Helen: Did you mean...?

Helen is a Greek tragedy by Euripides (c. 484-407 BCE). It is usually thought to have first been performed at the Great Dionysia of 412 BCE and was part of the trilogy that included Euripides' lost Andromeda. Helen recounts an unusual version...

Helen of Troy (sometimes called Helen of Sparta) is a figure from Greek mythology whose elopement with (or abduction by) the Trojan prince Paris sparked off the Trojan War. Helen was the wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta, and considered...

Menelaus (also Menelaos) is a figure from ancient Greek mythology and literature who was the king of Sparta and the husband of beautiful Helen, whose abduction by the Trojan prince Paris sparked off the legendary Trojan War. The story is...

Oenone was a nymph in Greek Mythology, the daughter of the river god Cebren and sister of the nymph Asterope/Hesperia. She was given the gift of prophecy by Rhea (mother of the gods) and the gift of healing by Apollo. Her name comes from...

The story of Helen of Troy, and the Trojan war specifically, is best known from the Iliad, by Homer, after the abduction by Paris of Troy, which was ultimately the catalyst for the ten-year Trojan War. The most common version of the birth...

Gorgias (l. c. 427 BCE) was a Greek Sophist and philosopher, considered the greatest Rhetorician of his day. He is said to have created several aspects of public speaking still in use and to have mastered the art of persuasion, commanding...

A detail of a scene from an Attic spouted krater perhaps showing the abduction/elopement of Helen of Troy with Paris which sparked off the Trojan War. Other interpretations include Ariadne and Theseus as the two figures. Made c. 735 BCE...

A detail of an Attic red-figure hydria, c. 480 BCE, showing the Spartan king reunited with his wife Helen of Troy after the Trojan war. (Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich)

A sculpture showing the birth of Helen of Troy. Helen's mother was Leda who was seduced by Zeus when he was disguised as a swan. Limestone, made in the 5th century BCE. (Archaeological Museum of Metapontum, Italy)

A detail from an Attic red-figure krater showing Helen of Troy. Made c. 450 BCE. (Louvre, Paris)