Helen of Troy, Frederick Sandys, 1867

Fresco from the House of the Tragic Poet, Pompeii, depicting Helen leaving Sparta on a ship bound for Troy.

Theseus’ abduction of Helen of Troy: Theseus, assisted by his best friend Pirithous and Helen’s sister Phoebe, loads Helen into a chariot.  Attic red-figure stamnos by the painter Polygnotus; ca. 430-420 BCE.  Now in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Helen of Troy, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1863

The Fateful Children of Leda

Ausonius, Epigrams 66 “De Castore, Polluce, et Helena”  Those children whom you see born From a threefold egg, assign them To doubtful fathers and doubtful Mothers, too.  For Nemesis Conceived them, but pregnant Leda Nurtured them in her womb; Tyndareus is their father And Jupiter, too: the former Thinks himself the father, The latter knows he is. Istos tergemino nasci quos cernis ab ovo, patribus ambiguis et matribus adsere natos. hos genuit Nemesis sed Leda puerpura fovit; Tyndareus pater his et Iuppiter: hic putat, hic scit.

Leda and the Swan, Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1557)

Theseus pursues a woman, generally identified as Helen.  Side A of an Attic red-figure bell-krater, attributed to the Comaris Painter; ca. 440-430 BCE.  Now in the Louvre.