Posted on 10/18/2005 11:08:43 AM PDT by blam
Helen of Troy Existed?
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
Was a Queen of Sparta Helen of Troy?
Oct. 17, 2005 Helen of Troy, described in the epic poem The Iliad, was based on a real woman, according to a new book that weaves history, archaeology and myth to recreate the famous ancient Greek beauty's life.
According to the new theory proposed by Bettany Hughes, Helen's mythological character was inspired by a wealthy Bronze Age leader from the southern mainland of Greece.
Hughes, a former Oxford University scholar who has conducted research in the Balkans, Greece, and Asia Minor, was unavailable for comment.
In her book "Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore," however, she wrote, "I believe that all three incarnations princess, goddess and whore find their root in a Bronze Age Helen, that the template for Helen of Troy was provided by one of the rich Spartan queens who lived and died on the Greek mainland in the 13th century B.C.; a woman who slept at night and woke at dawn, a flesh-and-blood icon, an aristocrat responsible for orgia secretive, mysterious fertility rites a woman so blessed, so honoured, so powerful, she appeared to walk with the gods. A mortal who, down the centuries, has become larger than life."
Based upon the writings of Homer, Sappho, the historian Herodotus, and others, Hughes thinks Helen's palace was located on a Spartan hill called Therapne near the River Eurotas. Three skeletons one of a 30-year-old woman and two belonging to children were excavated at the site, along with evidence of structures that had been destroyed by fire, according to Hughes.
It is unclear what happened at the site, but Hughes thinks Helen's life was short, since the average lifespan for Mycenaean females was 28 years.
"Women were mothers at twelve, grandmothers at twenty-four, dead before they were thirty," she wrote.
Homer described Helen as fair and shimmering. Hughes wrote that the shimmer came from linen clothing soaked in perfumed olive oil, which was customary for well-heeled women of the time.
While Greeks generally have dark hair, frescoes dating to Helen's era around 3,500 years ago reveal at least one woman with "tawny red hair and blue eyes."
Hughes speculated that Helen had such hair and would have been viewed as special, "entrusted with particular religious authority."
Hey watching Hercules on TV, there were Blacks running all around ancient Greece. I never understood the obsession people have now to make every place in history of mixed ethnicity.
And when did they come over here and open all of those diners???
My mother's side of the family is from Sparta (she came over in the 1950's). We are all rather fair-skinned for Greeks. My hair was blond when I was young, but it gradually darkened over the years. When I was young, my friends would call me "Casper" (as in the friendly ghost) because I had very pale skin. I have green eyes, same as my grandmother. Not all Greeks are dark.
He concluded that the Trojan War was actually fought in Cambridgeshire England by the Celts (Homer never actually calls the attacking forces the Greeks, but rather the Achaens, which means Sea People) and that the most likely cause of the war was the abundance of tin in the region, a vital material in the production of bronze, which was very rare in ancient Europe.
First editions of his book Where Troy Once Stood are fetching over $500 on E-bay, if you can find one, but he has recently released another edition.
Here is his website, http://www.troy-in-england.co.uk/trojan-kings-of-england/trojan-kings-of-england.htm
Check it out and see if you can find a copy of his book at the library. It is the product of a life-long passion and is meticulously researched and documented. He has pretty much convinced me.
The late Michael Dunn.
No, Athena was known for her wisdom, Penelope for her loyalty but the other three - Helen, Aphrodite and Persephone - were known as the most beautiful women in all Greek mythology.
Helen - well we know her story
Aphrodite - as well as her's
Persephone - also known as Kore, the Flower-Maid, the Mistress, the Iron Queen, the Pale Queen. Persephone was apparently very beautiful to the point that Aphrodite's daughter in-law, Psyche, fell into a coma when she opened the box which held the mystery and intrigue of the Queens beauty. Her beauty, while a testament to all that was good and pure, attracted the unwanted attentions of many men and one of them happened to be the Lord of the underworld, Hades, and with some help from Aphrodite, Persephone became unwillingly the Queen of the Underworld.
There's also Edo Nyland, who adopted as his own the idea that the Odyssey actually refers to a voyage in the Hebrides etc, while Samuel Butler claimed that the Odyssey was written by a woman living in colonial Greek Sicily. As a sidebar, Eberhard Zangger claims that Plato's tale of Atlantis actually was sourced in Egypt, but references the Trojan War, and that Plato et al never recognized the national epic of Greece in the details.
The problem with these odd theories is the original Odyssey is full of named places which existed in the Mediterranean at the time.
(': The reason that the odd theories have any credibility (although I don't regard Samuel Butler's as all that odd) is that the Odyssey's author, whomever it was, gives some descriptions of the places that don't match the supposed actual places. :')
This topic was posted , thanks blam.
One of *those* topics.
Bettany Hughes explores the history behind the famous Helen of Troy of Homer's Iliad. A great documentary presented with passion and infectious enthusiasm by the ever interesting Bettany Hughes.Bettany Hughes The Ancient Worlds 4 of 7 Helen of Troy HD | 611,327 views | Mar 9, 2013 | Sully Man | 1:44:52
This topic was posted , thanks again blam.
[2:47:31]Helen of Troy | Aaron Rasmussen | February 4, 2013
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