Helen in Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
（Ἑλένη), a daughter of Zeus and Leda, and the sister of
Polydeuces and Castor ; some traditions called her a
daughter of Zeus by Nemesis. (Apollod. 3.10.6; Hyg. Fab. 77
; Schol. ad Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 232.) She was of
surpassing beauty, and is said to have in her youth been
carried off by Theseus, in conjunction with Peirithous to
Attica. When therefore Theseus was absent in Hades,
Polydeuces and Castor (the Dioscuri) undertook an expedition
to Attica. Athens was taken, Helena delivered, and Aethra,
the mother of Theseus, was taken prisoner, and carried by
the Dioscuri, as a slave of Helena, to Sparta. (Hyg. Fab.
79; comp. Paus. 1.17.6, 41.5, 2.22.7.) After her return to
Sparta, princely suitors appeared from all parts of Greece
and (Hyg. Fab. 81; Apollod. 3.10.8), but, after a
consultation with Odysseus, who was likewise one of them,
Tyndareus, the husband of Leda, gave her in marriage to
Menelaus, who became by her the father of Hermione, and,
according to others, of Nicostratus also. She was
subsequently seduced and carried off by Paris to Troy.
[PARIS ; MENELAUS.] Ptolemaeus Hephaestion (4) mentions six
other mythical personages of the same name: 1. a daughter of
Paris and Helena; 2. a daughter of Aegisthus and
Clytaemnestra; 3. a daughter of Epidamnius; 4. a daughter of
Faustulus, the shepherd who brought up Romulus and Remus ;
5. a daughter of Tityrus; and 6. a daughter of Micythus, the
beloved of Stesichorus. - A Dictionary of Greek and Roman
biography and mythology, William Smith, Ed.
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