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Menelaus
In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; ) was a Greek king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', the Trojan war began as a result of Menelaus's wife, Helen, fleeing to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris. Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War, leading the Spartan contingent of the Greek army, under his elder brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Prominent in both the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'', Menelaus was also popular in Greek vase painting and Greek tragedy, the latter more as a hero of the Trojan War than as a member of the doomed House of Atreus. Description In the account of Dares the Phrygian, Menelaus was described as "of moderate stature, auburn-haired, and handsome. He had a pleasing personality." Family Menelaus was a descendant of Pelops son of Tantalus. He was the younger brother of Agamemnon, and the husband of Helen of Troy. According to the usual version of the story, followed by the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' of Homer, Agamemno ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Menelaus Captures Helen In Troy (cropped)
In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; ) was a Greek king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', the Trojan war began as a result of Menelaus's wife, Helen, fleeing to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris. Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War, leading the Spartan contingent of the Greek army, under his elder brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Prominent in both the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'', Menelaus was also popular in Greek vase painting and Greek tragedy, the latter more as a hero of the Trojan War than as a member of the doomed House of Atreus. Description In the account of Dares the Phrygian, Menelaus was described as "of moderate stature, auburn-haired, and handsome. He had a pleasing personality." Family Menelaus was a descendant of Pelops son of Tantalus. He was the younger brother of Agamemnon, and the husband of Helen of Troy. According to the usual version of the story, followed by the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' of Homer, Agamemnon an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helen Of Troy
Helen (), also known as Helen of Troy, or Helen of Sparta, and in Latin as Helena, was a figure in Greek mythology said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world. She was believed to have been the daughter of Zeus and Leda (mythology), Leda or Nemesis, and the sister of Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux, Castor, Pollux, Philonoe, Phoebe (mythology), Phoebe and Timandra (mythology), Timandra. She was married first to King Menelaus of Sparta "who became by her the father of Hermione (mythology), Hermione, and, according to others, of Nicostratus (mythology), Nicostratus also." Her subsequent marriage to Paris (mythology), Paris of Troy was the most immediate cause of the Trojan War. Elements of her putative biography come from classical authors such as Aristophanes, Cicero, Euripides, and Homer (in both the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey''). Her story reappears in Book II of Virgil's ''Aeneid''. In her youth, she was abducted by Theseus. A competition between her suitors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trojan War
The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mythology), Paris of Troy took Helen of Troy, Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology, and it has been Epic Cycle, narrated through many works of ancient Greek literature, Greek literature, most notably Homer's ''Iliad''. The core of the ''Iliad'' (Books II – XXIII) describes a period of four days and two nights in the tenth year of the decade-long siege of Troy; the ''Odyssey'' describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the war's heroes. Other parts of the war are described in a Epic Cycle, cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Latin literature, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleisthenes
In Greek mythology, Pleisthenes or Plisthenes (), is the name of several members of the house of Tantalus, the most important being a son of Atreus, said to be the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. Although these two brothers are usually considered to be the sons of Atreus himself, according to some accounts, Pleisthenes was their father, but he died, and Agamemnon and Menelaus were adopted by their grandfather Atreus. Father of Agamemnon and Menelaus The Pleisthenes who was said to have been the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus is a puzzling figure, with a confused genealogy, complicated by the existence of other members of the house of Tantalus with the same name. According to the usual version of the story, followed by the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' of Homer, Atreus, the king of Mycenae was the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus, by Aerope, the daughter of the Cretan king Catreus. However, according to another tradition, Pleisthenes, the son of Atreus (or Pelops?) was the father, p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agamemnon
In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Iphigenia, Iphianassa (daughter of Agamemnon), Iphianassa, Electra, Laodice (Greek myth), Laodike, Orestes and Chrysothemis. Legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, Peloponnese, Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. Agamemnon was killed upon his Returns from Troy, return from Troy by Clytemnestra, or in an older version of the story, by Clytemnestra's lover Aegisthus. Etymology Different etymologies have been proposed for the name ''Agamemnon'' (). According to one view, the name means 'very steadfast', 'unbowed' or 'resolute'. This is based on the interpretation of the name as a compound word comprising the elements 'very much' and 'to stay, wait; stand fast'. According to anothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aerope
In Greek mythology, Aerope (Ancient Greek: Ἀερόπη) was a Crete, Cretan princess as the daughter of Catreus, king of Crete. She was the sister of Clymene (mythology), Clymene, Apemosyne and Althaemenes. After an oracle said he would be killed by one of his children, Catreus gave Aerope to Nauplius (mythology), Nauplius to be sold abroad. Nauplius spared her, and she became the wife of Atreus or Pleisthenes (or both). By most accounts, she is the mother of Agamemnon and Menelaus. While the wife of Atreus, she became the lover of his brother Thyestes, and gave Thyestes the golden lamb that allowed him to become king of Mycenae. Family Aerope's father was Catreus, son of Minos, and king of Crete. Catreus had two other daughters, Clymene and Apemosyne, and a son, Althaemenes. In most accounts, Aerope was the mother of Agamemnon and Menelaus, fathered by Atreus. However, their father is occasionally named as Pleisthenes. In other retellings, Aerope was instead the mother of Ple ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helen (play)
''Helen'' (, ''Helénē'') is a drama by Euripides about Helen, first produced in 412 BC for the Dionysia in a trilogy that also contained Euripides' lost '' Andromeda''. The play has much in common with '' Iphigenia in Tauris'', which is believed to have been performed around the same time period. Historical frame ''Helen'' was written soon after the Sicilian Expedition, in which Athens had suffered a massive defeat. Concurrently, the sophists – a movement of teachers who incorporated philosophy and rhetoric into their occupation – were beginning to question traditional values and religious beliefs. Within the play's framework, Euripides starkly condemns war, deeming it to be the root of all evil. Background About thirty years before this play, Herodotus argued in his '' Histories'' that Helen had never in fact arrived at Troy, but was in Egypt during the entire Trojan War. The Archaic lyric poet Stesichorus had made the same assertion in his "Palinode" (itself a correct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orestes (play)
''Orestes'' (, ''Orestēs'') (408 BCE) is an Ancient Greek play by Euripides that follows the events of Orestes after he had murdered his mother. Background In accordance with the advice of the god Apollo, Orestes has killed his mother Clytemnestra to avenge the death of his father Agamemnon at her hands. Despite Apollo's earlier prophecy, Orestes finds himself tormented by Erinyes or Furies to the blood guilt stemming from his matricide. The only person capable of calming Orestes down from his madness is his sister Electra. To complicate matters further, a leading political faction of Argos wants to put Orestes to death for the murder. Orestes’ only hope to save his life lies in his uncle Menelaus, who has returned with Helen after spending ten years in Troy and several more years amassing wealth in Egypt. In the chronology of events following Orestes, this play takes place after the events contained in plays such as ''Electra'' by Euripides and Sophocles or '' The Liba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and was written in dactylic hexameter. It contains 15,693 lines in its most widely accepted version. The ''Iliad'' is often regarded as the first substantial piece of Western literature, European literature and is a central part of the Epic Cycle. Set towards the end of the Trojan War, a ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean Greek states, the poem depicts significant events in the war's final weeks. In particular, it traces the anger () of Achilles, a celebrated warrior, from a fierce quarrel between him and King Agamemnon, to the death of the Trojan prince Hector.Homer, ''Iliad, Volume I, Books 1–12'', translated by A. T. Murray, revised by William F. Wyatt, Loeb Classical Library 170, Cambridge, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicostratus (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Nicostratus (Ancient Greek: Νικόστρατος) is a son of Menelaus, king of Mycenaean Sparta. He was known to Hesiod and epic poet Cinaethon. His name means 'Victorious Army' and suggests that his birth came after the Trojan War. Family Nicostratus' mother was either Menelaus' wife Helen of Troy, or a slave. Although in Homer's ''Odyssey'', the only child of Menelaus and Helen is Hermione, other sources also mention a son Nicostratus. The mythographer Apollodorus says that "Menelaus had by Helen a daughter Hermione and, according to some (''κατά τινας''), a son Nicostratus", while a scholia on Sophocles' ''Electra'' quotes Hesiod as saying "She elenbore Hermione to spear-famed Menelaus, and last of all she bore Nicostratus, scion of Ares". However, according to the geographer Pausanias, Nicostratus, and Megapenthes were sons of Menelaus by a slave, and because they were illegitimate, Agamemnon's son Orestes succeeded Menelaus as king of Spa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris (mythology)
Paris of Troy (), also known as Paris or Alexander (), is a mythological figure in the story of the Trojan War. He appears in numerous Greek legends and works of Ancient Greek literature such as the ''Iliad''. In myth, he is prince of Troy, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, and younger brother of Prince Hector. His elopement with Helen sparks the Trojan War, during which he fatally wounds Achilles. Name The Ancient Greek name Πάρις is probably of Luwian origin, and is comparable to ''Parizitis'', attested as a Hittite scribe's name. The name is etymologically unrelated to that of France's capital city, derived from the Gallic Parisii tribe. Description Paris was described by the chronicler Malalas in his account of the ''Chronography'' as "well-grown, sturdy, white, good nose, good eyes, black pupils, black hair, incipient beard, long-faced, heavy eyebrows, big mouth, charming, eloquent, agile, an accurate archer, cowardly, hedonist". Meanwhile, in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atreus
In Greek mythology, Atreus (, ) was a king of Mycenae in the Peloponnese, the son of Pelops and Hippodamia (daughter of Oenomaus), Hippodamia, and the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus. His descendants became known collectively as the Atreidae ( ''Atreidai''). Atreus and his twin brother Thyestes were exiled by their father for murdering their half-brother Chrysippus (mythology), Chrysippus in their desire for the throne of Olympia, Greece, Olympia. They took refuge in Mycenae, where they ascended to the throne in the absence of King Eurystheus, who was fighting the Heracleidae. Eurystheus had meant for their stewardship to be temporary, but it became permanent after his death in battle, which ended the rule of the Perseid dynasty in Mycenae. According to most ancient sources, Atreus was the father of Pleisthenes, but in some lyric poets (Ibycus, Bacchylides) Pleisthenides (son of Pleisthenes) is used as an alternative name for Atreus himself. Nomenclature 'Atreides' () is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
