Helen Of Troy :: Ancient Greece Greek History

Helen Of TroyHelen was the most beautiful woman in the entire Greek known world. She was the daughter of the god genus Zeus and of Leda, and wife of the King of Sparta. The hero Theseus, who hoped in time to marry her, abducted her in childhood but her brothers rescued her. Because Helen was courted by so many prominent heroes, Menelaus make all of them swear to abide by Helens choice of a husband, and to defend that husbands rights should anyone attempt to come to Helen away by force. Helens beauty was the direct cause of the Trojan War. The ten-year conflict began when the three goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite asked the Trojan prince genus genus Paris to choose the most beautiful among them. After each of the goddesses had attempted to influence his decision, Paris chose Aphrodite, who had promised him the worlds most beautiful woman. curtly after(prenominal)ward Paris sailed to Greece, where Helen and her husband hospitably received him, Menelaus, king of Sparta. Helen, as the fairest of her sex, was the prize destined for Paris. Although she was living happily with Menelaus, Helen fell under the influence of Aphrodite and allowed Paris to persuade her to run off with him, and he carried her off to Troy. Menelaus then called upon the Greek leaders, including Helens former suitors, to help him rescue his wife, and with few exceptions they responded to his call. Agamemnon his brother led the forces to Troy. During ten years of conflict, the Greeks and Trojans fought irresolutely. Then Paris and Menelaus agreed to meet in single combat between the opposing armies, and Helen was summoned to view the duel. As she approached the tower, where the aged King Priam and his counselors sat, her beauty was nonetheless so matchless and her sorrow so great that no one could feel for her anything but compassion. Although the Greeks claimed the victory in the battle between the two warriors, Aphrodite helped Paris escape from the enraged Menelaus by enveloping hi m in a cloud and taking him safely to Helens chamber, where Aphrodite compelled the unwilling Helen to lie with him. Unable to capture the city after a siege of ten years, the Greeks resorted to strategy. Agamemnons forces, namely Odysseus, came up with a plan. They sailed away and left the Trojan horse, filled with armed warriors, on the shore. Sinon, a Greek spy, persuaded the Trojans to take the horse into the city, convincing them that to do so would mysteriously make Troy invulnerable.