How many suitors did Helen have?
Her future husband Menelaus did not attend but sent his brother Agamemnon to represent him. There are three available and not entirely consistent lists of suitors, compiled by Pseudo-Apollodorus (31 suitors), Hesiod (12 suitors), and Hyginus (36 suitors), for a total of 45 distinct names.
Laurie Macguire, writing in "Helen of Troy From Homer to Hollywood," lists the following 11 men as husbands of Helen in ancient literature, proceeding from the canonical list in chronological order, to the 5 exceptional ones: Theseus. Menelaus. Paris.
And here is the irony: Achilles, as we read in the Hesiodic Suitors of Helen (F 204.87–92), never took the Oath, since he was not a suitor of Helen.
He and T. contrived to catch them unarmed and with the help of two loyal serving men (and of course Athena) they slaughtered all 108 suitors. Penelope knew nothing of the plot; Od. revealed himself to her after the fighting was over.
Now in Odyssey 22 he casts aside his outer rags, takes his stand on the threshold, and wreaks his revenge by killing all the suitors, aided and abetted by his son Telemachus and two loyal herdsmen, Eumaios and Philoitios—and with some divine help from Athena.
| Helen | |
|---|---|
| Parents | Zeus and Leda or Nemesis |
| Siblings | Polydeuces (full-brother) Clytemnestra, Castor, Timandra, Phoebe, Philonoe (half-siblings) |
| Consort | Menelaus, Paris, Deiphobus |
| Offspring | Hermione, Nicostratus, Megapenthes, Pleisthenes (by Menelaos) Bunomus, Aganus, Idaeus, Helen (by Paris) |
One day, Helen was at her palace in Sparta with her husband Menelaus. Paris appeared. As was customary by the laws of hospitality in ancient Greece, they gave him lodging and entertained him with banquets and gifts. Paris and Helen fell madly in love from the moment they met.
Bronze Age princess. For millennia, Helen of Troy has been many things to many people. The primary source for her legend is, of course, Homer. In the Iliad she is generally portrayed as a sympathetic if marginal character ashamed of the adultery she committed and horrified at its consequences.
Portia's six suitors included the Neapolitan prince, the County Palatine, Monsieur Le Bon, Falconbridge, the Scottish lord, and the young German, the Duke of Saxony's nephew.
Nerissa asks her to reconsider the gentlemen who have courted her, and she names the suitors who have come to Belmont — a Neapolitan prince; the County Palatine; a French lord, Monsieur Le Bon; a young English baron, Falconbridge; a Scottish lord; and a young German, the Duke of Saxony's nephew.
Who were Elizabeth's 3 suitors?
Elizabeth had many suitors, including Philip II of Spain (1527-1598), Erik VIX of Sweden (1533-1577), and, closer to home, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (1532-1588). Yet she never took a husband, despite mounting political pressure to produce an heir.
Helen was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta (a fact Aphrodite neglected to mention), so Paris had to raid Menelaus's house to steal Helen from him—according to some accounts, she fell in love with Paris and left willingly.
Whether Helen consented to go is a matter of contention; different stories give different versions of her complicity. Menelaus, with his older brother Agamemnon, called on all the suitors to honor their oath and get Helen back.
Did Achilles have a male lover? As a boy, Achilles develops a close relationship with another boy named Patroclus, who joins Achilles' household as an exile, having accidentally killed another child. They become friends and possibly lovers.
Antinous in The Odyssey was one of Penelope's suitors and the very first of whom to be slain in the hands of Odysseus.
After facing many woes in his journey home, unfortunately, Odysseus discovered that his trials were not over upon reaching Ithaca. There he found that 108 young men, the suitors, had invaded his house.
In some versions, Penelope slept with either Apollo, Hermes, or all of the suitors who came to court her in Odysseus' absence. From this union, she gave birth to Pan, a half-goat woodland deity. In other versions, Penelope only slept with one of the suitors.
5. The Third Suitor and a husband – Gilbert Osmond Osmond is the third suitor designed to illuminate Isabel's character. She meets Osmond in Rome through a subtle manipulation of his former mistress, Madame Merle.
Antinous in The Odyssey
He kills Antinous first because he was the one who riled up the rest of the suitors and had them go against Odysseus and Telemachus. The rest of the suitors initially believe that Odysseus has accidentally shot Antinous through the throat.
Pausanias records the story that Penelope had in fact been unfaithful to Odysseus, who banished her to Mantineia upon his return.
Who stole Helen's first husband?
Two Athenians, Theseus and Pirithous, pledged to wed daughters of Zeus. Theseus chose Helen, and Pirithous vowed to marry Persephone, the wife of Hades. Theseus and Pirithous kidnapped Helen and left her with Theseus' mother, Aethra, while they travelled to the underworld, the domain of Hades, to kidnap Persephone.
She is married to Menelaus shortly after this event to secure her safety and the safety of Sparta. Menelaus did not marry an old maid. Helen would have been about 15-18 years old.
Paris himself, soon after, received a fatal wound from an arrow shot by the rival archer Philoctetes.
During an absence of Menelaus, however, Helen fled to Troy with Paris, son of the Trojan king Priam, an act that ultimately led to the Trojan War. When Paris was slain, Helen married his brother Deiphobus, whom she betrayed to Menelaus once Troy was captured.
Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman in the world. This woman was Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta. Aphrodite made Helen fall in love with Paris. The couple ran off together.
The epithet “of Troy” is a modern description. It obscures Helen's marriage with King Menelaus of Sparta, Helen's adultery with Prince Paris of Troy, and the brutal violence against men of the Trojan War.
helen of troy was white.
In one mythological story, as a young girl, Helen is abducted by Theseus before being rescued by her twin brothers, Castor and Pollux. This episode perhaps acts as a precursor to her later journey to Troy. Helen's journey to Troy begins with a contest between three goddesses.
According to Greek mythology, Helen of Troy, the legendary 'face that launched a thousand ships” was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world. In Homer 's Iliad, which covers only a short period of the siege of Troy, Helen represented an understated but essential part of the story.
The character of Helen of Troy is often remembered only in terms of her beauty. The general public associates the name Helen of Troy with a kind of unworldly attraction and physical perfection of a woman who could drive men to war, “the face that launched a thousand ships”.
How many suitors are there in The Merchant of Venice?
Portia's six suitors included the Neapolitan prince, the County Palatine, Monsieur Le Bon, Falconbridge, the Scottish lord, and the young German, the Duke of Saxony's nephew.
Menelaus and Helen rule in Sparta for at least ten years; they have a daughter, Hermione, and (according to some myths) three sons: Aethiolas, Maraphius, and Pleisthenes. The marriage of Helen and Menelaus marks the beginning of the end of the age of heroes.
So although it was Marlowe who undoubtedly popularised the idea of Helen as the beautiful 'face that launched a thousand ships', especially among English speakers, the sentiment goes back to antiquity – not just that Helen was beautiful but that she was beautiful enough to launch 'a thousand ships' to war.
His ruse exposed, Odysseus reluctantly left his wife Penelope and his infant son Telemachus and joined the Greek forces. Despite the few who seemed reluctant, the Greeks in time assembled quite a rescue force: more than 1,000 ships from over two dozen different Greek kingdoms.
Helen was the wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta, but she was abducted by the Trojan prince Paris and taken to Troy. In some versions of the story, she may have gone willingly. The Trojan War then occurred as the Greek city-states tried to capture Troy, which they did after 10 years.
Nerissa asks her to reconsider the gentlemen who have courted her, and she names the suitors who have come to Belmont — a Neapolitan prince; the County Palatine; a French lord, Monsieur Le Bon; a young English baron, Falconbridge; a Scottish lord; and a young German, the Duke of Saxony's nephew.
Portia is glad when two suitors, one driven by greed and another by vanity, fail to choose correctly, although she demonstrates tact to the Princes of Morocco and Arragon, who unsuccessfully seek her hand. She favoured Bassanio, a young Venetian noble, but is not allowed to give him any clues to assist in his choice.
But one ancient commentator says that Helen had two kids: “Hermione and her youngest-born, Nicostratus, a scion of Ares.” Pseudo-Apollodorus confirms, “Now Menelaus had by Helen a daughter Hermione and, according to some, a son Nicostratus.” A later commentator suggests Helen and Menelaus had another little boy, ...
Women Who Ruled - Queens, Goddesses, Amazons 1500-1650. Helen was the immortal daughter of the god Zeus (Jupiter) and the mortal Leda, Queen of Sparta. Zeus, lusting after Leda, ravished her in the form of a swan.