Recognised as the most beautiful woman in the Mediterranean civilisations, hers was the face that launched a thousand ships and inspired the legends ...

3. Helen of Troy

5. the most beautiful woman in the world in Greek mythology …

6. Birth
In most sources, including the Iliad and the Odyssey, Helen is the daughter of Zeus and of Leda, the wife of the Spartan king Tyndareus.
Zeus fell in love with the beautiful Leda and the same night that Tyndareus joined with Leda, so too did the father of the gods, in the form of a swan.
After her antics with the bird, Leda laid two eggs from which hatched Helen and Pollux, children of Zeus, immortals, and Clytemnestra and Castor,
children of Tyndareus, mortals.

7. Leda, Queen of Sparta
and
Zeus metamorphosed into a swan
two broken eggs
and
four babies
Unknown follower of Leonardo da Vinci
Leda and the Swan
Léda et le Cygne
Leda y el cisne
Early 16th century
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

10. an interior,
a red curtain,
a maid
and
a cage
a duck,
a young dog,
a parrot
and
a cat sniffing the duck
a naked Leda,
pearls,
refined hair
and
a swan coming from the right
Jacopo Tintoretto
Leda and the Swan
Léda et le Cygne
Leda y el cisne
1578-1583
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

13. the submission of Leda,
the divine identity of the swan with a halo set behind the head,
the crown carried by the putti …
the transformation of the mythological tale into an Annunciation scene
Gustave Moreau
Léda
Leda
Leda
1865-1875
Musée National Gustave-Moreau, Paris

16. inspiring countless passions …

17. Abduction by Theseus
The suitors
At the age of twelve, she was abducted by Theseus.
And all the Greek heroes wanted to marry her. Among the hundred or so suitors
Menelaus was chosen as Helen's husband.

18. Helen Delivered by Castor and Pollux.
Besides recovering their sister, they took Theseus' mother, Aetra, as a slave.
Léon Cogniet
Hélène délivrée par Castor et Pollux, Castor et Pollux délivrant Hélène
Helen Delivered by Castor and Pollux
Helena liberada por Cástor y Pólux
1817
École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris

20. Castor, Pollux and Helen …
The woman being escorted away at the left
may have been intended to be Theseus’ mother Aethra.
Jean-Bruno Gassies
Castor and Pollux rescuing Helen
Hélène délivrée par Castor et Pollux
Castor y Pólux rescatan a Helena
1817
Private collection

23. Zeus’s plan
Abduction or Seduction by Paris
None of the heroes on Helen's list of suitors knew of Zeus’s plan.
Zeus has overthrown his father Cronus,
Cronus had overthrown his father Uranus,
Zeus had many relationships from which many children were born,
Zeus has heard a prophecy that he would be dethroned by one of his sons ...
many people, many demigod descendants ... the Trojan War, is going to be his means of obliterate the race of men and of heroes in particular.
A central element of the plan was a beauty contest between three goddesses
and ...
a Trojan prince arrived in Sparta to claim Helen ...

24. abducting Helena against her will ...
a Greek palace,
a Greek dock with a Trojan ship waiting to escape with the prize
Francesco Primaticcio Circle of
The Rape of Helen
L'enlèvement d'Hélène
El rapto de Helena
1530-1539
Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

27. the abduction of Helen
a picture-puzzle for the viewer, challenging him to locate and identify the pieces
Maerten van Heemskerck
Panorama with the Abduction of Helen Amidst the Wonders of the Ancient World
Panorama avec l'enlèvement d'Helene au milieu des merveilles du monde antique
Panorama con el secuestro de Helena en medio de las maravillas del mundo antiguo
1535
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

32. an archer is about to shoot his arrow,
another Trojan fends off attackers with a pike,
Helen, dressed in her finery is manhandled ...
the contrast between the helpless, pleading expression of Helen,
and the virile violence of her captors
There is nothing classical about the composition.
Tintoretto, as a great artist, dares everything.
Tintoretto Tintoret
The Rape of Helen
L'Enlèvement d'Hélène
El rapto de Helena
1578-1579
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

36. Helen and Paris set off for Troy ...
Helen, dressed in a beige dress, takes Paris' hand,
Paris seems happy to have succeeded in abducting Hélène,
and
Eros warns the spectators:
the magic is working, but beware, something very serious is going to happen.
And indeed ...
the other Eros flying over the couple with a torch announces
the burning of the city
Guido Reni
L'enlèvement d'Hélène
The Rape of Helen
El rapto de Helena
1631
Musée du Louvre, Paris

40. This has started to look consensual, although still a seduction by Paris ...
Paris kneels before Helen in supplication,
and
Aphrodite and Eros dragging the hesitant Helen towards Paris.
Benjamin West
Helen Brought to Paris
Helen amenée à Pâris
Helena es traída a Paris
1776
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

43. Venus Induces Helen to Fall in Love with Paris …
So maybe Paris didn't have to abduct Helen after all,
but
Aphrodite and Eros had to persuade the queen to allow herself to be seduced.
Angelica Kauffman
Venus Persuading Helen to Love Paris or Venus Induces Helen to Fall in Love with Paris
Vénus persuadant Hélène d'aimer Pâris ou Vénus incite Helena à tomber amoureuse de Pâris
Venus induce a Helen a enamorarse de París
1790
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

46. an idyllic love scene in a luxurious setting
a hall in a palace
and
a bed with its rumpled sheets
Helen and Paris
and
a small statue of Aphrodite watching them …
Jacques-Louis David
Les Amours de Pâris et d’Hélène
The Love of Helen and Paris
Los amores de Paris y Helena
1788
Musée du Louvre, Paris

50. Troy …

51. In Troy
Menelaus, accompanied by a large coalition of armies, sails for Troy in search of his wife.
The war lasted ten years …
and ...
Menelaus finds Helen,
and raises his sword to kill her,
and drops his sword before the irresistible beauty

52. the lofty towers of the fortified city,
doves of peace,
white roses of Aphrodite
Helen innocent of any wrongdoing,
admires herself in a mirror, the back of which bears the image of Aphrodite.
Evelyn de Morgan
Helen of Troy
Hélène de Troie
Helena de Troya
1898
De Morgan Collection, London

55. Helen of Troy poses against a backdrop of Troy before its fall
She wears an elaborate headdress with a band of peacock feathers, and abundant jewellery
Gaston Bussière
Hélène de Troie
Helen of Troy
Helena de Troya
1895
Musée des Ursulines de Mâcon, Mâcon

58. a poignant and solitary image of Hélène …
She is filled with self-loathing and regret for what she has caused.
Helen On The Walls Of Troy
Hélène sur les remparts de Troie
Helena en las murallas de Troya
1865
Private collection

60. In Homer, Helen blames herself for the war, but Priam is there to remind her that
“thou art nowise to blame in my eyes;
it is the gods, methinks, that are to blame,
who roused against me the tearful war of the Achaeans”
(Book III).
Richard Cook
Helen and Priam at the Scaen Gate
Hélène et Priam à les Portes de Scées
Helena y Príamo en las Puertas de Scea de Troya
1808
Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.

63. the tragic beauty …

64. On the ramparts of Troy ...
Helen, somber and thoughtful, without remorse at the spectacle of the slaughter of the young heroes.

65. The mysterious beauty ...
Hélène Femme fatale and eternal beauty,
enigmatic, impassive as the statue of Fate,
cold as perfect beauties are …
Gustave Moreau
Helen on the Ramparts of Troy
Hélène sur les remparts de Troie
Helena en las murallas de Troya
4e quart 19e siècle
Musée Gustave Moreau, Paris

68. The Scaean Gates
Helen, a simple instrument of fate.

69. at the Scaean Gate with her story and her pain …
faceless, standing amid the smoking ruins and rubble
Gustave Moreau
Helen on the Ramparts of Troy
Hélène sur les remparts de Troie
Helena en las murallas de Troya
4e quart 19e siècle
Musée Gustave Moreau, Paris

72. Helen victim, villain
or
the femme fatale, a woman who seduces men to their deaths ?
Helen did not lead men to their deaths. Aphrodite did. Athena did. Paris did. Menelaus did.
But Helen? Helen, like most people in these Ancient Greek dramas, was merely a pawn of the gods to use in their war.
The Iliad is a good representation, not just for Ancient Greece, but also the modern-day world, of how wars often begin.
Not over beautiful women … but over greed and pride.
Though to Paris, Helen was a commodity to which he thought he had a “right” (since Aphrodite “gave” her to him),
Helen was a person who took on pain and blame …

73. Hélène de Troie
Helen of Troy
Helena de Troya
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