Blood of an Empire: Helen of Sparta Page 15

  Neoptolemus, along with Helenus and Odysseus, found Priam as he took refuge at the altar of Zeus and slaughtered him and cut off his head, and tossed it to one side. The three men, plus Andromache, Hector’s widow, traveled to Epirus. Queen Hecuba was given to Odysseus.

  Neoptolemus fathered three sons Mollus, Pielus, and Pergamus with his concubine Andromache. Orestes, son of Agamemnon, killed Neoptolemus, in a dispute over Hermione, daughter of Helen and Menelaus,

  Cassandra ran to the temple of Athena. Helen had sent her children to the temple of Athena so that they would be safe. Cassandra also ran to the temple. The Achaeans might loot and rape and burn all they found, but would do so as Greeks. They would spare the altars.

  Or, so they believed.

  The Greeks saw Cassandra and pretty little Helen, and the other virgins devoted to the altar of Athena who had taken refuge there. In a fit of terrible blood lust, instead of conducting themselves as trained soldiers, they fell upon everyone at the temple.

  Poor Cassandra begged for mercy, but Ajax the Lesser raped her so brutally that Odysseus, who saw, was moved to threaten his kinsman with being stoned to death. The girl, though ruined, was given to Agamemnon. Odysseus felt a little sick as he watched Diomedes slaughter children and maidens who had run to hide there; Helen’s children were also brutally killed.

  Polyxena, who loved Achilles, was torn open on his grave, her blood seeping into the earth; she actually smiled as her heart was stabbed repeatedly because this was a preferable end. She hadn’t wanted to be given to anyone as a spoil of the war.

  Hector and Andromache’s son was tiny, so he was tossed like a stone from a roof to the stones below as the Achaeans burned and destroyed every home they found after looting it. Andromache had pled for her baby’s life, cursing, wailing, and begging, but he was tossed away, and his little bones and skull broke open.

  Helen fought back, taking up a dagger and stabbing all she could get to. She only stopped fighting when Menelaus found her and raised his sword to chop off her head. With a joyous smile, she bared her peplos, revealing her pretty throat so he could land the killing blow expertly. Helen more than welcomed her own death.

  She had lost Theseus; Paris; her friend, Hector; her children; and her humanity, and she was ready to be finished. The pain had to stop.

  “Finish it, Menelaus. This has taken much too long,” she urged him.

  To her absolute dismay, he looked at her with love and desire in his eyes and lowered his sword. Howling in fury, Helen begged him to finish the job, but he gently picked her up in his loving arms and carried her to his ship.

  Helen wondered: had anyone ever been as cursed as she?

  Chapter 25

  A Greek Tragedy Ends

  The gods and goddesses were totally and completely disgusted and offended that the Achaeans had defiled their altars. They decided they would seek revenge.

  Tuecer, because he was partially blamed for his brother Ajax’s odd behavior and suicide, was exiled by his father Telamon and never returned home.

  Odysseus was detained. He first was captured by the Cyclops and only managed to get away after blinding the creature; unfortunately, he was a braggart and told the Cyclops, his name, and thus Poseidon gave Odysseus a great deal of trouble as the man tried to sail home. Odysseus met cannibals, and Circe, a witch who turned his men into swine, and kept him for a full year. He survived the Sirens, who sang and led men to their death and faced a six-headed monster and a terrible whirlpool.

  All of Odysseus’ ships and men were lost except for the one he sailed on.

  During Odysseus’ ten-year absence, suitors besieged Penelope, his wife; finally at the end of ten years, she said that she would marry whoever could string his great bow. None could do so except Odysseus. Dressed as a beggar, he won the contest and revealed himself to her. He killed the suitors and was reunited with his son, Telemachus, and his beloved Penelope, who had remained faithful and had spurned all suitors.

  Deiphobus, brother of Paris, who had forced Helen to marry him was brutally slain, as was promised to Helen, and he bled to death when his penis was severed. Menelaus, speaking for Helen, told how Deiphobus had used her and beaten her, so Menelaus killed him slowly and terribly, and Helen watched intently.

  Philoctetes of the snakebite incident never returned home but continued to travel and see distant lands.

  Diomedes, son of Tydeus, a king of Argos, had very poor luck as he traveled continuously; he was often at war and fighting for his life. When he died, Athena took pity and made him a minor god.

  Few Achaeans ever made it home

  Ajax the Lesser, because he had defiled Cassandra and brutally had taken her virginity on the altar of Athena, was cursed; he never returned home but was killed in a drowning accident as both Poseidon and Athena destroyed his ships in retaliation.

  Agamemnon took Cassandra home, causing Clytemnestra to be livid. She pretended to swallow her pride and shrugged, saying he was king and that she would serve him. She drew him a nice hot bath scented with mint and rosemary.

  “Very nice,” he said. As he lay back in the water and relaxed, Nessie took a net she had hidden and wrapped it about him. While he was trapped, she stabbed him to death and then killed Cassandra, also.

  His son, Orestes, avenged his father’s death by killing his mother Clytemenestra and her lover Aegisthus who was abandoned by his mother because he was the result of incest between his father Thyestes and his sister Peropia. Although Orestes had a male lover, he married Hermione, Helen’s daughter.

  When Helen found this out, she cried, wondering how her daughter could marry such a brutal man, a son of the disgusting Agamemnon. What was Hermione thinking? Did she have feedings? There was so much Helen didn’t know.

  Everyone and everything were connected.

  It was nine years before Helen saw Sparta again. For those nine years, they were stranded in Egypt, waiting for favorable winds while Menelaus grew richer with trading and campaigns.

  In those years, Helen never again tried to have a marriage with Menelaus and was considered to be only his property, without any choices. She was compliant but never had the light in her eyes again. She resigned herself to her curse; men were forced to love her, and no one loved Helen for Helen.

  But Menelaus loved her but despaired of ever having her love him.

  In Sparta, Menelaus once again ruled, and the area thrived, but Helen took no interest at all. Without joy or passion, she told her husband that once a month she fed and didn’t care about his reaction. He was shocked but mostly didn’t know what to think. He didn’t interfere.

  The palace had long since been neglected and was in shambles, but Menelaus quickly had it refurbished so it was lovelier than before. He made sure homes were fixed and fields were planted, and animals were tended, and he ruled in the old Spartan manner. Sparta flourished again.

  Despite anything else, he was a good king.

  Because gods live forever and get bored and play games with mortals for amusement, Helen’s life was in ruins. She went through the motions each day of running a household: receiving guests, making sure meals were proper, observing festivals, and attending the altars as required. She wore white wool peplos only, covering her figure, and when she went out, she veiled her face and hair. She would mourn forever, mourn her life.

  That was really no matter since the people of Sparta loved Menelaus but hated Helen and often threw fruit or trash at her when she was in public. She didn’t care.

  Twelve times a year she fed, choosing people at random, taking no joy in the blood-wine, only relieving the pain and hunger that plagued her. She felt no fury and no pleasure. The raptor took nothing from the hunt but sustenance. In her daily life, she had no children or grandchildren and found no joy in anything she did.

  One day, she thought of Achilles and how, like a raptor in flight, he had taken an arrow while doing what he wanted and what he did best. She thought it would be pleasant to be his bride in the afterlife
. As a demigod, he would be waiting for her, his mirror image.

  She dressed one evening in a purple-colored peplos, the hem threaded with gold, and added a himation of gold to match her hair which had grown back, long and full again. She had her attendants bathe her in rose water and lemon verbena and then had them rub oil into her skin so that she glowed. Her hair was oiled and shone like the sun.

  This is what Helen did best: to be beautiful, the most beautiful woman on earth. On the cliff’s edge, she thought of brave Theseus and of beautiful Paris and of honorable Hector, but mostly she thought of Achilles.

  The sky was clear and blue.

  She plunged a silver dagger into her heart and stepped off the edge of the cliff; in those seconds, she held her arms out wide and felt the wind on her face and rippling through her hair; she was not just the daughter of Zeus, but a swan in flight. She was a raptor sailing above the land. She soared.

  When Menelaus held her broken body, he wept.

  Yes, she was a succubus and thus cast a spell on every man who saw her to make him fall in love with her, but she never knew that Menelaus was the exception; he was immune to the spell and had loved her all the time for just who she was: Helen of Sparta.

  (Fort Worth 2013)

  Characters

  Abuse, Amazons, Beastiality, Blood Games, Cannibalism, Centaurs, Concubines,

  Curses, Debauchery, Festivals, Fornication, Gods and Goddesses, Herbs,

  Hermaphrodite, Incest, Infanticide, Intersex, Labyrinth, Lust, Matricide,

  Murders, Minotaur, Monsters, Oils, Orgies, Patricide, Perversions, Prophets,

  Poisons, Rapes, Revenge, Sacrifices, Silver Daggers, Serpents, Slaves,

  Snakes, Spoils of War, Succubus, Suicides, Suitors, Treason, Tricksters,

  Teenage Warriors, Trojan Horse, Vampires, Virgins, War, Worship of Bulls, and Helen

  Achilles---son of Peleus and Thetis (sea goddess); disguised as girl by his mother to save him from serving in the War; trained Chiron a centaur; father of Neoptolemus - mother-Princess Desidamia; Briseus-his concubine (killed her family); married Polyxena (daughter of King Priam); lover-Patroclus (male lover); shot in heel by Paris.

  King Aegeus-- wife- Meta (no children); wife Chalciope (no children); consort of Medea (one son Medus); visited King Troezen, slept with his daughter(Aethra-son Theseus); buried sandals and sword for future son to find under boulder; father of Theseus.

  Aegisthus--son or Thyestes and sister Pelopea; given to uncle Atreus to raise; step brothers Menelaus and Agamemnon; lover of Clytemenestra (wife of Agamemnon).

  Aeneas--cousin of Paris.

  Aethra---daughter of Phittheus; mother of Theseus (father Aegeus and Poseidon); grandmother of Acamas; captured and taken to Troy; handmaiden of Helen; stayed in Troy until grandson rescued her; committed suicide.

  Agamemnon--son of Atreus/mother Aerope; brother--Menelaus/ stepbrother-

  Aegisthus; wife-Clytemensta, sacrificed Iphigenia (real daughter of Helen); claimed Chryseis as wife; took Briseua from Achilles; his concubine- Cassandra killed by Clytemenstra; killed by Clytemenstra.

  Agelaus--foster father of Paris; father of Thestius; children-Haima /Eros.

  Ajax--father Telamon/mother Periboea; brother Tuecer.

  Ajax, the Lesser--raped Cassandra; drown in accident caused by Poseidon and Athena when they destroyed his ship.

  Andromache--daughter of Eetion; father and seven brothers were slain by Achilles at taking of Thebae; her mother purchased her freedom by a large ranson but was killed by Artemis; wife of Hector; son Scamandrius (or Astyanex); Neoptolemus’ concubine-(mother of Molossus, Peilus, and Pergamus); wife of Helenus and his sister-in-law(mother of Cestrinus); Followed her son Pergamus to Asia.

  Anticlera---daughter of master thief/ trickster Autocycus/Amphither; wife of Laertes; mother of Odysseus and Ctimene; died of grief, waiting for Odysseus to return from War.

  Antiope--sisters-Melanippe/Penthesilia-Queen of the Amazons.

  Aphrodite---goddess; lover of Ares, put curse on Ares’ children; Paris called her the fairest of all.

  Apollo---god.

  Ares---son of Phobus and Diemos (fear /terror); father of Thestius; lover-

  Aphrodite, children-Haima/Eros, impregnated Demodice.

  Ariadne--daughter of Minos and mortal mother Semele; wife of Theseus; gave Theseus a ball of thread to help get in and out of labyrinth after he killed the Minotaur; left on the island of Naxos; wife of Dionysus.

  Asterion--son of white bull and mother Pasiphae; adopted son of King Minos; mutilated/ate 7 young girls/7 young boys provided by King Minos; raped three women in a tavern; kept four children shackled with sticks and wire; ate the boy’s brains; kept the girls for lust pleasures; killed by Theseus with bare hands and sword.

  Athena--goddess.

  Atreus--son of Pelops/Hippodamia; father of Agamemnon/Menelaus and adopted father of Aegisthus; husband of Aerope; King of Mycenae; brother of Thyestes & stepbrother of Chrysippus.

  Briseis---concubine of Achilles-prize of war; princess of Lyrnessus.

  Calchas--seer who fortold that Troy wouldn’t fall without Achilles and Odysseus.

  Cassandra--daughter of Priam/Hecuba; sister of Paris, Hector, Helenus, and Deiphobus; raped by Neoptolemus, given to Agamemnon; “cursed to see future, but never to be believed.”

  Castor---mortal son of Leda & Tyndareus; Dioscuri- brother of Pollux, Helen, Clytemnestra.

  Cerberus--three-headed hound; guarded Hade.

  Cestrinus--son of Helenus and Andromache.

  Cheiron--centaur that taught Achilles and Patroclus the matters of battle.

  Chryses--of Moesia; father of Chryseis.

  Chryseis---daughter of Chryses; saved by Helen.

  Clytemnestra----daughter of Tyndareus/Leda; sister of Helen, Castor and Pollux; wife of Tantalus-(son killed); wife of Agamemnon (aborted his child); raised Iphigenia (Helen’s daughter); father of Electra & Orestes (killed his mother); lover Aegisthus-(her stepson).

  Daedalus---inventor & architect-designed King Minos’ castle, the Trojan horse, constructed labyrinth under castle to keep Asterion (Minotaur) imprisoned; gave gift of a ball of thread to Ariadne to give to Theseus; built set of wings for Icarus (son) and himself to fly.

  Deiphobus---son of King Priam & Queen Hebuca; brother of Paris, Helenus,

  Hector; killed by Menelaus; husband of Helen.

  Diedamera---mother of Neoptolemus by Archilles.

  Diomedes---son of Tydeus/Deipyle; young warrior with 80 ships; died and was made a minor god by Athena.

  Dionysus---son of Zeus/ Semele (mortal); god of grape harvest; met, loved, and wed Adriadne on island of Naxos.

  Dioscuri---Castor and Pollux.

  Eetion---father of Andromache (wife of Hector).

  Eris--goddess of chaos and trouble, threw golden apple.

  Eros--son of Ares.

  Hades--Underworld; Pirithous and Theseus visited, looking for Queen of the Dead; guarded by three-headed hound; Pirithouse left stuck on bench.

  Hector---son of Priam and Hecuba; brother of Paris, Deiphobus, and Helenus, Cassandra, Polyxena, and Laodice; cousin-Agelaus; husband of Andromache (young son thrown from roof to stones below); fought Ajax; wore Achilles’ armor; ran around city three times chased by Achilles who killed him; spell cast on him so he wouldn’t decompose, family mourned his death for twelve days; slept with Helen (his brother Paris’s wife); “only truly honorable man on earth and greatest warrior in Troy”.

  Hecuba---daughter of Dymas of Phrygia and nymph Eunoe or the daughter of Thracian, king of Crete or Dymas and Teledeia; wife of King Priam; mother of sons Hector, Paris, Deiphobus, Polydorus, and Helenus; mother of daughters-Polyxena, Cassandra, and Laodice; mother of 19 children; enslaved by Odysseus after King Priam was killed.

  Helen---daughter of Leda and Zeus; adopted daughter of Tyndareus; at twelve wife of Theseus (daughter Iphigenia); wife of Menelaus (daughter Hermione); sister of Castor, Pollux, and Casandra; wife of Paris; wife o
f Helenus; wife of Deiphobus (physically abused her); gave daughter Iphigenia to sister Clytemnestra; lover of Patroclus and Lyomedes (hermaphodite); killed Mennestheus and Palamedes; stole Heracles’ bow and arrows from Philoctetes, causing water to flow backward for

  full day; saved Chryseis by drinking blood from Greeks; lay with Hector; her horses: Mellanippe (white) given by Thesseus and Polytimos (given by Laertes; at least 40 suitors,including Ajax, Hector, Odysseus, Lycomedes, Menestheus, Patroclus, Neoptolema, and Teucer; dreamed of marriage to Achilles, called “raptor”; had blood-wine curse; committed suicide by jumping off of cliff.

  Helenus---son of Priam and Hecuba; brother to Paris, Deiphobus, and Polydorus; twin to sister Cassandra; fourth in line for throne of father; Odysseus, Neoptolemus, and Helenus killed father (Priam); husband of Helen.

  Helios---sun god; father of Pasiphae (wife of Minos).

  Heracles---son of Zeus; recovered Theseus from Hades; died when his third wife

  Deianeira put poison on his cloak; performed twelve labors.

  Herimone---only daughter of Helen and Menelaus; married Neoptolemus or Pyrrhus (son of Achilles); had fight with Andromache (concubine of Neoptolemus), and Herimone asked her father to kill Andromache; Herimone fled with Orestes (cousin) and married him; gave birth to Tisamenus.

  Lacoon-----priest; eaten and swallowed by sea serpent.

  Laodice---daughter of Priam and Hecuba.

  Leda---daughter of father Thestius/ Demodice; mother of Helen and son Pollux by Zeus; mother of Clytemnestra and son Castor by husband Tyndareus; had curse of blood-wine.

  Laertes---son of Arcesius and Chalcomedusa; grandson of Cephalus; sent horse Polytimos to Helen; King of Cephallenians; husband of Anticlea; father of Odysseus and Ctimene; Argonaut.

  Lycomedes of Scyros---gave Theseus refuse on island and threw him off cliff where Theseus’ father Aegeus had jumped.

  Menelaus--son of Atreus and Aerope; brother of Agamemnon and