Helen of Troy: Deep analysis

 

The abduction of Helen of Troy, daughter of Zeus or Tyndareus and Leda or Nemesis, was the reason for the ten-year Trojan War. She was the wife of Menelaus, whom Paris abducted and took to Troy. This led to an expedition to get her back. Her presence is prominent in ancient Greek literature, as her story inspired many poets, writers and even historians. But who is Helen?

First of all, it should be noted that Greek mythology contains symbolism that refers to the functioning of the universe and the soul. Regardless of whether these are historical events or not, we will explore Helen from a philosophical perspective. For all interpretations approach the truth. Whether as historical events or as a timeless state in the microcosm and macrocosm, that is, in the material and spiritual world, in the ideal realm.

Her birth

There are two versions of the myth: in the first version, Zeus transforms himself into a white swan to seduce Leda and directs his pursuit with an eagle. When Leda sees the pursuing white swan, she immediately takes it in her arms. From this encounter Leda gave birth to two eggs, from which, after nine months of incubation, the Dioscuri Castor and Polydeuces emerged and from the other Helen.

 According to Apollodorus' story, Leda had turned into a goose during the aforementioned encounter with the heavenly swan.

Our second version comes from the Cypriot epics, where Leda's position is taken by the goddess Nemesis. Zeus pursues her and to escape him she transforms herself into many forms. Animal, bird, plant and whatever else there is, until she finally ends up as a goose.

Then Zeus used the goddess Metis, whom he had devoured (Metis is the cunning that exists in nature for the evolution of species). He ordered an eagle to watch him maliciously so that he would seek refuge as a swan with the goose Nemesis. And so he impregnated her and Helen was born. Nemesis is the daughter of the goddess Necessity. It is as if Zeus had forced Necessity to give birth to Beauty.

 

Let us add here that mythological birds that lay eggs can also be found in the traditions of other civilizations, where the egg symbolizes the Big Bang and the beginning of the world in general.

From this we can see that the beautiful Helen is born from an egg. If we want to continue with the decoding, we always look for connections to other myths. The conception of Helen is similar to the conception of Achilles! For just as Zeus pursued her mother Nemesis, exactly the same thing happened to Thetis, the mother of Achilles, when Peleus pursued her.

She also constantly changed her form and they met when she turned into an cuttlefish. So we have transformation in common in these two conceptions. There is something else that connects Helen with Achilles:

Philostratus tells us that Achilles and Helen met on the White Island in the Black Sea and were bound together forever. Achilles was the last and eternal husband of Helen. Sailors and travelers paid homage to the divine couple, who celebrated their turbulent lives at night and honored Homer, who gave the heroes of the Trojan War immortality through his epics.

It is said that Achilles and Helen drink and sing together at night. They celebrate their eternal love, Homer's epic poems about the Trojan War and honor their author. On this night, no mortal should sleep on the land of the White Island...

We recognize a connection between the two most important archetypes of the Trojan War. Beauty and bravery.

Let us look at a commentary by the Neoplatonic philosopher Proclus:

Proclus, Commentary on Plato’s Republic (1.175): 'The myths, I believe, intend to show through Helen all the beauty that has to do with the sphere in which things come into being and pass away, and which is the product of the Demiurge. An eternal war rages between souls over this beauty, until the more intellectual triumph over the less rational forms of life and return to the place from which they came».

Considering the above, let us now consider Plato's remark in the Republic, 586: "Are they not then forced to fall into mixed pleasures with cares, pleasures which are idols and imitations of the true pleasures, and which only gain vividness in their colors when they are placed side by side, and only in this contrast do both owe their intensity?"

And does not their peripheral placement cause foolish souls to develop a frenzied love for their masters and for this to become the cause of a terrible war that rises up around them, like the terrible battles that the Greeks fought over Helen's IDOL at Troy, as Stesichorus reports?

The world of idols is interwoven with the world of matter. According to quantum physics, everything is energy and is transformed through the senses into matter, into three-dimensional reality. So does Helen symbolize the beauty of the world of energy and her idol that went to Troy? (where Troy also symbolizes matter) is the apparent beauty of the material world that we all chase after?

Another reference to the idol of Helen in Troy comes from Euripides in the tragedy "Helen", 580 - 588.

Helen: I did not go to Troy, but my idol did.

Menelaus: But who makes lifelike replicas?

Helen: The ether from which the gods made your wife.

Men: Which of the gods did that? You speak unexpected things.

Hel: Hera, to replace me and not leave me to Paris.

Men: ...

Hel: The name can be found in many places, but the body cannot.

700 verse:

 Menelaus: Elder, come and speak to us.

Angel: Isn't that the reason why we suffered at Troy?

Men.: No, it is not. The gods deceived us and we had a cloud statue in our hands that brought so much disaster.

Angel: What do you mean;; So we fought in vain for a cloud statue?

Men: All this is the work of Hera and the quarrel of the three gods.

Let us dwell on Eris. She is the goddess of discord. When the gods did not invite her to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, she angrily dropped a golden apple, also known as the "Apple of Eris", so that the invited gods could see it. This apple bore the inscription "τῇ καλλιστῃ", meaning that it was dedicated to the most beautiful goddess. It was therefore only natural that the three goddesses present, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, claimed the apple for themselves. Zeus saw the fight and ordered Hermes to bring them to Paris quickly so that he could decide which goddess would get the apple. And so it happened. To win, Athena gave him spiritual wisdom and Hera gave him physical strength. But Aphrodite promised him the beautiful Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris, who did not know that the beautiful Helen was Menelaus' wife, gave Aphrodite the apple. According to legend, the Trojan War began when Helen was abducted by Paris and Eris got what she wanted.

So a golden apple! Here we see a similarity with the myth of Genesis, where Adam and Eve bit the apple and the fall of man began. If we cut an apple in half, a five-pointed star appears in its center. The five-pointed star is directly related to the golden ratio of 1.618 and our world.

All this shows us that Proclus was right to point out that Troy is the world of matter and that the Trojan War is a constant struggle to bring the soul back to where it belongs. To the realm of Helen and not to that of the statue of Helen. Because the real Helen was never found in Troy, in the world of matter. What was the end of Troy? Burnt. Just as Heracles' skin burned when the centaur Nessus gave him the poisonous cloak. But immediately afterwards Hercules was deified and ascended to Olympus. We have to go through the fire to return to the imaginary world, because fire is catharsis.

 

Most Greek myths conceal philosophical and cosmological considerations. In this blog, we will try to explore them as much as possible.

 

Areti Georgakopoulou

A journey into the myths through a poem

 

    Let us travel again into the wonderful world of myths. This is a poem (translated from Greek into English) that will transport you to another time. However, to understand it, I must point out that, according to many scholars as we see above, the Trojan War, apart from the fact that it took place in real time in ancient times, is also a raging philosophical lesson for our souls. The battle for Helen, who is the beauty of our sensory world, the world we live in, and according to Euripides^[1] our world is a copy of another Helen, who is a copy of another World, the Perceived one. Similar to the myths many researchers believe that significant mythological episodes take place in our own souls…

 

The beginning of the world, if ever there was a beginning^[2],

Two huge snakes seem to have coiled together.

Snakes in their tails. They took on a human form.

They were eternal Time and Ananke, who rules everything.

Chaos, Night, and Ether^[3] were born from their coitus.

Then, the thick light-coloured scales took on an oval shape.

 

The egg breaks and lo and behold! The primitive Phanes^[4] is already born.

 

 

The heads of a ram, a bull, a lion, and a snake together

Scattered in a young androgynous body,

They mate with Night, and beget Uranus and the Earth,

by whom, Cronus and other children are born,

And a new cycle of life has been realized^[5].

 

Zeus comes to life, born by Cronus and Rea,

Growing up in a cave, with Curetes^[6] to keep him company.

 

Hanted by his father Cronus

Since only one of them must win.

They made Cronus drunk, on Nyx’s advice.

Then, Zeus devoured everything that had been born at that time.

Trees, rivers, stars - they all ended up in his stomach.

 

They returned to the light, but now in a different way.

A golden chain connects them all and every form^[7].

Zeus is now the first creator,

He rules over the whole universe, the most powerful of all.

 

 

 

 

Once, in a battle with the Titans, as a mighty force,

He hurled them into the underworld, away from the light of the sun.

Like the Silver Tribe^[8] they wait chained

For the end of Zeus’ kingdom, so that they can come to the surface.

Even the darkness in our soul

will not die. It only waits and comes up with ease

if Zeus’ justice is not powerful,

and the logical part^[9] of our soul cannot gain the upper hand.

In order for there to be balance in the soul and matter,

Harmony^[10]should prevail between the pairs of gods,

Venus and Mars’ fated daughter

Because all important things arise from opposites.

 

Zeus without Hera cannot create

for she is the mediator so that he can move towards the Golden Ratio.

Hestia without Hermes cannot function

because a womb without a seed cannot bring life.

Demetra and Poseidon complement each other,

like the elements that constantly separate and unite.

But Demetra also mates with Zeus,

And gives birth to her daughter Persephone.

Pluto envies her and snatches her away to Hades,

And she undergoes the torments of the flesh in darkness.

He deceives her with a pomegranate as she goes up to her mother,

And she is forced to walk up and down forever.

 

Zeus splits and mates,

divides and unites.

He has no end, no middle, amd no beginning.

He always hide himself in all forms.

Like the Unit that manifests itself as the Golden ratio in Creation,

Like Thetis, who leaves her mark on history, together with Porus and Tekmor^[11].

 

With the help of Metis, whom he had swallowed,

He transformed himself into a bull to mate with Europa.

And into a hunted swan to hide in the embrace of Nemesis^[12].

From their union emerged Helen,

the most beautiful daughter of God, famous throughout the world.

She was abducted by Paris and found she herself in Troy,

But she went to Egypt, and there her image was sent.

 

The Achaeans set out to conquer Troy,

They did not know that it was only an idol that they wanted to conquer.

Together with the Trojans, they were deluding themselves,

Because real Helen^[13] was not in Troy.

Like the bright beauty of Truth

It does not dwell in the tangible phenomena of the night.

It has its realm in the spiritual world

And, if you lead a wise life, the light will shine before you.

 

The goal of every soul may be

to seek the light, once it has entered the darkness.

Like Jason and the other Argonauts,

Who set out for Colchis.

On their way they ran into traps

But when they met Circe, she was like a shining Sun^[14].

 

And Odysseus to get to Ithaca,

to meet his own truth,

went through trials, deceived himself,

until he found the way to his salvation.

In the Golden Race, may we all go,

the hardships of the body, so that we may leave them forever.

 Areti Georgakopoulou

---

^[1] Euripides, Helen 31-46

^[2] Check at the chapter with the egg and Empedocles. They say that it all started with an explosion, the Big Bang. As if energy was condensed and suddenly got spread around in an endless void and filled it. But, before that, what was there? Was there no universe? The philosopher Empedocles tells us that there is Traction (union and attraction) and Repulsion (conflict and disruption), two forces that eternally rule the World. They are like inhaling and exhaling; it all contracts and expands and that’s a constant. So, is there an End and a Beginning or is it all a constant?

^[3] Check the chapter of the birth of Venus.

^[4] Check the hymn to the Protogone.

^[5] Orphic excerpts, 82, Kern

^[6] Curetes or Korybantes made noise with their armors so Saturn could not hear the cry of Zeus.

^[7] Roberto Calasso: The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, p. 228

^[8] About Hesiod, Golden and Silver Ages

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_and_Days

Plato mentions in “Republic 469 a” that Hesiod’s Golden Race are the Guardians (Angels) who protect us. But the Silver one, fell into Tartarus.

^[9] Check above about Logistikon on Plato, the three parts of the soul.

^[10] Check at the chapter about the Golden Ratio 1,618

^[11] About Alcman, Poros and Tekmor check the chapter on Thetis.

  

When the Achaeans gathered in Aulis to set off to Troy, the winds had let up, they were not propitious and ships couldn’t move. According to a Calchas’ prophecy, they had to sacrifice Agamemnon’s daughter, Iphigenia. Artemis took her and left a deer in her place. In the end, Agamemnon sacrificed a lamb… And the winds had now become propitious. There had to be a sacrifice for the Soul to find a Pore (passage) to pass from the Spiritual World to the Material World. The Pore is the passage and Tekmor is the point, the Pythagorean Unit. Through those, Chaos develops three dimensions and becomes our world, what we perceive with our senses. The Tekmor – point – unit becomes a line, the line becomes a rectangle and the rectangle becomes a cube (Plato Republic 546). Our world is a cube.

^[12] Cypriot epics, extracts 3, 5, 6, 10

^[13] Euripides, “Helen,” verses 31-46, 570-588, 702-708.

 

According to Euripides’ tragedy “Helen,” Beautiful Helen never got to Troy, she went to Egypt… Homer’s Helen symbolizes the Beauty of the World. Since everything around us is but an idol, it wasn’t Helen herself that went to Troy (the world of the Perceptible), but her idol. The real beauty is hidden behind idols in the Conceivable world… This is where Proclus’ Commentary on Plato’s Republic (1,175) comes in: “The myths want to indicate, I believe, through Helen, the whole of that beauty that has to do with the sphere in which things come to be and pass away and that is the product of the demiurge. It is over this beauty that eternal war rages among souls, until the more intellectual [the Greeks] are victorious over the less rational forms of life [the Trojans] and return hence to the [Conceivable] place from which they came.”

^[14] Orphic Argonautica, verses 1218 – 1246.

 

The ship Argo embarks on her journey as a Vehicle of the Soul. She is pushed off the land by fifty Argonauts, who constitute the necessary elements for the commencement of her existence. Step by step, she puts on her bodies and her chitons, until she gets to the material body, that is the beginning of Life, in Colchis, in the sacred grove of the war god Ares. Once Jason has taken hold of the Golden Fleece, he begins along with Medea the journey back home, back to the Creator. The ordeals they go through are our lives in this World until we come to full Circle.