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