Was Helen kidnapped or did she go willingly?

Was Helen kidnapped or did she go willingly?

In Homer’s adaptation of the legend, The Iliad, it is alluded to that Helen willingly left her husband Menelaus to be with Paris, the king of Troy. Although there are several accounts where Helen is said to have been abducted, or stolen away, the movie sticks with the rendition of her leaving on her own accord.

Was Helen of Troy abducted?

When the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen–the beautiful wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta–and carried her off to the city of Troy, the Greeks responded by mounting an attack on the city, thus beginning the Trojan War.

Who kidnapped Helen of Troy and started a war?

prince Paris
According to classical sources, the war began after the abduction (or elopement) of Queen Helen of Sparta by the Trojan prince Paris. Helen’s jilted husband Menelaus convinced his brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, to lead an expedition to retrieve her.

Did the Greeks take Helen back?

Finally when the Trojans thought the war was over the Greeks sneaked back, catching the Trojans completely by surprise and unprepared with the famous wooden horse trick, slayed all the Trojan men without mercy and destroyed their city, and took Helen back.

What happened to Helen of Troy after Troy fell?

Menelaus and Helen then returned to Sparta, where they lived happily until their deaths. According to a variant of the story, Helen, in widowhood, was driven out by her stepsons and fled to Rhodes, where she was hanged by the Rhodian queen Polyxo in revenge for the death of her husband, Tlepolemus, in the Trojan War.

Why did Helen betray Troy?

The usual tradition is that after the goddess Aphrodite promised her to Paris in the Judgement of Paris, she was seduced by him and carried off to Troy. This resulted in the Trojan War when the Achaeans set out to reclaim her.

How many times Helen Troy was abducted?

Anyhow. Helen of Troy is the absolute best. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leda (yes, the swan lady), the most beautiful mortal woman in existence, and was kidnapped roughly 400 times before the age of 20.

Did Helen return to Sparta?

Fate. Helen returned to Sparta and lived with Menelaus, where she was encountered by Telemachus in Book 4 of The Odyssey.

How did Paris abduct Helen of Troy?

Menelaus was not in Sparta at the time, and Paris was able to abduct Helen without much issue. The stories about the nature of Helen’s abduction also vary. In some accounts, Paris took Helen by force, as she did not want to leave. Many western paintings depict this as the ‘rape’ of Helen, showing her being carried away by force.

What happened to Helen of Troy after the Trojan War?

(Helen ended up being fine, or as fine as a woman can be who has been kidnapped as often as one of Liam Neeson’s daughters; she either tired of Paris or never truly loved him and rejoined her husband and children in Sparta after the Trojan War, which is more than you can say for the Trojans.) Here are some of them, in order of abduction.

How did Helen and Menelaus get to Sparta?

Paris died in the Trojan War, and Helen married his brother Deiphobus (pronounced dee-IF-oh-buhs). After the Greeks won the war, she was reunited with Menelaus, and she helped him kill Deiphobus. Then Helen and Menelaus set sail for Sparta. The couple arrived in Sparta after a journey of several years.

Why is Helen of Troy so famous?

She is known for having ‘the face that launched a thousand ships’. However, Helen was more than just a beautiful woman and only focusing on her beauty takes away from her role in Greek mythology.