Villain, Victim... Double Agent? The Many Lives of Helen of Troy pt 1

Jan 22, 2026

Dive into the tangled myth of Helen of Troy, often seen as a seductress or victim. Explore her miraculous conception by Zeus as a swan and the complexities of her identity through various ancient accounts. Discover how her early abduction by Theseus set the stage for male rivalry over her. Learn about the iconic Judgement of Paris, where he controversially chose Aphrodite, leading to the fateful Trojan War. Each layer reveals a different facet of this enigmatic figure, making her story as captivating as it is contradictory.

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INSIGHT

Myth As A Fluid Process

Myths are fluid and contradictory rather than fixed stories, so Helen exists in many incompatible versions.
Mary Beard argues myth is a verb: we continuously re-myth and reinterpret characters like Helen.

INSIGHT

Divine Conception And Its Consequences

Helen's origin story ties her to divine violence: Zeus, disguised as a swan, raped Leda and Helen is conceived.
That divine paternity makes Helen uniquely special and problematically desirable in myth.

ANECDOTE

Eggs And Pausanias' Eyewitness Claim

Ancient variants even claim Leda laid eggs containing Helen, Castor and Pollux, and maybe Clytemnestra.
Pausanias amusingly reports seeing eggshell fragments at a Spartan temple, blending myth and local 'evidence'.

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Sex goddess. Whore. Temptress. Adulteress. Victim. Helen of Troy has been called many things. In the run-up to Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey later this year, amidst swirling rumours about who is playing Helen, Mary and Charlotte look beyond the labels and ask: who was Helen really and what role does she play in myth?

This isn’t an easy question to answer. Accounts of Helen’s character and life come from myriad sources - many of which contradict one another. In the first episode of our four-part series, Mary and Charlotte look at Helen’s early years. She was born of a rape, when Zeus, disguised as a swan, forced himself upon Leda, Queen of Sparta. The young Helen was married to Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, and became queen of Sparta. The trouble began hundreds of miles away and the so-called Judgement of Paris.

Paris was the son of King Priam of Troy. In a high-stakes wedding game (think opening scene of The Godfather), he was asked to choose which of the goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite was most beautiful. Aphrodite bribed him by promising he could have the most beautiful mortal woman in the world, conveniently forgetting that Helen was already married. Paris went to Sparta to collect his prize. He waited for Menelaus to depart the scene, then took Helen to Troy. Whether she eloped or was abducted has been debated ever since. And so… the Trojan War.

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Mary and Charlotte recommend some further reading:

There are many ancient accounts of the Judgement of Paris and the events leading up to it. You can find the parody of Lucian here (it’s the last of his Dialogues of the Gods): https://www.theoi.com/Text/LucianDialoguesGods1.html

A more standard ancient account of Helen’s back story, her marriage and the judgement of Paris is given by Apollodorus (or Pseudo-Apollodorus!), writing during the Roman empire, see esp. 3. 10. 7 ff and Epitome 3: https://www.theoi.com/Text/Apollodorus3.html#10 and https://www.theoi.com/Text/ApollodorusE.html#3

For modern discussions of Helen (relevant to this and our later episodes):

Ruby Blondell, Helen of Troy: Beauty, Myth, Devastation (Oxford UP, pb, 2015)

Bettany Hughes, Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore (Pimlico, pb, 2013)

Instant Classics handmade by Vespucci

Producer: Jonty Claypole

Video Editor: Jak Ford

Theme music: Casey Gibson

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