Menelaus Menelaus

(Menelaus, Μενελαος). Son of Atreus, husband of the beautiful Helen, father of Hermione, younger brother of Agamemnon, king of Sparta. Paris (see Paris) took away Helen, the wife of Menelaus, and this was the reason for the Trojan War. During the war, Menelaus entered into single combat with Paris, who was saved by Aphrodite, covering him with a cloud. After the death of Paris, Helen married his brother Deiphobus, who was killed by Menelaus during the capture of Troy. Helen subsequently reconciles with Menelaus, sails with him from Troy and, after 8 years of wandering along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, they return to Sparta, where they live out their lives in peace and wealth.

(Source: “A Brief Dictionary of Mythology and Antiquities.” M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, edition by A. S. Suvorin, 1894.)

Μενέλαος in Greek mythology, the son of A Gray and Aerops, Brother Agamemnon. After killing Atreus Aegisthomus M. and Agamemnon were forced to flee from Mycenae. They found shelter in Sparta with the king Tyndarea, who married Agamemnon Clytaemestra and helped him regain the royal throne in Mycenae (Tzetz., Chil. I 456-465). M., chosen from several dozen of the most noble heroes of all Hellas as his wife Elena(whose earthly father was Tyndareus, and heavenly Zeus), Tyndareus soon ceded royal power in Sparta (Apollod. epit. II 16). M.'s serene life with Elena lasted about ten years; their daughters Hermione was nine years old when the Trojan prince came to Sparta Paris. M. at this time went to Crete to participate in the funeral of his maternal grandfather Katreya. Having learned about the kidnapping of his wife and treasures by Paris, M. called for help from all her former suitors, bound by a joint oath to protect the honor of her husband, and he himself deployed a militia on 60 ships (Not. II. II 581-590). Before the outbreak of hostilities, M., together with Odysseus went as ambassadors to Troy, trying to resolve the conflict peacefully, but Paris and his supporters refused to return Helen and the treasures, and war became inevitable (Apollod. epit. Ill 28). In the single combat with Paris, M. clearly has the upper hand, and only the intervention of the goddess Aphrodite saves M.’s opponent (Note. P. III 324-382). Soon M. was wounded Pandarus an arrow from a bow (IV 112-147). Once again M. shows valor, defending the body of the murdered man from the Trojans. Patroclus(XVII 1-69, 553-581, 702-761; a sculptural group of the 2nd century BC is known, depicting M. with the corpse of Patroclus, also represented by a large number of later copies). M. was one of the Greek warriors who took refuge in a wooden horse, and on the night of the fall of Troy he killed the Trojan prince Deiphobus, who became Helen’s husband after the death of Paris (Apollod. epit. V 22). Immediately after the victory over Troy, M., together with Helen returned to him, sailed to his homeland, but already off the coast of the Peloponnese he fell into a terrible storm, which threw him to the shores of Crete. During his eight-year wanderings, M. ends up in Cyprus, Phenicia and Egypt, where he acquires great treasures (Note. Od. Ill 276-312). The last episode of M.’s wanderings is connected with the island of Pharos at the mouth of the Nile: from the sea elder Proteus, with the help of his daughter Eidothea, M. receives a prediction about his future and about ways to return to his homeland. M. is also associated with Egypt by another version of the myth, according to which only the ghost of Helen was in Troy, but she herself, by the will of Zeus, was transferred to the banks of the Nile and waited here in the domain of Proteus for her husband (Eur. He1. 1-760). The last stage of M.'s return to Sparta after an eighteen-year absence, according to epic tradition, proceeded without complications. Warned by Proteus about the murder of Agamemnon by Aegisthus, M. hurries to take revenge on Aegisthus, but Agamemnon’s son is ahead of him Orestes, Having killed Aegisthus and Clytemestra, M. only makes it to their funeral (Not. Od. III 301-312, IV 546 next, 584 next). After many years of quiet life with Helen, upon returning to Sparta, M., as the son-in-law of Zeus, was awarded a settlement on the Champs Elysees, where ancient tradition placed the legendary heroes of the past (IV 561-569). Later authors name the names of several sons of M., born to him in the absence of Helen by concubines (Apollod. Ill 11, 1"); with one of them (Megapenthos) a version of the legend about the expulsion of Helen from Sparta after M. was transferred to the monastery is associated blessed. In contrast to the image of Helen, which goes back to the oldest plant deity, the image of M. is the fruit of a heroic legend, possibly based on some historical memories of the Mycenaean era. According to legend (Paus. VIII 23, 4), there was an old plane tree in Arcadia , planted by M. when he was gathering an army for the campaign near Troy (the Arcadians put up, according to the Homeric catalog, a militia for 60 ships. Note. II. II 603-614).In Sparta they showed the house in which M. and Helen once lived ( Paus. Ill 14, 6); apparently, near him in historical times, a girl’s choir performed the ritual epithalamium of Helen in the manner of Theocritus, a poet of the 3rd century BC, attested in the 18th idyll.
V. N. Yarkho.

(Source: “Myths of the Peoples of the World.”)

King of Sparta. Husband of Helen the Beautiful, daughter of Leda and Zeus. The son of the Mycenaean king Atreus and Aeropa, the brother of Agamemnon, married to Helen's sister Clytemnestra. He organized a military campaign near Troy to return Helen, kidnapped by the Trojan Paris - this campaign became known as the Trojan War. Elena gave birth to his daughter Hermione. Father of Megapenta (from a slave). See more details about it.

(Source: “Myths of Ancient Greece. Dictionary-reference book.” EdwART, 2009.)

See what "Menelaus" is in other dictionaries:

Menelaus- Menelaus. Roman marble copy of a Greek original c. 230 BC: Menelaus with the body of Patroclus. Loggia dei Lanzi. Florence. Menelaus. Roman marble copy of a Greek original c. 230 BC: Menelaus with the body of Patroclus. Loggia dei Lanzi... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of World History

Me, husband. Star. ed. Report: Menelaevich, Menelaevna. Origin: (Greek personal name Menelaos Menelaus. From menos strength, power and laos people.) Dictionary of personal names. Menelaus I, M. Star. rare Report: Menelaevich, Menelaevna. [Greek personal name Menelaos Menelaus... Dictionary of personal names

Brother of Agamemnon, king of Sparta, husband of Helen who fled with Paris; one of the heroes of the Trojan War, after which he wandered around different countries for 8 years due to storms off the coast of Phenicia, Egypt and Libya. Dictionary of foreign words included in... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

- (MevelaoV) son of Atreus, younger brother of Agamemnon. The brothers expelled by Thyestes fled from Mycenae to Sparta, to Tyndareus, whose daughter, Helen, M. married, inheriting the throne of his father-in-law. When Paris took Helen away, M. and Odysseus went to Ilion and demanded... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

In Greek mythology, participant in the Trojan War, king of Sparta, husband of Helen; organized a campaign near Troy to return Helen, kidnapped by the Trojan Paris... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (foreigner) deceived husband (an allusion to Menelaus, the husband of “beautiful Helen”). Wed. The idea of ​​​​turning such a matodore as Prince Peter Biberstein into Menelaus... greatly worried Pavel Pavlych... Markevich. From Petersburg. life. Why didn’t Pavel Pavlych get in... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

Noun, number of synonyms: 1 hero (80) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

- (ancient Greek Μενέλαος) the legendary hero of the Homeric epic “Iliad”, the husband of Helen. Called fair-haired (IV, 183). Menelaus was the son of Atreus (according to Plisthenes) and Aerope, the younger brother of Agamemnon. Menelaus and Agamemnon, expelled by Thyestes, fled ... Wikipedia

Menelaus- 1. The younger brother of the Spartan king Agamemnon and the husband of Helen. In the fighting of the Trojan War, his image is insignificant compared to other heroes, but it was he who recaptured the corpse of Patroclus from the enemies; he was also among the warriors who took refuge in the wooden... ... Ancient world. Dictionary-reference book.

Spartan king.

This is one of the central figures of the Homeric epic - the husband of the woman because of whom the Trojan War began, and, moreover, the man who did everything to make this war take place. However, no one ever reproached him for this. Menelaus acted in accordance with international law and the laws of male honor, and he also did everything possible to first resolve the issue peacefully. In the Trojan War he was one of the best fighters. He fought no less courageously against fate.

The fate of Menelaus was difficult to envy. While still a young man, he was forced to flee from his native Mycenae with his brother, since their uncle Thyestes killed their father and intended to do the same to them. The brothers found refuge with the Spartan king Tyndareus. In Sparta, something happened to Menelaus that he mistakenly considered happiness: he married the most beautiful woman in the world, the stepdaughter of Tyndareus (Helen’s own father was himself, who was carried away by Tyndareus’s wife). Helen loved Menelaus, bore him a daughter, and after the death of Tyndareus, she elevated her husband to the royal throne. However, Menelaus did not have to enjoy family happiness and peaceful rule for long.

Menelaus and Helen, screenshot of the computer game Warriors: Legend of Troy.

Painting “Menelaus and Helen the Beautiful”, Jan Styka.

One day, guests from distant Troy appeared in Sparta: the king's son Paris, accompanied by his cousin Aeneas. Paris's steps were guided by the goddess of love, who promised him the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife as a reward for the fact that in a dispute about the beauty of the goddesses, he gave her preference over and. Menelaus warmly received his dear guests, arranged a ceremonial dinner in their honor and introduced them to his wife. Paris fell in love with Elena at first sight, she also thought he was cute. Then everything went as usual, and Menelaus himself unwittingly contributed to this. One fine day, he apologized to the guests that he was forced to leave them: he needed to go to Crete, since his grandfather died there; He ordered Elena to fulfill all the wishes of the guests. Not without the influence of Aphrodite, Elena interpreted this order, perhaps too broadly. Enchanted by young Paris and his seductive speeches, Helen left her husband, daughter, homeland and sailed with him to Troy.

When, returning from Crete, Menelaus learned that his wife was missing, he did not doubt for a minute that Paris had kidnapped her. This was also evidenced by the fact that along with Elena, his entire royal treasury disappeared. This was a gross insult to the king, husband, man, and, moreover, a violation of the sacred laws of hospitality. Therefore, Menelaus went to his brother Agamemnon, who ruled in Mycenae after the death of Thyestes, and asked him for advice and help. Agamemnon advised him to personally visit Troy and demand that Priam and Paris return Helen, and if they refused, threaten them with war. Menelaus took with him a sophisticated, eloquent mediator - Odysseus, but this did not help. Paris was ready to return only the treasury, but did not want to talk about Elena. Then Agamemnon called on all the Achaean kings to unite to avenge the insult of Menelaus, and declared war on Priam.

The military expedition, led by the mighty Mycenaean king, was encouraging with glory and booty, so soon an army of one hundred thousand people on more than a thousand ships was concentrated in the Aulis harbor, ready to march on Troy. Menelaus brought with him six thousand warriors, representing an independent army within the united army, which stood out not so much in numbers as in courage and determination. Like the leader, so is the army: and if Menelaus did not stand out among the Achaeans in strength, he set an example for them with his calm courage and (no less important in war) self-discipline.

Still from the film “Troy” (2004): the brother-kings of the Achaeans Menelaus (actor Brendan Gleeson) and Agamemnon (Brian Cox).

During the ten years of the Trojan War, Menelaus accomplished many feats. But three of them remained forever in the memory of posterity, and the Lacedaemonians sang about them around campfires at camp rests centuries later. First of all, it was the duel between Menelaus and Paris at the beginning of the tenth year of the war. When protracted, inconclusive battles sowed disappointment and murmur in the fighting armies, when ordinary soldiers began to say that if the leaders had scores among themselves, then let them settle them themselves, Menelaus without hesitation accepted Paris’s challenge to a life-and-death battle.

This duel was supposed to decide the outcome of the war. As it turned out, Menelaus was opposed not only by Paris, but also by Aphrodite, who kept her favorite. Nevertheless, Menelaus did not lose heart and eventually defeated Paris and would certainly have killed him if Aphrodite had not enveloped Paris in a cloud and carried him to safety outside the walls of Troy. His second feat was saving the body of the fallen Patroclus, his friend. The third was participation in the assault on the fortified palace of Priam. Menelaus was one of the elite fighters who entered Troy, hidden in a huge wooden horse, and took the royal palace with a daring attack. There Menelaus killed, among others, the son of Priam, who married Helen after the death of Paris, and regained his wife with his own sword.

Just as on the battlefield, Menelaus stood out at the council of war. He spoke briefly and to the point, always keeping in mind the interests of the entire Achaean army. Menelaus recognized the authority of the commander-in-chief unconditionally and always supported him, and the point here is not only that Agamemnon was his brother. He treated the rest of the military leaders and his soldiers in a friendly manner, recognizing that they were fighting primarily for his cause and his honor.

Painting "Telemachus, Menelaus and Helen", Jean-Jacques Lagrene the Younger.

You can read about the long return of Menelaus to his homeland after the capture of Troy in the article “”.

Articles on Agamemnon, Odysseus, and other Achaean heroes contain brief references to archaeological studies of the castle palaces in which Homer says the heroes lived. However, nothing similar was discovered in Sparta; only the existence of an Achaean settlement of medium size has been proven. We do not even know the exact boundaries of the historical city of Sparta, since it was not surrounded by walls (“the city walls of Sparta were the breasts of the men of Lacedaemon”); the city disappeared almost without a trace. And yet the city of Sparta exists, although it has practically nothing in common with ancient Sparta, since it was founded only in 1834.

Artists of ancient and later times often depicted Menelaus, usually in the company of Agamemnon or Helen. In addition to numerous depictions of the subjects “Menelaus pursues Helen”, “Menelaus and Helen”, “The Wedding of Menelaus and Helen”, etc. on vases, the most famous Pergamon sculptural group “Menelaus with the body of Patroclus” (3rd century BC) , which has come down to us in several Roman copies.

Menelaus appears in any of the countless works of fiction dedicated to the Trojan War. But he does not always look like a positive hero - the way he is shown in Homer's Iliad or Odyssey. The Romans, who considered themselves descendants of the Trojans, belittled the image of Menelaus, just like Euripides in his works during the Peloponnesian War, in order to belittle the Spartans in his person.

“Menelaus with the body of Patroclus” - marble copy of the 1st century AD. e. from a lost Pergamon sculpture, fragments of which were discovered in Rome in the 16th century and were immediately acquired by the Tuscan Duke Cosimo de' Medici. He commissioned Pietro Tacca and Lodovico Salvetti to carry out the "restoration" of the disfigured sculpture; the result of their efforts was placed in one of the niches of the Ponte Vecchio. Today it stands in the Lanzi Loggia in Piazza della Signoria.

In 1771, Anton Mengs, not being satisfied with the mannerist “restoration” of the 16th century sculptors, decided to correct their shortcomings and made a plaster version of the sculptural group. Another version of the same heroic composition, originating from the mausoleum of Augustus, appeared in the Medici collection under the name of Ajax from the 16th century; it can be seen in Palazzo Pitti. The famous Roman statue of Pasquino apparently originally illustrated the same plot.

Agamemnon

Agamemnon- in ancient Greek mythology, the Mycenaean king, the son of the Mycenaean king Atreus and Aeropa (or Plisthenes and Cleolla, or Plisthenes and Aeropa) and the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, one of the main heroes of the ancient Greek national epic - Homer's Iliad. In modern science it is identified with Akagamunas (14th century BC), mentioned in Hittite texts.

After the murder of his father by his nephew Aegisthus, son of Thyestes, Agamemnon fled with his brother to Sparta, where he sought refuge with Tyndareus. Here the brothers married the daughters of the Spartan king Tyndareus, Agamemnon with Clytemnestra, Menelaus with Helen. After the death of Tyndareus, the throne passed to Menelaus. With the help of his brother, Agamemnon overthrew Thyestes from the throne and reigned in Mycenae. Subsequently, he expanded his possessions and became the most powerful ruler in all of Greece.

His children are Orestes, Chrysothemis, Electra and Iphigenia (in an early version the children are Iphimede, Electra, Orestes).

Trojan War

During the Trojan War, Agamemnon had the main command over the entire army. Those who decided to march against Ilion conferred at Hellenion in Sparta. According to another version, they conferred in Aegion (Achaia), which is why the statue of Zeus Homagirius stands there. Those who set out on a campaign against Ilion swore not to stop the war at the statue of Zeus Mechanaeus in Argos. Before the war, Agamemnon visited the oracle at Delphi. The copper threshold of Agamemnon's tent was shown in Aulis. Accidentally killed Artemis' doe and was forced to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia.

He brought 100 ships to Troy. He erected an altar to the 12 gods on the island of Lectus, as well as a sanctuary of the king near Lake Selinusia (Ionia). In the Iliad he killed 11 Trojans. Killed Iphidamas and Glaucus. In total he killed 16 warriors. In the funeral games for Achilles he took part in a horse race.

Because of the beautiful captive Briseis, he had a quarrel with Achilles. Evil fate haunted his entire family, starting with the ancestor Tantalus and ending with Agamemnon himself and his children - Iphigenia and Orestes.

Return and death

According to a later version, returning from Troy, he visited Iphigenia in Tauris. Or along the way he founded Mycenae, Tegea and Pergamum in Crete.

Upon returning to his homeland with Cassandra, one of the daughters of Priam, taken as prey, he died at the hands of Aegisthus (according to Homer) - or his wife - according to other sources (tragedy). Cassandra suffered the same fate. Those who returned with him from Ilion were killed by Aegisthus at a feast; their graves, like Agamemnon's, are in Mycenae. Also a grave monument in Amikla. He built the temple of Athena on Cape Onugnatho in Lakonika. He was revered in Klazomeni. Odysseus meets him in Hades. In Sparta, Zeus-Agamemnon was revered. According to Stesichorus and Simonides, his palace is in Sparta. After death, his soul chose the life of an eagle.

Bravery, nobility and royal grandeur distinguished, according to Homer, this husband. The sad fate and his fatal end in particular were a favorite theme of ancient tragedies. His burial place is called Mycenae and Amycles. In Sparta, Agamemnon was given divine honors. In Chaeronea, his scepter, the work of Hephaestus, was kept as a shrine. Images of Agamemnon are often found in monuments of art, but only very rarely in the foreground. Gn. Pompey was called “Agamemnon”.

The protagonist of the tragedies of Aeschylus “Agamemnon”, Sophocles “Eant”, Euripides “Iphigenia in Aulis” and “Hecabe”, Ion of Chios and the unknown author “Agamemnon”, Seneca “The Trojan Women” and “Agamemnon”.

Menelaus

Menelaus- the legendary hero of the Homeric epic "Iliad", the husband of Helen. Menelaus was the son of Atreus (according to Plisthenes) and Aerope, the younger brother of Agamemnon.

Expelled by Thyestes, Menelaus and Agamemnon fled from Mycenae to Sparta, to Tyndareus, whose daughter, Helen, Menelaus married, inheriting the throne of his father-in-law. They had a daughter, Hermione. During the abduction of Helen, Menelaus was visiting Crete.

Trojan War

When Paris took Helen away, Menelaus and Odysseus went to Ilion (Troy) and demanded the extradition of their kidnapped wife, but to no avail.

Returning home, Menelaus, with the help of Agamemnon, gathered friendly kings for the Ilion campaign, and he himself deployed 60 ships, recruiting soldiers in Lacedaemon, Amyclae and other cities. Gathering an army, he planted a plane tree near Mount Kafiy in Arcadia. According to the Iliad, he killed 7 named Trojans. In total he killed 8 warriors. He killed Euphorbus, the shield that he took from Euphorbus, he later dedicated to the temple of Hera near Mycenae.

Before Ilion, Menelaus, with the help of Hera and Athena, showed himself to be a valiant warrior and a reasonable adviser. When Paris announced a challenge to single combat, Menelaus happily agreed and rushed at the enemy so fiercely that the latter became frightened and began to retreat. Hector shamed Paris, and the single combat took place: Menelaus grabbed Paris by the helmet and dragged him to the Achaean squads, but Aphrodite saved her favorite. The victorious side began to demand the extradition of Helen and the treasures taken with her, but Pandarus, who emerged from the ranks of the Trojans, wounded Menelaus and thereby eliminated the possibility of a truce. Later, Menelaus is challenged to single combat with Hector, but at the request of his friends he abandons this dangerous plan; in the same way, Antilochus kept him from competing with Aeneas. When Patroclus fell, Menelaus was among those who defended the body of the slain hero. In the funeral games for Patroclus he won the javelin throw. In the games of Achilles he won the chariot races.

When the wooden horse was built, Menelaus, along with others, was led into the city of Troy and was one of the first to start a decisive battle in the streets of Troy, which led to the fall of the latter. Depicted in the painting of Polygnotus at Delphi among the participants in the capture of Troy with a dragon on his shield.

Return to Greece

After the capture of Troy, Athena caused a quarrel between Agamemnon and Menelaus. On the way back he got into a storm, landed at Cape Sunia, then to Crete, traveled through Libya, Phenicia, Cyprus and arrived in Egypt with only 5 ships. After traveling for 8 years in the East, he was detained for some time on the island of Pharos and suffered hunger until, on the advice of Idothea, her father Proteus helped him sail to his homeland. Stories about Menelaus' stay in Libya are associated with the Cyrene colonization. The harbor at Ardanida (Cyrenaica) bore the name Menelaus. According to another version, Menelaus married the king’s daughter in Egypt; from his words, the Egyptians wrote down the history of the Trojan War on steles.

Returning to his homeland, he lived with Helen in Lacedaemon, and after his death he was transferred to Elysium. Telemachus visits Menelaus and Helen in Sparta. Hera made him immortal, and he arrived at the Elysian Fields with Helen. His house was shown in Sparta. The tombs of Menelaus and Helen were shown at Therapne, where his sanctuary was, and took place in honor of his play. In relation to Agamemnon, he considered himself subordinate, recognizing his supreme power in everything.

Actor in the tragedies of Sophocles “Eantes”, Euripides “Iphigenia in Aulis”, “The Trojan Women”, “Helen”, “Orestes”, “Andromache”, the comedy “Menelaus” by Alexis. The name Menelaus is not found among the Spartans.

The Spartan king’s anger against his unfaithful wife, softened by her beauty even at the first meeting, disappeared completely with further communication. It was impossible to apply the usual yardstick to the daughter of Nemesis: just as the years spent in Troy slipped without a trace over her without touching her, so in her character she stood above human law. She wanted to become the wife of Menelaus again and became her again - and it was not she who was in his captivity, but he who was in captivity with her.
However, for now, both of them were in captivity of a whimsical goddess, who decided to keep them away from both her old and her new homeland. The storm that separated Menelaus's ship from the others soon passed; but when the sky cleared, neither Menelaus nor his skillful pilot knew where they were or where to go. They took a direction at random in order to get somewhere, to some people and learn further from them; and, indeed, they saw populated cities, grazing cattle, cultivated fields, but the people did not understand their language and had no idea about Hellas and Troy. Some greeted them hospitably, while others had to escape in a hasty flight. Sometimes need forced swimmers to turn into sea robbers and, with a sudden raid on a seaside village, provide themselves with food for the coming days. So days, months, years passed - nine full years. Everyone was tired and wild, and there was still no end in sight.
Finally, fate took pity on the wanderers: in the country that sheltered them, they recognized Egypt, the ancient homeland of Danae, the ancestor of the Argive kings. Although hospitality was not one of the primordial qualities of his people, the lesson once given by Hercules to Busirides did not go unnoticed: the Egyptian king received the Hellenic wanderers cordially and showed them the path that they should follow in order to get home. With joy in their hearts, they moved on, reached the island of Pharos - suddenly the weather changed, a sharp north wind blew, there was no way to continue the journey. The swimmers wandered inactively around the deserted island; they remembered the distant Aulid days. The supplies given by the hospitable king quickly ran out; The sailors began to fish, partly to kill boredom, partly to feed themselves. But the wind remained the same; no one could predict the end of the disaster.
With longing in his soul, Menelaus wandered along the dull shore of the flat island. Suddenly he sees - among the foam of waves crashing on the rocks, a girl’s fair-haired head appears, followed by shoulders, chest - and suddenly an indescribable beauty stands in front of him. There is a wreath of seaweed on her hair, sea water flows from her blue dress; comes up to the hero, puts his hand on his shoulder: “What are you thinking about? Can't I help the trouble? He told her everything. She shook her head. “Obviously,” he says, “some god is angry with you, but which one, for what and how to appease him - I don’t know; here we need someone smarter than poor Idothea.” “Who is this?” - asked Menelaus. - “My father, Proteus.” - “So lead me to him, I will beg him.” Idothea laughed: “So he will listen to you! No, this requires cunning. Listen: take three reliable comrades with you and bring them here; In the meantime, I’ll go get down to business.”
Fulfilling her will, Menelaus brought with him three of his best sailors and began to wait for the affectionate nymph to appear. And indeed, she soon emerged from her underwater chamber again and brought with her four walrus skins. “My father,” she said, “will soon come out here from the depths of the sea to bask in the sun with his herd of walruses. If he recognizes you as people, he will immediately disappear, and then everything will perish. But I will cover you with these skins, and he will take you for walruses. Having counted his flock, he takes a nap; then you pounce on him and hold him tightly. Do you hear? Hold him tightly and don’t let him go, no matter what he does, no matter how much he scares you. He cannot harm you, but he can scare you: don’t be cowards1.”
With these words, she put a walrus skin on each of them. But the matter turned out to be not very easy. Finding himself in the skin of a sea monster, Menelaus almost suffocated: he had never inhaled such a stench in his entire life. I had to call Idothea again. She laughed: “Yes, yes, it’s more difficult than taking Troy!” Fortunately, I have a remedy for this too.” Diving into her underwater tower, she took out a bottle of ambrosia and smeared the edge under everyone’s nose. Immediately the stench passed; It seemed to the Achaeans that they were in the garden of Zeus, in the flower garden of the Hesperides. And they patiently began to wait for the arrival of the prophetic sea elder.
And so he came - short stature, cunning eyes, long gray beard; behind him is his herd of walruses; are positioned around our fake walruses, with their muzzles buried in the sand and dozing. The old man, apparently, is also getting sleepy; however, he fulfills his duty, begins to count his company, whether there are any deserters - everything is fine, even as if there are extra ones; sits down on the sand, his chest buried in his beard, his nose in a walrus mustache, his eyes under thick eyelashes. Sleeping.
Menelaus, who had observed everything told through the eye holes of his walrus skin, quietly crawled out from under it and signaled to his comrades to follow his example. They had already taken the ropes with them; rushing together at the old man, they began to knit him. The matter, however, turned out to be difficult. The old man opened his eyes and quickly realized his position, and the next moment under the hands of the Achaeans was no longer the old man, but a lion - huge, angry, with his mane raised. One of them jumped back in fear, but the others, remembering Idothea’s words, did not let go of the monster: they knew that this transformation was only a deception for the eyes, that the imaginary lion had no more strength than the old old man. Seeing that the lion had no effect, Proteus suddenly turned into a dolphin to jump into the sea to escape from the enemy. But he failed to jump: the ropes held him by the fins and tail, and Menelaus’s comrades, in addition, sat down on him, one astride his back, the other on his flat muzzle. To get rid of these unpleasant horsemen, Proteus suddenly became a smooth serpent, and at first things went well. Both Achaeans rolled onto the sand, and he managed to slip out of the ropes. But Menelaus, grabbing him by the throat, began to strangle him so cruelly that he soon wilted. And suddenly the snake spread out like a stream of water, which gradually began to flow down the sloping shore into the sea. But the hero did not allow himself to be embarrassed by this trick: instantly he made a deep furrow in the soft sand with his fifth, water collected in this furrow, and it was impossible to flow further. An ordinary puddle formed; Our swimmers sit along its edges and watch what will happen next. The puddle became muddy, boiled, splashed out like a fountain - and the fountain became a seagull with outstretched wings, ready to take flight. And this, however, failed: both the wings and legs of the seagull ended up in the tenacious hands of the Achaeans; No matter how she floundered, she could not free herself. It rested on the ground and seemed to have grown to it; the wings became spreading branches, and in ONE instant, before the surprised eyes of the Achaeans stood a huge poplar, the green top of which rustled merrily under the gusts of the north wind. It was unpleasant; Of course, Proteus could not escape in this form, but he could, if he wished, starve out his opponents. "Bring the axe!" - Menelaus shouted to one of his comrades. Poplar, apparently, was frightened: he cowered, hissed and suddenly became fire. "Skin him!" - Menelaus shouted - and the free son of the ether under the walrus skin, as if in an oven, lost his agility and began to humbly lick its wet surface. He did not like this activity: having exhausted the circle of his seven transformations, he again took on his former appearance as an old sea man. “I see,” he said gloomily, “that my worthless daughter taught you; tell me what you want!”
Menelaus posed his question: “How did you anger the gods? - asked Proteus. - Because you are always in a senseless hurry. This is what you did at Troy; your brother told you that before departure you must make a sacrifice to the immortal gods; and you didn't have the patience. But he, having brought the hecatomb, was already in his homeland a few days later; True, he immediately died at the hands of his wicked wife, but the gods are already innocent of this. And you...” “Wait,” shouted Menelaus, turning pale, “did you say that my brother, Agamemnon, died at the hands of his wife? How did this happen?
And Proteus told him what we already know - about the bloody font prepared by Clytemnestra in Mycenae for her returning husband, about her criminal reign, about how Orestes grows up as an exile in a foreign land - this was even before his revenge. Then he continued. “And now again, when you had the hope of returning to Hellas, you did not think about making a suitable sacrifice to the immortal gods. Return to Egypt, fulfill your duty, and then the gentle south wind will guide you across the Libyan Sea to the shores of the Peloponnese.”
Menelaus followed the elder's advice, and his wish came true. But what he heard about the fate of his brother made him first go to Mycenae. He arrived there the day after Orestes' revenge; He buried Clytemnestra and Aegisthus and established a temporary ruling council of elders until the purification and return of the rightful heir Orestes. Only after this did he return to Sparta, where he took the reins of government from the hands of the elderly Tyndara. In fulfillment of his word given at Troy, he married his daughter Hermione to Neoptolemus; more will be told about this marriage. In general, his further life was peaceful and happy; Having lived to a ripe old age, he, without having experienced death, was transferred by the gods to the Elysian Fields, where he enjoyed eternal bliss with other favorites of the gods.
But Elena no longer followed him there: she was given to him only as an earthly wife. At the same time, the gods decided, on the day of the great reconciliation, to create both strength above strength and beauty above beauty - to create Achilles and Helen, so that a great war would arise and the burden of Mother Earth would be eased. This task was completed; now both of them, the son of Peleus and the daughter of Nemesis, were settled together on the White Island, which is at the very entrance to Pontus Euxinus.

Paris is the son of King Priam of Troy, brother of Hector. This is a carefree handsome man, boastful and idle, who, breaking the rules of hospitality, stole his wife, the beautiful Helen, from King Menelaus. Besides beauty, Paris has nothing in his soul; he also does not shine with courage and military prowess. The Achaeans and Trojans agree that the outcome of the war should be decided by a duel between Menelaus and Paris

Paris tries with all his might to avoid combat, and only the reproaches of his brother Hector force him to take up arms. Paris loses the fight

and is saved only through the intercession of Aphrodite. Even Elena mocks such a would-be warrior, but this does not bother Paris, since he does not seek to gain military glory, but sees the meaning of life only in serving the goddess of love Aphrodite and carnal pleasures. Paris is insidious; he bribes Antimachus so that at the council of the Trojans he speaks out against the return of Helen to Menelaus. Paris is cowardly - he participates in battles with Greek heroes only as an archer. In fact, it is not Helen, but Paris that becomes the cause of the protracted, bloody Trojan War. But the gods tell him to defeat Achilles. Thus

Homer wants to emphasize that fate is stronger even than the gods, since it can award victory to not the most valiant warrior, making him its obedient instrument.

Glossary:

– characteristics of menelaus

- who is Menelaus in the Illiad?

– characteristics of Paris behind the text

Other works on this topic:

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