Bettany Hughes: Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore

She was the most beautiful woman in the world. A sex goddess. She is shrouded in legend. Her face launched a thousand ships. Her story has never been fully explained…until now.

As soon as men began to write, they made Helen of Troy their subject. Hesiod, one the first named authers in history, called her the most beautiful women in the world and the description endured. Even though we have no contemporary representations of her, this Bronze age princess is still seen as a paradigm of absolute beauty.

Having seen a number of her documentaries on television I was interested to see if she wrote as well as she presented. Each chapter is short, sharp and to the point. This makes all her insites easy to take in, and there is a lot of information packed into this book. We see how Helen has been portrayed throughout the ages. As a Bronze Age Spartan princess she was strong and vibrant, like a deity. During Homers Iliad she remains on the sidelines as the battle rages around her. The playwrites of the classical era, such as Euripides “Trojen Women” saw her as sinister. Although this view does change by the time he wrote “Helen”. Later on it seems that it was more the European painters that depicted the rape of Helen than the ancients.

It is obvious from reading the book that Bettany has a vast background knowledge on the subject back up by archaeoligical site visits and manages to reflect the passion she has for the subject. There are details here to make you think. I had never thought about the fact that the lions guarding the Mycenian palace have no manes and as such are lionesses. A hint of the female power that lay behind those gates?

It would be difficult to find a more complete study of the many sides to Helen’s character than in this book.