Menelaus
First appears: The Catalogues of Women and Eoiae · Fragments 61–80
Menelaus was the son of Pleisthenes and Cleolla, and brother of Agamemnon. Among the suitors of Helen, he prevailed because he gave the greatest gifts; Tyndareus had required them to swear an oath concerning her marriage. Menelaus married Helen, but she dishonoured their marriage bed.
Helen bore Menelaus Hermione and, as her youngest-born, Nicostratus.
Relationship record
Life events
- Helen dishonoured Menelaus’s marriage bed.(The Catalogues of Women and Eoiae · Fragments 61–80)
- With: Helen
- “and even so Helen dishonoured the couch of golden-haired Menelaus.”
- Tyndareus required the suitors to swear an oath concerning Helen’s marriage; Menelaus prevailed by giving the greatest gifts.(The Catalogues of Women and Eoiae · Fragments 61–80)
- With: Tyndareus Helen
- “But of all who came for the maid’s sake, the lord Tyndareus sent none away, nor yet received the gift of any, but asked of all the suitors sure oaths, and bade them swear and vow with unmixed libations that no one else henceforth should do aught apart from him as touching the marriage of the maid with shapely arms; but if any man should cast off fear and reverence and take her by force, he bade all the others together follow after and make him pay the penalty. And they, each of them hoping to accomplish his marriage, obeyed him without wavering. But warlike Menelaus, the son of Atreus, prevailed against them all together, because he gave the greatest gifts.”
- Helen bore Hermione to Menelaus.(The Catalogues of Women and Eoiae · Fragments 61–80)
- Helen bore Nicostratus to Menelaus.(The Catalogues of Women and Eoiae · Fragments 61–80)
- With: Helen Nicostratus
- “And she (Helen) bare to Menelaus, famous with the spear, Hermione and her youngest-born, Nicostratus, a scion of Ares.”
The Catalogues of Women and Eoiae · Fragments 61–80
- admired: Helen “But warlike Menelaus, the son of Atreus, prevailed against them all together, because he gave the greatest gifts.”
- married with Helen “Helen dishonoured the couch of golden-haired Menelaus.”
- child: Hermione “And she (Helen) bare neat-ankled Hermione in the palace, a child unlooked for.”
- child: Nicostratus “And she (Helen) bare to Menelaus, famous with the spear, Hermione and her youngest-born, Nicostratus”
- parent: Pleisthenes “Agamemnon, Menelaus and Anaxibia were the children of Pleisthenes and Cleolla the daughter of Dias.”
- parent: Cleolla “Agamemnon, Menelaus and Anaxibia were the children of Pleisthenes and Cleolla the daughter of Dias.”
- siblings with Agamemnon “Agamemnon, Menelaus and Anaxibia were the children of Pleisthenes and Cleolla the daughter of Dias.”
The Cypria · Part 1
- siblings with Agamemnon “Menelaus returns and plans an expedition against Ilium with his brother, and then goes on to Nestor.”
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Extracted from the original text of Hesiod and Homerica. Made with Rho MD.