Description
Pendant Helene
In Greek mythology, Helene was said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and was the sister of Clytaemnestra, Castor and Pollux, Philonoe, Phoebe and Timandra. She was married to King Menelaus of Sparta "who became by her the father of Hermione, and, according to others, of Nicostratus also." 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. Another ancient tradition, told by Stesichorus, tells of how "not she, but her wraith only, had passed to Troy, while she was borne by the Gods to the land of Egypt, and there remained until the day when her lord [Menelaus], turning aside on the homeward voyage, should find her there."
Η “αρπαγή” της από τον Πάρη και η μεταφορά της στην Τροία έγινε αφορμή, σύμφωνα με τον μύθο, του μακροβιότερου πολέμου όλης της αρχαιότητας, του δεκάχρονου Τρωικού Πολέμου, έχοντας προηγουμένως συνεγείρει όλα τα αρχαία ελληνικά βασίλεια κατά της Τροίας. Η δε παρουσία της στην αρχαία ελληνική γραμματεία κρίνεται πυκνή αλλά και σημαδιακή, όχι μόνο στα ομηρικά έπη, αλλά και στη λυρική και χορική ποίηση, στο αττικό δράμα, στη ρητορική και την ιστοριογραφία.
Source: Wikipedia.
