HELEN OF SPARTA

ANA MARIA SEGHESSO

INHERITANCE  MATRILINEARE


           

                    Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The story of Helen unfolds in Mycenaean Greece, around the 13th-12th centuries BC, corresponding to the end of the Bronze Age, that is, about 3200 years ago.
The escape of the Queen of Sparta to Troy with Prince Paris is narrated by Homer in the 8th century BC, in the Iliad, an epic poem that recounts the war of the Greeks against Troy; more than four hundred years had passed since the events.

The events recounted were considered historical by the poet's contemporaries, as a demonstration of the clash of two civilizations, East and West.
The character of Helen has undergone significant transformations throughout the centuries.

Alternatively considered a trophy, spoils of war, a conquest, or a victim of circumstance. But when Helen is presented as a partner or lover, her reputation collapses, and historians, writers, and theologians do not hesitate to call her a prostitute.
The Homeric Helen was created many centuries before the concepts of good and evil, invented by Christian theologians. These principles are considered in monotheistic religion as two opposing forces that battle each other to gain followers.

For the Greeks and polytheistic cultures, things were not so clearly defined.
The pagan gods performed alternating actions, which could sometimes be considered good and other times bad.

Helen is the product of a polytheistic model, and the episodes of her life portray a woman who follows an ambiguous path for the archetypes of the Christian West.

The understanding of the complex pagan morality gradually disappeared with the spread of Christianity, which labeled it diabolical, turning it into an abomination and an object of contempt.

However, as expected, men and women continued to enjoy the gifts of Nature, incurring the wrath of the clerical hierarchy.
In the Middle Ages, women considered to be emulating Helen were punished by being forced to wear a white penitential cap, as a form of mockery, in a corner of the church.

Tyndareus, king of Sparta and father of Helen, makes his daughter heir to his kingdom.
The future king and consort will be chosen by the princess from among the suitors who will compete.

Such an important prize could only be desired by someone who could guarantee reciprocity in terms of material goods. A rich and beautiful heiress was joined to another family that had to be of equal rank and fortune to deserve such an honor.

Since Helen was deemed worthy only of the best of her social class, her father organized a tournament where suitors had to compete in physical trials in addition to offering riches.
The poet Hesiod recounts that, in their desire to win Helen's hand, the heroes brought
"immense flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, as well as exquisite tableware of gleaming gold and silver."

Competitions were common in antiquity and took place during annual celebrations in honor of the gods, at funerals, and in sanctuaries.

The battles were fierce and were waged by the aristocratic elite to select men from boys, or rather, to establish who was truly the best and therefore deserved power.
Iconographic sources from the Bronze Age depict men fighting in friendly matches, honing their hand-to-hand combat skills and conveying the courage and brutality of the combatants, who clashed in boxing and stick fighting.

A crown was obtained by winning a wife.
Menelaus, prince of Mycenae, was chosen by Helen as the future king of Sparta, as the myth tells us.

According to surviving literary sources, in Bronze Age Sparta, the right to rule did not pass from fathers to sons, but from mothers to daughters, and the right to the throne belonged to the women, who then chose the consort and king.
This was likely due to the low population resulting from constant wars, which, unlike contemporary wars, ended in the total destruction of the enemy.

All male members of the group, including children, were eliminated, while women were transformed into sexual partners or slaves.
This was a specifically physiological motivation, suited to the continuity of the social group.

Tradition recounts that Tyndareus had two sons, Castor and Pollux, with Clytemnestra and Helen. However, it is never mentioned that either of them inherited their father's title upon his death.
Helen is the heir to the throne, securing the royal status and sovereignty in Spartan territory.
Orestes, for his part, will become king of Sparta when he marries Hermione, Helen's daughter. Subsequently, one of Hermione's sons will inherit the throne.

Helen's sister, Clytemnestra, queen of Mycenae, married to Agamemnon, commander-in-chief of all the Achaean leaders who fought in the Trojan War, retains control of the kingdom and makes her lover, Aegisthus, king while her husband is away fighting in Troy.

Odysseus's wife, Penelope, is in charge of the throne of Ithaca for the 20 years her husband is fighting in Troy and then wandering the Mediterranean, as Homer tells us in the Odyssey.

Penelope had the prerogative to choose among the suitors who would be the next king.
Pelops (who gives his name to the Peloponnese) becomes king of Pisa, in Elis, through his marriage to Hippodamia, the daughter of King Oenomaus.

The famous Oedipus, who kills his father, becomes king when he marries Jocasta, the queen of Thebes and his mother, Yocasta.

                The Sacrifice of Iphigenia
                            Abel de Pujol (1785-1861)

The custom of transmitting the title of king through women, by means of matrilineal inheritance, allowed unions between different aristocratic families, creating a web of power.
It also prevented the constant tragedies among sons over inheritance.

King Tyndareus, aware of the suitors' belligerence, made them swear an alliance pact when they arrived in Spartan lands, before they began to fight, race their chariots, and offer gifts to the princess.

Since there could be only one victor and the suitors were numerous, they had to swear eternal loyalty to whichever of them won the princess. All had to be faithful to the victor and assist him in any situation where help was needed.

The wedding was celebrated with great pomp, and Helen lived for several years with Menelaus, reigning in Sparta.
Until Paris arrived, and Helen fled with the Trojan prince and the Spartan treasure, which belonged .




                   Achilles and Hector

                                   ********

Johann Ludwig Heinrich Julius Schliemann, known as Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890), was a Prussian millionaire who dedicated himself to archaeology.

He continued the excavation work at the site of Troy, or Ilium, at the suggestion of the diplomat Frank Calvert, who had worked there a few years earlier.

Hisarlik is currently the Turkish name for the hill where the ancient city of Troy stood.
Heinrich Schliemann excavated at other sites, such as Mycenae, Tiryns, and Orchomenus, 

“that the Iliad actually described historical events”

     

THE MYTH OF HELEN