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."
See The World According to Student Bloopers, by Richard Lederer:
"Actually, Homer was not written by Homer, but by another man of that name."
Don't have a real opinion on her sholarship, but I have to say she was pretty attractive.
Hope this helps :-)
Of course not, but it seems unlikely for a society's rules to assume that most men will live at least twice as long as most women.
There was no shortage of old women in ancient Greece.
Yep, Helen Thomas would not launch even a water wing full of holes.
Spartans and Pelloponesians generally were from northern Dorians and worshipped Apollo ('Phoebus'), like the Trojans.
Athenians were from Ionians, favorites of `grey-eyed' Athena Palla and believed themselves to be the `original' Greeks.
Helen of Sparta was hatched from a egg, so maybe that was why she was such a hot chick. Spartan women had a reputation for beauty, could have sex with their husband's friends, were said by Aristotle to rule their men and were called "thigh-flashers" by other Greeks.
Note that the I haplogroup centers in the Balkans about 12000 years ago, and migrates north as the ice recedes. This haplogroup is associated now with northwestern Germans, Dutch, and the Scandinavians, as well as Anglo-Saxon English. The Celts, by contrast, are represented to some degree by the R1b haplotype, who apparently took refuge in present day Spain during the Ice Ages, and spread back north about the same time. Eventually the two groups mixed in France and Britain.
But it seems apparent that Southeastern Europe used to have a lot of people we would now think of as belonging only to Northern Europe.
Not bad on the eyes.
Yeah, I read that one. Some of the violence got pretty gross.
ROTFLOL... nauseating too ;)
The below link is a DNA map by professor Stephen Oppenheimer, you'll like it.
Is this the face that launched a thousand ships?
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No, that's the face that caused the Hood to blow up.
OK, but counter-factual history is still fun. I haven't read the book.
That's a face that could sink a thousand ships; who says the Greek Gods are a myth; Madusa lives
Sounds like an old Star Trek episode.
That was fun!
***I think it's in the Oddyssey, where Telemachos pays her a visit ***
True! Hellen and her husband Menelaus had many adventures on the way from Troy, being driven to Libya because they didn't offer proper sacrifices.
But more beautiful than Hellen was Penelope, the wife of Odysseus. When she walked among the suitors their knees became weak and they each desired to lay with her.
***Clive Cussler has quoted a book I want to read, "Where Troy once stood," arguing that Troy was Cambridge, England. ***
And some other guy about 150 years ago claimed Edinburogh Scotland was really Jerusalem. ( I'm not making this up!)
***"Actually, Homer was not written by Homer, but by another man of that name."***
What sort of a stupid answer is that! ARE YOU BLIND! (Apologies to Inspector Cleuseau)
Ahhhh that's better
Just so. The earlier civilization appears to have been presided over by the kings of Crete. Then there appears to have been a dark age (after Thera exploded?) followed by a new civilization presided over by the Maecaenians.
It's not unlike the history of Britain, where the first inhabitants were conquered in turn by the Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Normans, and the various conquering groups ruled over and intermarried with their predecessors.
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