Helen

Family: Divine · Role: daughter of Nemesis · First appears: Book 1 · Chapter 33

At Rhamnus, Helen was said to be the daughter of Nemesis, fostered by Leda, and fathered by Zeus rather than Tyndareus. In Argos, she bore a child by Theseus and gave the child to Clytæmnestra; after Aphidna fell, she was taken to Lacedæmon. Theseus later married her and built the temple of Bridal Aphrodite.

At Cranae, Paris carried Helen off, and at Hellenium, Menelaus’s allies considered sailing to Troy to punish him for her rape. During the sack of Ilium, Menelaus pursued Helen with sword and breastplate, intending to kill her. She was said to be buried with him at Therapne, though another account says that after his death Nicostratus and Megapenthes (son of Menelaus) drove her away, and she went to Rhodes. There Polyxo, seeking revenge for Tlepolemus’s death, arranged for Helen to be seized while bathing and hanged.

In time, Helen was reported to have married Achilles on Leuce. At Sparta, an apparition of Helen with Castor and Pollux prevented Aristomenes from entering the city by night; elsewhere, the pair were said to have abducted her and dragged Æthra from Athens. Herophile (second) foretold that Helen’s upbringing in Sparta would bring ruin to Asia Minor and Europe. Later, Helen gave her consent for Agamemnon to grant Æthra to Demophon.