Menelaus was King of Sparta during the 13th century BC. The Trojan prince Paris of Troy's elopement with his wife Helen led to the Trojan War.
Biography[]
Menelaus was the son of Atreus and Aerope and the brother of Agamemnon, and he and his brother were exiled after his uncle Thyestes usurped the throne of Mycenae. With the help of King Tyndareus of Sparta, they later deposed Thyestes, and, while Agamemnon became the new King of Mycenae, Menelaus became King of Sparta after Tyndareus abdicated. He went on to marry Tyndareus' stepdaughter Helen, and they had a daughter, Hermione. However, Helen ran off with the visiting Trojan prince Paris of Troy due to her dissatisfaction with her marriage to a much older man, leading to Menelaus convincing Agamemnon to assemble the Greek states and declare war on Troy. Menelaus himself soundly defeated the Trojan warrior Paris in a duel before Hector helped him escape, and Menelaus went on to slay eight Trojans during the war. During the sack of Troy, Menelaus slew Deiphobus and recaptured Helen, taking her back to Sparta with him. He was unable to have any children with her due to their strained marriage, and he later fathered Megapenthes and Nicostratus by slave women.
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