Hera.
The story of Eris , the Goddess of Strife, is known from the remaining 50 lines of the Kypria , a lost epic of Greek Literature. Read by Natasha. Adapted by Bertie. Proofread by Claire Deakin. Duration A long time ago, in the age of heroes, when gods and goddesses still took a close interest in human affairs, a great wedding was planned between a famous warrior called Peleus and a lovely sea nymph whose name was Thetis. All the kings and queens of the day were invited to the wedding feast, as well as all the immortal ones who lived on Mount Olympus — all that is, except for one, for no invitation was sent to Eris, the goddess of strife.
Now strife is when people argue, and it was generally thought a bad idea to invite strife to a wedding party, in case she caused the happy couple to quarrel.
Eris was extremely annoyed about being overlooked, and as revenge she decided to play a spiteful trick on the wedding guests. Just as the celebrations were at their height, she appeared in the banqueting hall dressed as a serving girl.
Immediately as they saw the words on the apple, a quarrel broke out between the three goddesses. You must believe me when I say that you are quite mistaken. Wisdom is beauty, and beauty is wisdom.
They are one and the same thing, therefore the apple belongs to me.
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