Gigantes
An alternative term for the Titans, the offspring of Ge and Uranos who took part in the Titanomachia against the gods of Olympus. They were giant beings, having serpents’ tails, and were variously disposed of during their battle with the Olympian gods, who had the help of Heracles.
Glauce
Daughter of Creon (king of Corinth); also known as Creusa. When Jason deserted Medea in her favor the scorned sorceress sent her a poisoned garment that set her body afire when she put it on and that burned down the palace, killing her father and his retinue.
Glaucus
1. King of Ephyra, or Corinth, son of Sisyphus and Merope, and father of Bellerophon, though most sources say that his wife, Eurynome, bore Bellerophon to Poseidon and that Glaucus simply raised him as his own. He was eaten by his own horses when he lost a chariot race to Iolaus, a race run because he had scorned the power of Aphrodite. His spirit was said to haunt the Isthmus of Corinth for many generations.
2. The grandson of Bellerophon, thus the great-grandson of Glaucus, who at the Trojan War commanded the Lycian forces in association with Sarpedon. During the fray he discovered that Diomedes’ father, Oeneus, had once entertained Bellerophon and thus refused to fight him. Instead he exchanged his golden armor for the bronze armor of Diomedes, and the two restored the friendship of their ancestors. When he was killed by Ajax the Greater his body was brought back to Lycia on the winds by Apollo.
3. Son of Minos and Pasiphae and brother of Androgeos, Ariadne, and Phaedra. As a boy Glaucus was drowned when he fell into a cask of honey, his body either being discovered by the seer Polyeidus or by the Curetes, who said he would be revived by whoever found the best analogy for a cow belonging to Minos that changed its color from red to white to black. Polyeidus made the comparison to a blackberry. However, unable to revive the boy, Polyeidus was now entombed with the body of Glaucus, and there a serpent revealed to the seer an herb that restored the boy, after which both Glaucus and Polyeidus were released, Polyeidus teaching Glaucus the art of divination.
4. A deity of the sea whose name means "sea-green." Originally a mortal fisherman, he was transformed into a merman when he ate a magic herb. He fell in love with Scylla, but Circe turned Scylla into a sea monster out of jealousy, for she loved Glaucus. A friendly patron of sailors with powers of prophecy, a common attribute of sea gods, he shared an oracle with the Nereides on Delos.
God
The conventional translation of the Greek theos, applied to all the Olympian deities, gods who represented a sort of aristocracy of creation. They were not unlike men in their behavior or passions; in fact many were greatly more immoral than classical sensibilities would seem to permit. But they were infinitely more powerful and beautiful than man (as can be seen, for example, by studying the art portraying Apollo). Most importantly, gods were immortal, thus placing them firmly above mankind. Between them came two other "races"—the daemones and the heroes, many of whom were apotheosized.
Golden age Greco-Roman A mythical period that was, in classical times, believed to have been the original state of the world. It was the first and best time, one of innocence when mankind lived in peace and harmony with itself and with nature, an idyll of happiness and prosperity. Greek legend states that men lived under Cronos’s rule free from care and enjoyed eternal youth and a life of ease, not needing to work, for the land produced fruit spontaneously. When their days on earth came to an end they died without pain, as if falling asleep. This mythical paradise disappeared with the coming of the Olympian order, but men continued to live a similar life after death in the paradisiacal Elysium, where Cronos still reigns. Later the term came to be used to describe the flourishing years of any civilization or culture.
Golden Bough, the
Greco-Roman A bough taken from a wood near Lake Avernus that the Sibyl of Cumae told Aeneas to arm himself with before descending into the Underworld to consult the spirit of his dead father.
Golden Fleece, the
The fleece of the winged ram Aries, or Chrysmallus, which Zeus sent to Thebes to substitute for Phrixus when his father, Athamas, was preparing to sacrifice him at the instigation of his stepmother, Ino. The ram flew off with Phrixus and his sister, Helle, on its back, bound for Colchis, but Helle fell off en route into the Hellespont. Arriving in Colchis, Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Poseidon, and either he or Aeetes, king of Colchis, hung the fleece on an oak tree in a grove sacred to Ares, where it was guarded by a sleepless dragon. Later Jason and the Argonauts mounted an expedition to bring it back to Greece, which they accomplished with a little help from Medea.
Gordian Knot, the
The mythical knot tied by Gordius, king of Phrygia, that was to be unraveled only by the future conqueror of Asia. According to tradition, Alexander the Great cut it open with his sword in 334 B.C.
Gordius
King of Phrygia and father of Midas. Originally a peasant, he became king after an oracle had told the people of Phrygia that their new king would arrive riding in a simple wagon. When Gordius arrived in just such a manner they proclaimed him king. In gratitude he dedicated his cart to Zeus in the acropolis of Gordium, fastening the pole to the yoke with a curious knot of bark. An oracle decreed that whoever should untie the knot would conquer and rule Asia. According to tradition, the Gordian Knot was cut open by Alexander the Great with his sword in 334 B.C.
Gorge
Daughter of Althaea and sister of Deianeira. Wife of Andraemon and mother of Theos, she and her sister retained their human form when Artemis changed their other sisters into birds.
Gorgon
Originally the Gorgons were the three beautiful daughters of the sea deities Phorcys and Ceto; sisters of the Graeae. The three Gorgons were named Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa, who lived in Libya; the first two were immortal, whereas Medusa was vulnerable. Medusa was seduced by Poseidon and lay with him in a temple dedicated to Athene. Furious, Athene transformed Medusa and her sisters into the Gorgons, hideous beings with golden wings and brazen claws, vast, grinning mouths with tusks, and serpents for hair. So ghastly was their appearance that their looks turned men to stone, an attribute that is central to the story of Perseus slaying Medusa. From her body sprung, fully grown, the winged horse Pegasus and the warrior Chrysaor, the result of her union with Poseidon. Stheno and Euryale pursued Perseus, but he was wearing Hades’ helmet of invisibility and escaped to the south. Perseus subsequently used the petrifying power of Medusa’s severed head to turn Atlas into the mountain that bears his name, then to turn the sea monster Cetus into stone to save Andromeda.
The hideous, grinning masks of the Gorgons, known as gorgoneia, were commonly used as a charm to ward off evil spirits. The origin of the Gorgons is hard to accurately ascertain. They have been interpreted as spirits of the sun, of thunder, of the winds, and of many other powerful forces of nature. Their iconography, like so many of the other monsters of Greek mythology, derives from Near Eastern art.
Gorgoneia
The hideous, grinning masks of the Gorgons that were employed as charms to ward off evil spirits. Athene was said to have had such an image in the center of her Aegis, though this is also said to have been the head of Medusa herself. One such image on the south face of the Acropolis in Athens was said, by medieval travelers, to be able to foretell the embarkation of invading fleets from the far south. Another famous image is found on the temple of Artemis on Corfu.
Gort~yn, ~ys Greco-Roman Important archaeological site at Aghii Deka in the Messara Plain to the south of the island of Crete. It was on the banks of the river here, so Greek tradition states, that Zeus seduced Europa after he carried her to Crete on his back in the form of a beautiful white bull. Historically speaking the town rose to prominence only at the end of the Minoan period, soon becoming an important city-state. There is a pre-Roman temple to Apollo Pythios at Gortyn, but all that remains today is the altar and sundry bits of broken columns.
Graces
The three daughters of Aphrodite, or Hera, by Zeus, or of Aegle by Helios; also known, in Greek, as the Charites. Named Aglaia, Thalia, and Euphrosyne, they had a cult most notably at Orchomenus, where they were worshipped in the form of three meteorites. However, they attain their greatest significance in association with the Muses. Whereas the latter provide the raw material for the arts and sciences, the Graces provide the inspiration. They were the personification of grace and beauty, bestowers of intellectual pleasure who perhaps originated as fertility deities.
Graeae
Two, perhaps three, ancient women, the daughters of the sea deities Phorcys and Ceto and thus the sisters of the Gorgons. They lived in the farthest west (one story naming their home as Mount Atlas, but this does not fit the normal chronology of events), where the sun never shone and had but one eye and one tooth between the three of them. Perseus visited them when he was sent to kill Medusa and, by stealing their eye and tooth, made them divulge what he needed to know to overcome their sister. An alternative story says that they guarded the road to where the Gorgons lived and that Perseus, by stealing their eye and throwing it into Lake Triton, was able to sneak past them unchallenged and unannounced.
Griff~in, ~en, ~on
Also: Gryphon
A mythical beast having a lion’s body and the wings of an eagle. It is known in all Near Eastern artistic traditions. Sometimes variants of the animal’s structure are given: a serpent’s head, scorpion’s tail, bird’s feet, and the like. The gold of the Arimaspi was said to have been guarded by Griffins, according to Aristaeus. Unusually, even though widespread throughout neighboring cultures, Griffins have no actual mythology within Greek tradition. Later writers, such as Aristeas, incorporated them into their rendition of earlier stories, such writers often making them the watchdogs of Apollo and Dionysos.
Gryphon
Variant of Griffin.
Gy~as, ~es, ~ges
One of the Hecatoncheires or Centimani, the 100-handed, 50-headed giant sons of Uranos and Ge. His two brothers are named Cottus and Briareus, who is also known as Aegaeon. They were brothers of the Cyclopes and Titans. Gyas and his brothers were imprisoned by their father in Tartarus, along with the Cyclopes and Titans, and this imprisonment led Ge to arm Cronos so that he might emasculate his father and usurp his position.
Hacho
Mountain, also called Mount Acho, at the northern tip of Morocco that is sometimes identified as being Abyla, or Ceuta, the southern of the Pillars of Heracles, the northern being Calpe, the modern Gibraltar.
Hades
Greek
Also: Aides, Aidoneus
Son of Cronos and Rhea; brother of Poseidon, Zeus, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera; one of the 12 great Olympian deities. His name means "the Unseen," a direct contrast to his brother, Zeus, who was originally seen to represent the brightness of day. He was swallowed at birth by his father, along with his brothers and sisters—all except Zeus, who was hidden away by his mother and, when grown to manhood, forced his father, whom he usurped, to disgorge the children. They banded together against Cronos, whom they successfully dethroned with the aid of weapons provided by the Cyclopes.
Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades then divided the government by lot. To Zeus fell the sky, to Poseidon the sea, and to Hades the Underworld, a region that has also become simply referred to as Hades, though it is actually three regions. Thus, Hades should always be used to refer to the god.
The god Hades, who in origin was probably a very early pre-Hellenic deity, was the severe and pitiless god of the Underworld and of death, though he was not essentially evil; he presided over the trial and punishment of the wicked. The Greeks usually referred to Hades by a euphemistic title, Plouton or Pluto being the most popular variants. This title, meaning "the Wealth," referred either to Hades’ possession of all the precious metals and gems found on earth or, some have suggested, to the fact that he gathered all living things into his realm after they died. He was also known as Clymenos, "the Illustrious One," Eubuleus, "the Giver of Good Advice," or Aides or Aidoneus. The Romans adopted the name Pluto, referring to him also as Dis Pater or Orcus.
His attributes included a staff with which he drove the spirits of the dead, or beckoned the dying to his realm, and a fabulous helmet that conferred invisibility on the wearer. The Cyclopes gave him the helmet, which he later lent to Perseus when that hero was given the task of killing the Gorgon Medusa. Hades asked Zeus for permission to marry Persephone, the daughter of Demeter; neither refused nor given clear consent, he simply abducted her while she was gathering flowers, some sources placing the scene of abduction at Enna in Sicily. Demeter searched endlessly for her daughter, forbidding anything to grow on earth while she looked. Finally Zeus intervened and told Demeter that Persephone might return from the Underworld on the single proviso that she had not eaten anything while in that realm. Persephone had, unfortunately, eaten the seed from a pomegranate; thus she was allowed to return for only part of each year, being Hades’ queen during the other part. This story clearly reflects an early attempt to rationalize the sequence of the seasons, for while Persephone is in Hades’ realm the earth lies dormant (winter), blossoming forth when she returns.
Hades was not always faithful to his queen. He once pursued the nymph Minthe, who was turned into a mint plant by Persephone during the chase. Hades had more success with another nymph, Leuce, but she was afterwards transformed into the white poplar tree.
The Underworld realm of Hades was divided into three regions through which five rivers ran, the entrance to this eternal world being guarded by the three-headed dog Cerberus. To reach the Underworld the dead, usually accompanied by Hermes, first had to be ferried across the River Styx by the ghostly ferryman Charon, who demanded payment for the journey. Payment was a coin, an obolos, which was placed on the tongue of the corpse during the earthly burial service. Having crossed the Styx the spirits of the dead had to propitiate Cerberus, the usual offering being honey cakes.
Once in the Underworld proper, the spirits of the dead had to cross four additional rivers, the Acheron (River of Woe), some sources saying Charon ferried them; Phlegethon (River of Flames); Cocytus (River of Wailing); and finally Lethe (River of Forgetfulness). The first three rivers are connected with the actual funeral rites and their associated emotions. However, all spirits were said to drink from the Lethe, upon which they immediately forgot their past life. Unable to recall any events from past lives, the spirits were brought before the three judges of the Underworld.
These judges—Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus—ruled on how each individual had spent life on earth; according to their judgment, one of three regions awaited the spirit for all eternity. The good were sent to Elysium, or the "Fortunate Isles," where rain and snow never fell and which can be best equated with Heaven. This realm, though considered a part of the Underworld, actually fell outside of Hades’ domain and was ruled by Cronos. The average were sent to the Asphodel Fields, an indifferent area that is best equated as the region directly ruled by Hades. The wicked were sent to Tartarus, the deepest region of the Underworld. To this lowest region many characters from Greek myth were dispatched after death, sometimes simply for eternal punishment. The Titans, Cyclopes, and Hecatoncheires were originally imprisoned there by Cronos, though later, after Cronos had been dethroned, only the Titans remained, guarded by the Hecaton-cheires. Sisyphus was condemned to eternally roll a huge stone to the top of a hill, where it immediately rolled down again.
Also occupying this region of Hades’ domain was the infernal Hecate, the three-bodied, three-headed goddess who presided over witchcraft and the black arts. Worshipped where three roads met, she had once helped Demeter in her search for Persephone, later becoming the companion of Persephone during the time she spent in the Underworld.
Also occupying Tartarus were the three-winged, snake-haired Erinnyes, or Furies, dispatched from this region to punish unnatural crimes and harry those who committed them. They later became known euphemistically as the Eumenides when Athene pacified them following the acquittal of Orestes.
Seldom figuring in art, usually being represented as a mature, bearded man, sometimes carrying a scepter or key, Hades had no temples, though he did receive cult in Elea. However, religious acts were sometimes carried out in his name. Black animals, usually bulls, were sacrificed to him, notably at Syracuse, Sicily, where black bulls were offered near the site Hades reportedly abducted Persephone. The complex structure of Hades’ realm, which by metonymy also came to be called Hades, illustrated the combination of the contradictory ideas that the ancient Greeks had regarding life after death. In the very broadest terms, the deities Persephone and Hecate can be seen to represent the pre-Hellenic hopes of a true afterlife, whereas Hades personifies the Hellenic fear of the finality and totality of death. By the fifth century B.C. the god Hades was becoming the realm over which he had reigned, his position being usurped under the influence of Eleusinian myth by Pluto or, more accurately, Pluton, the name by which he entered Roman tradition.
Haemon
Son of Creon (king of Thebes). According to Apollodorus, Haemon numbered among the Theban youths killed by the Sphinx for failing to answer the riddle she set. However, Haemon is usually regarded as the lover of Antigone—and therefore alive after Oedipus’s victory over the Sphinx. Creon had Antigone immured in a cave, where she hanged herself; the grief-stricken Haemon, upon finding her body, took his own life.
Halcyone
A little-used variant of Alcyone.
Halirrhothius
A son of Poseidon who was, according to late tradition, murdered by Ares. However, Ares pleaded that he had been saving his daughter, Alcippe, from being violated by Halirrhothius and thus was acquitted of murder. The place of Ares’ trial became known as the Areopagus.
Hamadryad
A class of tree nymphs who lived and died with the trees they inhabited.
Harmonia
Daughter of Ares and Aphrodite. Her wedding to Cadmos was attended by the Olympian deities. Here she was given, by Aphrodite, a fabulous necklace made by Hephaistos that conferred irresistible loveliness on the wearer—but proved fatal to all who wore it. She also received a robe from Athene that conferred divine dignity on the wearer. Her children by Cadmos were the four sisters Ino, Autonoe, Semele, and Agave, as well as Polydorus and later Illyrius. Following the tragic deaths of all their daughters, Cadmos and Harmonia left Thebes for Illyria, where they were turned into snakes by Ares, in which forms they were welcomed to the Islands of the Blessed. See also: Cadmos
Harpy
The Harpies were winged female demons, the daughters of Thaumas and Electra; they were the sisters of Iris. In origin they appear to be spirits of the wind. Hesiod identified just two Harpies, Aello and Acypete, but later sources added a third, Celaeno. Usually depicted in art as winged women to differentiate them from similar bird-bodied women such as the Sirens, the Harpies had the head and breasts of a woman and the claws of a vulture. Associated with sudden death, whirlwinds, and storms, they represent the feminine principle in its destructive form. The Harpies were said to have been the mothers, by Zephyrus, of Xanthus and Balius, the talking horses of Achilles, as well as mothers of the horses ridden by the Dioscuri.
Foul beasts, the Harpies are possibly best known through their appearance in the legend of the blind King Phineus. Every time the king sat down to eat they rapaciously descended onto his table, snatching his food and fouling the table. They were driven away by the sons of Boreas when the Argonauts landed on his island.
Hebe
Goddess of youth; the daughter of Hera who was engendered parthenogenetically when Hera ate a lettuce (a traditional anaphrodisia-cal plant), though some sources say she was the daughter of Hera and Zeus. Eternally young, Hebe became the cupbearer to the gods of Olympus before being replaced by Ganymede. At first married to Ares, she had limited powers to bestow eternal youth. She later married Heracles after he had been deified and had, at last, been accepted by Hera. Hebe was called Juventas by the Romans.
Hecabe
Little-used variant of Hecuba.
Hecale
A pitifully poor old women who nevertheless entertained Theseus with all the hospitality she could muster while the latter was involved in the hunt for the Marathonian Bull.
Hecate
An extremely powerful ancient goddess whose origins lie in Asia Minor, possibly Thrace. A mysterious deity, depicted as a triple goddess with three bodies and three heads, she was honored in Heaven, on Earth, and in the Underworld and was held in esteem and awe by all the Olympian deities, including Zeus. Her triple aspect led to her being seen as a deity ruling over Heaven as Semele, over Earth as Artemis, and in Hades as the companion of Persephone. Originally a moon goddess, hence her assimilation with Semele and Artemis, Hecate was the patron of rich men, sailors, and flocks, the bestower of the wealth and blessings of daily life. She later came to be regarded, by the Hellenes in particular, as a dread divinity of the Underworld; she resided in its deepest region, Tartarus, keeping company with the dead and presiding over witchcraft and the black arts. She became the patroness of witches and sorceresses and protectress of graveyards and crossroads, especially those between three roads.
Some sources say that she was the daughter of Perses and Asteria, whereas others give her a more divine status, saying that her parentage was Zeus and Hera and that it was her theft of Hera’s cosmetics that led to her being banished from Olympus. She helped Demeter search for Persephone, and when Persephone was found to be in the Underworld she descended to become her companion.
Hecate was characteristically worshipped at gateways or the junction of three roads, where dogs, which were sacred to her, were offered in sacrifice. To the pre-Hellenic people she represented the hope of an afterlife. The Hellenes were a little more clear-cut and simply regarded her as a dreadful, primeval witch.
Hecatoncheires
The collective name given to Cottus, Briareus, who is also known as Aegaeon, and Gyas or Gyges, the three giant sons of Uranos and Ge who had 100 hands and 50 heads sometimes known as the Centimani. They were the brothers of the Cyclopes and the 12 Titans. Following the Titanomachia, the Hecatoncheires guarded the Titans, who had been consigned to dwell in Tartarus for all eternity.
Hector
The greatest of the Trojan heroes during the Trojan War; the eldest son of Priam and Hecuba, brother of Paris, Helenus, Deiphobus, and Cassandra; husband of Andromache and father of Astyanax. During the siege of Troy he was afforded the personal protection of Ares, and in one memorable scene in Homer’s Iliad he fought a day-long battle with Ajax the Greater until, at nightfall, they exchanged gifts, Hector giving Ajax a sword, receiving in return a purple baldric (a sash or belt worn over the right shoulder to the left hip for carrying a sword). Having killed Patroclus, Hector was chased three times around the walls of Troy before he was killed by Achilles.
Killed, he was stripped of his armor by Achilles who, tying Hector’s ankles together, simply dragged the body back to the Greek lines. Some sources vary this, saying that Achilles now dishonored Hector’s body by dragging it three times around the walls of Troy by the purple baldric given to him by Ajax. He was then dragged back to Achilles’ tent, each day to be dragged three times around the tomb of Patroclus. Finally Priam persuaded Achilles to return his son’s body so that it could be afforded the proper funeral rites. The death of Hector led the Amazons to enter the Trojan War on the side of Troy, but their queen, Penthesilea, was killed by Achilles.
Hecub~a, ~e
The second wife of Priam, king of Troy, she came from an area near the River Sangarius on the southern coast of the Black Sea. She had a total of 19 children by Priam, including the most famous of Priam’s 50 sons and daughters: Cassandra, Creusa, Deiphobus, Hector, Helenus, Laodice, Paris, Polites, Polydorus, Polyxena, and Troilus, though the last may have been her son by Apollo rather than Priam. Before the birth of Paris, Hecuba dreamed that she had borne a blazing firebrand. Interpreting this dream as foretelling that this son would bring some calamity to Troy, she exposed him on the slopes of Mount Ida, where he was found and raised by a shepherd.
Following the fall of Troy, during which she had witnessed the death of most of her family, she was given to Odysseus and traveled with him as far as the Thracian Chersonese, where Hecuba discovered that the king of Thrace, Polymester, had murdered her son, Polydorus. In her fury she blinded Polymester and killed all his children, whereupon she was punished by being transformed into a bitch called Maera; following her death, she was buried nearby at a place thenceforth known as Cynossema—"Dog’s Grave." Some sources, however, place her canine transformation immediately after the death of Priam and say that she had already taken this form when she blinded Polymester by scratching his eyes out. She was then stoned by the citizens of Polymester’s city, with a stone lodging in her throat, after which she was able only to bark. The revenge she exacted on Polymester later led to her being revered as the personification of motherly love and courage.
Another version of this late story says that Polydorus, along with a large quantity of gold, was entrusted to Polymester by Priam shortly before the fall of Troy. When the city had fallen, Polymester killed Polydorus for the gold and cast his body into the sea. There it was found by Hecuba, who swore revenge, later managing to kill Polymester and his children. She then turned herself into the bitch Maera to evade the angry Thracians.
Helen(~a, ~e)
The most beautiful woman of her time, the daughter of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Leda, Helen was said to have been born from the same egg as the twin deities Castor and Polydeuces (the Dioscuri); she may have been the daughter of Zeus rather than Tyndareus. Her half-sister was Clytemnestra. Although worshipped as a goddess of womanhood at Sparta, throughout the rest of Greece she was considered as a legendary mortal, not a goddess.
It was Helen’s remarkable beauty that led to her troubles. While still quite young she was seized by Theseus and Peirithous; falling by lot to Theseus, she was carried off to Attica, where she was placed in the care of Aethra, Theseus’s mother, in the village of Aphidnae. She was later rescued by her brothers, the Dioscuri, when they invaded Attica with an army and were told the whereabouts of Helen by Academus. They took the young girl back to Sparta, along with Aethra, who was to act as her servant.
Helen was now courted by innumerable suitors including Idomeneos and Odysseus, though the latter was really more interested in Helen’s cousin, Penelope. Odysseus wisely advised Tyndareus to make all her suitors swear allegiance to her final choice. In the end Helen chose Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, by whom she became the mother of Hermione.
The wisdom of Odysseus’s advice to Tyndareus became apparent after Helen had been seized and carried away to Troy, along with a large quantity of gold, by Paris with the help of Aphrodite, to whom he had awarded the Apple of Discord. Her earlier suitors had to honor their oath, leading to the saying that Helen’s face "launched a thousand ships" (the Greek fleet that assembled at Aulis before sailing for Troy was immense).
It has been said that Helen was a willing partner in her elopement with Paris, as much in love with him as he with her. However, she was treated with hostility in Troy, being regarded as the cause of the war, and became increasingly lonely. It therefore does not seem surprising that she is credited with helping the Greeks during the final stages of the epic struggle, refusing at one stage to give Odysseus away when he entered the city in disguise, actually providing him with much useful information and confessing that she longed to return to Sparta. One legend contradicts this helpful attitude by saying that Helen tried to trick the occupants of the Wooden Horse by addressing each of the concealed warriors in the voice of his own wife. Odysseus, however, managed to make them refrain from answering, and so they remained undiscover by the Trojans. After Paris was killed, Helen was forcibly married by Deiphobus after he and his brother, Helenus, had fought over her. Helenus fled to Mount Ida, where he was either captured by the Greeks and forced to help them or simply offered advice of his own volition.
With the fall of Troy Helen was exonerated, and she and Menelaus reunited. The traditional version of their reconciliation says that Menelaus was about to transfix her on his sword when, overcome by her beauty, he dropped the sword and took her in his arms. On the way home they stopped at the mouth of the River Nile, where Helen was said to have been taught the secrets of healing herbs. An alternative version, Egyptian in origin, says that the real Helen was spirited away to Egypt prior to Paris abducting her "phantom," which lived at Troy during the war.
The remainder of her life remains undocumented, but several different versions of her death do exist. In the play Orestes by Euripides she was translated just as Orestes was about to murder her. ARhodian legend says that she was driven out of Sparta by the sons of Menelaus and took refuge with Polyxo, the widow of Tlepolemus. However, Polyxo had her maids dress up as Erinnyes and hang Helen from a tree, after which she was worshipped as a goddess. A tradition from the south of Italy placed her on the Islands of the Blessed or the White Island, where she lived an eternal life with other Trojan heroes, marrying Achilles. However, the traditional version was that both Menelaus and Helen died peacefully at Sparta and were buried at Therapnae, becoming the guardians of the city. Their shrine, the Menelaion, may be visited today southeast of Sparta.
Helenus
Greco-Roman
A Trojan seer, a son of Priam and Hecuba. He quarreled with his brother, Deiphobus, over Helen following the death of Paris. When Deiphobus forcibly married Helen, Helenus fled to Mount Ida. There he either voluntarily offered his services to the Greek forces or was captured by Odysseus. He advised the Greek forces that they would capture Troy only if the Palladium could be secured, if Pelops’s bones were brought to the battlefield, if Neopto-lemus came to join the Greek forces, and if Philoctetes could be persuaded to come to Troy, bringing with him the bow and arrows of Heracles, which he owned.
Following the fall of Troy, Helenus was taken by Neoptolemus on his ship as far as Epirus, where he founded the city of Buthrotum. Neoptolemus also gave him his concubine, Andromache, the widow of Hector, to be his wife. Virgil added to the Trojan traditions by saying that Aeneas stopped in Epirus on his way from Troy, and it was Helenus that prophesied, to him, the foundation of Rome, saying that when Aeneas landed in Italy he should seek out a white sow and 30 piglets and there found his city. He also added that further counsel could be had from the Sibyl of Cumae.
Heliades
The daughters of Helios and sisters of Phaethon who wept at his death and were transformed into poplar trees. They were sometimes mistakenly identified with the Hyades.
