Abduction by Theseus and youth Helen of Troy

theseus pursuing woman, helen. side attic red-figure bell-krater, c. 440–430 bc (louvre, paris).

two athenians, theseus , pirithous, thought since both sons of gods, both of them should have divine wives; pledged each other abduct 2 daughters of zeus. theseus chose helen, , pirithous vowed marry persephone, wife of hades. theseus took helen , left mother aethra or associate aphidnus @ aphidnae or athens. theseus , pirithous traveled underworld, domain of hades, kidnap persephone. hades pretended offer them hospitality , set feast, but, pair sat down, snakes coiled around feet , held them there. helen s abduction caused invasion of athens castor , pollux, captured aethra in revenge, , returned sister sparta.

in accounts of event, helen quite young; hellanicus of lesbos said 7 years old , diodorus makes ten years old. on other hand, stesichorus said iphigeneia daughter of theseus , helen, implies helen of childbearing age. in sources, iphigeneia daughter of agamemnon , clytemnestra, duris of samos , other writers followed stesichorus account.

ovid s heroides give idea of how ancient and, in particular, roman authors imagined helen in youth: presented young princess wrestling naked in palaestra; image alluding part of girls physical education in classical (and not in mycenaean) sparta. sextus propertius imagines helen girl practices arms , hunts brothers:

[...] or helen, on sands of eurotas, between castor , pollux, 1 victor in boxing, other horses: naked breasts carried weapons, say, , did not blush divine brothers there.