Helen of Troy - Part 4 - Page: 2
One version, not often heard of, and not found in the Homeric epics, was that Helen never went to Troy. Rather, Hermes took the real Helen to Egypt while Paris took . . . can you guess who he took along with him to Troy? If you said, Helen's double, you are right!
The siege of Troy was a long, drawn out affair. It took ten years for the Greeks to make any head way. When the final moments came, the Greeks actually had to resort to trickery. They built a huge wooden horse and when it was ready, many soldiers readied themselves inside. The rest of the Greek army sailed away. On seeing this, the Trojans were relieved that the war had ended relatively painlessly. Thinking that the Greeks had left the wooden horse as a gift, they went outside the gates, rolled it inside the gates and that's when they received a surprise that cost them greatly. Greek men, among them Menelaus and Odysseus, jumped out. They set fire to the city of Troy, killed most of the men and captured the women and made slaves out of them.
What happened to Helen? It is said that Odysseus discovered her and returned her to her husband, Menelaus. In order for her husband to accept her back into his arms, Odysseus made up a story that Helen had helped him to steal a valuable Trojan statue. Believing she was loyal to the Greeks despite what she had been through, Menelaus took her back. It took them seven years to return to Sparta and the pair lived happily ever after.
Naturally, you'll ask, "But if Helen lived happily ever after, then what happened to her lover, Paris?" He was killed during the siege of Troy. An old Greek prophecy had said that they would never win a victory over Troy without Philoctetes, who a son of Priam, a principal Trojan prophet. This man also happened to have the bow and arrows that rightfully belonged to Hercules. He was tricked into returning to the Trojan War after he had been isolated by the Greeks on an island. Philoctetes killed Paris with Hercules' bow and arrow.
Yet another rendering of what happened to Helen comes about at this point. After Paris was killed, his brothers disputed Helen's ownership. Paris' brother, Deiphobus, won and he forcibly married Helen. She tried to flee several times and apparently knew what the 'gift' of the Trojan horse meant for the city of Troy. Without mercy, she made fun of the Trojan women, telling them their times was almost up. And so it was, as we know.
How did the Greeks view the Trojan War? Outside of the Bible (the Old Testament and the life of Christ), there is no other event (or perceived event) which gave artists of every type, inspiration to write and paint and write poetry and tales about. Just as the Bible is such an important part of our culture today, so was the legend of the Trojan War and Helen of Troy in ancient Greece. The one major difference between the Old Testament and the Trojan War epic is that while the Old Testament was compiled into one book, the Trojan War exists in different, uncollected versions.
How was the Trojan War interpreted by ancient Greeks? Some said it was a romance of the highest order, while others said it was a tragedy. Still others said it was a satire against war. It's interesting that there is no one version that today's historians can rely on for the truth of the matter. Greek historians, however, did use the war to exemplify human conduct as they saw it. Alexander the Great is said to have carried Homer's ILIAD with him wherever he went - a prize he had seized from the Persian king, Darius.
The origins of the Trojan War were subjects discussed by both Herodotus and Thucydides (famous ancient Greek historians) as they analyzed the historical past. Plato in his REPUBLIC uses many Homeric passages to illustrate political wisdom. Right up to the present day, the Trojan War, along with Helen of Troy's beauty and several interpretations of her behavior, are subjects of plays, paintings and poetry. She has indeed left the western world with a legacy of immense proportions that many have enjoyed.
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