Helen of Troy, Another Version

All of us are aware of the famous epic love story ‘Helen of Troy’. It forms the theme of an epic of immense proportion. 

Homer’s Version

The story as narrated by Homer is well known. But the there is another version which I shall discuss in the succeeding paragraphs.  In this version Helen elopes with Paris to Troy an dthe Greeks follow up with an invasion to get Helen back.

The Version of Herodotus

The above is the popular version of the story and has been depicted  on celluloid many times. But some historians however give a different account of this battle and story as depicted in The Iliad.

The source of these researchers is the writings of the Greek historian Herodotus who lived around the 5^th century. This is a period about 300 years after the era of Homer. Herodotus is a much respected figure in world history and he in his Book2 of the Histories depicts an entirely different scenario of the love of Paris and Helen.

The first part of the Iliad and the history by Herodotus are synonymous. The tale of Paris being shipwrecked and falling in love and eloping are similar to the Iliad.  But as per Herodotus the ship carrying Paris and Helen ran into a sea storm of immense proportion.

Herodotus mentions that this great storm threw Paris off course and he was wily nily forced to reach the coast of Egypt. When Paris reached the Egyptian coast some of his slaves and servants revolted against him and informed the King at Memphis, Proteus that a Trojan stranger has come from Greece where he has abducted a beautiful queen and stolen treasures.

Proteus immediately had Paris arrested and brought before him in court along with Helen. After due deliberation he was convinced that the complaint was correct. He ordered Paris to leave Egypt and kept Helen and the treasure back in Egypt, till such time king Menelaus could come and claim his right.

As a proof of this Herodotus mentions that there is a temple at Memphis dedicated to Helen the Spartan queen, who was resident for some time in Egypt. As per Herodotus Homer knew of the true tale, but gave it a romantic tint as an imaginative writer will do. Herodotus mentions that he had  visited the temple and met the priests there who had vouchsafed that the temple was dedicated to Helen and not Aphrodite.

Thus when the Greek army reached Troy and asked for the return of Helen, they received a reply that there was no Helen as in real fact she was in Egypt. The Greeks did not believe the Trojan king and thus resolved to go to war. Herodotus argues that when the Trojan king replied that there was no Helen he was speaking the truth. If Helen was really there he would have handed her to Menelaus to avoid war.

Epilogue

Herodotus believes that the version written by him is the correct version. Historians are still debating the stories but generally the version of Herodotus is given greater credence.  But all said and done the tale of the Trojan War and the abduction of Helen by Paris is one of the great romances that have enlivened the lives of millions all over the world as an example of true and passion.

. Old Painting of Helen in Troy