I don't think that any of you recognize, friends, that the greatest wars occurred because of women: the Trojan War because of Helen, the plague because of Chryseis, the mênis of Achilles because of Briseis. (Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 13.560)

A) Iliad I 1ff: Sing, O goddess, the anger [mênis] of Achilles son of Peleus, which brought countless pains [algos pl.] upon the Achaeans. Many a brave soul [psûkhê] did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and birds, and the Will of Zeus was fulfilled.

B) Iliad I 188ff: The son of Peleus [= Achilles] felt grief [akhos], and his heart within his shaggy breast was divided whether to draw his sword, push the others aside, and kill the son of Atreus [= Agamemnon], or to restrain himself and check his anger [kholos]. While he was thus of two minds, and was drawing his mighty sword from its scabbard, Athena came down from the sky (for Hera had sent her in the love she bore for them both), and seized the son of Peleus by his golden hair, visible to him alone, for of the others no man could see her.

C) Iliad 1.233ff.: But I will speak out and, more than that, I will swear a great oath... Some day a longing [pothê] for Achilles will come upon the sons of the Achaeans, all of them together. But at that point you will not be able, even though in great sorrow, to help it, when many men at the hand of man-slaying Hektor fall dying. And you will tear your heart out inside, angry because you did not honor the best [aristos] of the Achaeans.

D) Iliad 18.54-60
Alas how wretched I am, alas how unluckily I was the best child bearer
since I bore a son both faultless and powerful,
outstanding among heroes. He shot up like a sapling.
I nourished him like a plant on the hill of an orchard
and I sent him forth in the hollow ships to Ilion
to fight with the Trojans. But I will not receive him again
returning home to the house of Peleus.

E) From the poetry of Sappho:

To what shall I compare you, dear bridegroom? To a slender shoot, I most liken you.

F) Iliad 11.218-228
Tell me now you Muses that have homes on Olympus,
who was first to face Agamemnon,
whether of the Trojans themselves or of their renowned allies?
It was Iphidamas son of Antenor, a man both brave and of great stature,
who was raised in fertile Thrace the mother of sheep.
Cisses brought him up in his own house when he was a child -
Cisses, his mother's father, the man who begot beautiful cheeked Theano.
When he reached the full measure of glorious manhood [hêbê],
Cisses would have kept him there, and wanted to give him his daughter in marriage.
But as soon as he had married he left the bridal chamber and went off to seek the kleos of the Achaeans
with twelve ships that followed him.

G) Iliad 2.700-702

His wife was left behind in Phulakê, tearing both cheeks in lamentation,
his house left half built. A Dardanian man killed him
as he leapt out of the ship, by far the first of the Achaeans.

H) Iliad 9.393-394
For if the gods save me and I return home,
then Peleus will get me a wife himself.

I) Iliad 23.222-224
As when a father mourns while burning the bones of his son
who is a bridegroom, and in death he brings sorrow to his miserable parents,
so did Achilles mourn while burning the bones of his comrade.

J) Iliad 1.152-171: "I did not come here on account of Trojan spearmen, to fight them, since they are not at all responsible as far as I'm concerned.They have never driven off my cattle, not to mention my horses, and never in fertile Phthia that nourishes men have they destroyed my crops, since many things lie between us, shadowy mountains and echoing sea. But we have accompanied you, you shameless man, just to please you, striving to get honor [timê] for Menelaos and for you, dog eyes, from the Trojans. Not one of these things do you regard or care about; in fact, you threaten that you will take away my prize yourself, the prize for which I toiled much, and which the sons of the Achaeans gave me. I never have a prize equal to yours, anytime the Achaeans destroy a well placed citadel of the Trojans. But the greater part of quick moving war my hands tend to, yet once the moment of distribution comes you get the greater prize by far, and I with a smaller but dear one go back to the ships, since I am worn out from making war. Now I am going to Phthia, since it's really much better to go home with the curved ships, and I do not think that for you I will serve up wealth and riches while I am dishonored [timê] here."

K) Iliad 3.121-138: Meanwhile Iris went to Helen in the form of her sister-in-law, wife of the son of Antenor, for Helikaon, son of Antenor, had married Laodike, the fairest of Priam's daughters. She found her in her own room, working at a great web of purple linen, on which she was embroidering the struggles [athloi] between Trojans and Achaeans, that Ares had made them fight for her sake. Iris then came close up to her and said, "Come here, child, and see the strange doings of the Trojans and Achaeans till now they have been warring upon the plain, mad with lust of battle, but now they have left off fighting, and are leaning upon their shields, sitting still with their spears planted beside them. Alexander and Menelaos are going to fight about yourself, and you are to be the wife of him who is the victor."

L) Iliad 3.146-160: The two sages, Ucalegon and Antenor, elders of the people, were seated by the Scaean gates, with Priam, Panthoös, Thymoetes, Lampos, Clytius, and Hiketaon of the race of Ares. These were too old to fight, but they were fluent orators, and sat on the tower like cicadas that chirrup delicately from the boughs of some high tree in a wood. When they saw Helen coming towards the tower, they said softly to one another, "There is no way to wish for retribution [nemesis] that Trojans and Achaeans should endure so much and so long, for the sake of a woman so marvelously and divinely lovely. Still, fair though she be, let them take her and go, or she will breed sorrow for us and for our children after us."

M) Iliad 6.342-358: Hektor made no answer, but Helen tried to soothe him. "Brother," said she, "to my abhorred and sinful self, would that a whirlwind had caught me up on the day my mother brought me forth, and had borne me to some mountain or to the waves of the roaring sea that should have swept me away before this mischief had come about. But, since the gods have devised these evils, would, at any rate, that I had been wife to a better man - to one who could smart under dishonor [nemesis] and men's evil speeches. This man was never yet to be depended upon, nor never will be, and he will surely reap what he has sown. Still, brother, come in and rest upon this seat, for it is you who bear the brunt of that toil [ponos] that has been caused by my hateful self and by the derangement [atê] of Alexander - both of whom Zeus has doomed to be a theme of song among those that shall be born hereafter."

N) Iliad 13.616-627: And he, digging his heel into his chest, stripped his arms and boasting spoke a word: "In this way at least you will leave the ships of the Danaans with swift horses, arrogant Trojans insatiate of the terrible war cry, in no need of further outrage and disgrace, which you outraged me with, you evil dogs. Nor did you in any way fear the grievous wrath of Zeus the thunderer, protector of guests and hosts, who will some day destroy your lofty city. You went away leading back with you in vain my wedded wife and her many possessions, when you were treated kindly by her."

O) From Proclus' summary of the Cypria, attributed to Stasinus of Cyprus: [1] Zeus, together with Themis, plans the Trojan War. For Eris, while attending a feast of the gods at the wedding of Peleus, instigates a feud [neikos] among Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite about beauty. They, by order of Zeus, are led by Hermes to Mount Ida for judgment by Alexandros. Alexandros judges for Aphrodite, encouraged by a promise of Helen in marriage. [5] On the advice of Aphrodite, he has ships built. Helenos prophesies to him about what is going to happen. Aphrodite tells Aineias [Aeneas] to sail with him. Then Kassandra foretells the events of the future. When he gets to Lacedaemonia, Alexandros is entertained as a guest [xenos] by the sons of Tyndaros, [10] and afterwards by Menelaos at Sparta. Alexandros gives Helen gifts during the feast. Menelaos sails off to Crete, telling Helen to provide proper hospitality for their guests [xenoi] while he is away. Aphrodite brings Helen and Alexandros together. After their intercourse, they load up a great many valuables and sail away by night. [15] Hera sends a storm down upon them. Landing at Sidon, Alexandros captures the city. They sail to Ilion. Alexandros marries Helen.

P) From Philostratus' Heroikos (translation by E. Aitken and J. Maclean): [The island] was there, my guest, and [Protesilaos] tells the following sorts of stories about it… the trees growing on it are poplars and elms, some stand without order, but others already stand in good order around the sanctuary. The sanctuary is situated near the Sea of Maiôtis (which, equal in size to the Pontus, flows into it), and the statues in it, fashioned by the Fates, are Achilles and Helen. Indeed, since desiring lies in the eyes and from this poets celebrate desire in song, Achilles and Helen, although they had not even been seen by one another, because she was in Egypt and he in Ilion, first started to desire one another after they, by hearing a bodily description, found the beginning of their longing. Because no land under the sun had been fated for them as an abode for the immortal part of their life… Thetis beseeched Poseidon to send up from the sea an island where they could dwell. After Poseidon had pondered the length of the Pontus and that, because no island lay in it, it was sailed uninhabited, he made the White Island appear, of the size I have described, for Achilles and Helen to inhabit, but also for sailors to stay and set their anchor in the sea… There Achilles and Helen first saw and embraced one another, and Poseidon himself and Amphitritê hosted their wedding feast, along with all the Nereids and as many rivers and water-spirits as flow into the Sea of Maiôtis and the Pontus… Achilles and Helen are said to drink together and to be engaged in singing. They celebrate in song their desire for one another, Homer's epics on the Trojan war, and Homer himself. Achilles still praises the gift of poetry which came to him from Calliope, and he pursues it more seriously, since he has ceased from military activities.

Bibliography for this lecture:

Alexiou, M. The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition. Cambridge, 1974. 2nd edition, Lanham, Md, 2002.

Dué, C. Homeric Variations on a Lament by Briseis. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002.

Holst-Warhaft, G. Dangerous Voices: Women's Lament and Greek Literature. London, 1992.

Muellner, L. The Anger of Achilles: Mênis in Greek Epic. Ithaca, 1996.

Nagy, G. The Best of the Achaeans: Concepts of the Hero in Archaic Greek Poetry. Baltimore, 1979. 2nd edition 1999. (See especially the chapter entitled "Lamentation and the Hero.")

Read all about the variations on the life and afterlife of Helen on Carlos Parada's Greek Mythology Link.

Several vases depicting myths involving Helen may be viewed on-line at the Perseus Project. Below are some thumbnails. Click on the images to link to the Perseus articles and images.

	Berlin F 2291, Attic Red Figure, kylix Interior: man and boy. Side A: Judgement of Paris. Side B: Paris leading Helen away.
	Berlin F 2536, Attic Red Figure, Cup Interior: warrior leaving home (youth and old man). Side A: Judgment of Paris. Side B: meeting of Paris and Helen.
	Boston 13.186, Attic Red Figure, Skyphos Side A: Alexandros abducting Helen. Side B: Menelaos attacking Helen.
	London 1899.2-19.1, Geometric, Krater Woman, man and ship with oarsmen