Helen of Troy

Double click the black square to open Gia Tin Eleni performed by Maria Dimitriadi.

Abduction of Helen of Troy by Paris painted by Eugene Francis Savage located at Taylor Graham American European Art Collectors

Graham Hague  

In this essay, I will be focusing on Helen of Troy, along with the depictions of her in the painting Abduction of Helen of Troy by Paris by Eugene F. Savage, and in the song “Gia tin Eleni.” I will first discuss the origins of Helen, and why she is an important figure in mythic history. Following that, I will inspect Savage’s painting to figure out how he intended to portray Helen and her story. Next, I will explore “Gia tin Eleni” in the same way. After that, I will compare the painting and song, with regards to what similarities and differences they have. Lastly, I will determine my opinion on how well the pieces represented Helen’s story.

There are different accounts of Helen’s origins. For example, in the Cypria, she is stated to be the daughter of Zeus and Nemesis, whereas the myth in which Helen is the daughter of Zeus and Leda, the queen of Sparta, is more familiar (La Fond 04:24 – 05:03). She was described as being “the most beautiful of women,” and out of her numerous suitors she selected Menelaüs (Morford et al. 468). Later, when Menelaüs was absent from his and Helen’s home in Sparta, Paris, a prince of Troy, came to Sparta, and he seduced Helen and took her to Troy with him. (Morford et al. 468). Whether Helen accompanied Paris “willingly” is a subject of debate, and responses to the question vary (La Fond 06:29 – 7:21). In response to Paris’s actions, and honoring the alliance that the “rejected suitors” made with Menelaüs, Menelaüs’s brother, Agamemnon, formed the “Achaean expedition” to go to Troy and bring Helen back to Sparta, starting the Trojan War. (Morford et al. 468) and (Taylor | Graham).

From the title of Savage’s painting, Abduction of Helen of Troy by Paris, it is clear that for this work, he agreed with the viewpoint that Helen did not go willingly. In the painting, Helen appears visibly distraught. Her abductor is grabbing her while she seems to be attempting to resist. Her other depicted captor is grasping a sword, and is poised to strike. Trees are present in a corner of the painting, while Paris appears to be stepping up rocks. In “Gia tin Eleni,” the lyrics seem to be from the perspective of someone who is being asked questions about Helen. The questions are not answered in the lyrics, instead responding non-verbally by “I seal my heart and [embroider] my bitterness,” but they refer to Helen as a “weeping icon.” (Bourboulis et al. 2003). One of the questions that is asked is “is [Helen] in Sparta, on the islands, or is she married in Troy?”, which relates to her story of being taken from Sparta to Troy. (Bourboulis et al. 2003).

There appear to be some similarities between Savage’s painting and “Gia tin Eleni.” They both reference the myth of Paris’s capture of Helen, and they both depict her emotions in some way. However, there are more differences. The song has a more direct focus on Helen herself, as it references the capture more indirectly, and it also suggests that Helen “was buried.” (Bourboulis et al. 2003). The painting prominently features Paris, and it depicts a specific point in the story.

In conclusion, I believe that Savage’s painting clearly depicts Helen’s “abduction by Paris” in a way that emphasizes his view of Helen’s reaction, and the presence of the other captor as well as the environment are useful visuals. For “Gia tin Eleni,” I think it represents some aspects of Helen and her story well, such as the mentioned locations. The painting and the song, when considered together, offer a well-rounded perspective on Helen and her story.

Works Cited (Graham):

Bourboulis, Mihalis, Dimitriadi, Maria, and Hatzidakis, Manos. “Gia tin Eleni (English sub).” YouTube, uploaded by avinishri, 15 June 2012, Gia tin Eleni (English sub) - YouTube. Accessed 29 July 2021.

La Fond, Marie. “Destination Troy: Setting the Scene.” Greek and Roman Myth. University of Washington, June 2021, Lesson 7: Video Lectures : CLAS 430 A Su 21: Greek And Roman Mythology (uw.edu). Accessed 29 July 2021.

Morford, Mark, et al. Classical Mythology. 11th ed., Oxford UP, 2019.

Savage, Eugene F. Abduction of Helen of Troy by Paris. (N.D.). Taylor | Graham, New York. Taylor | Graham, Eugene Francis Savage, Abduction of Helen of Troy by Paris | Taylor Graham (taylorandgraham.com). Accessed 29 July 2021.

Ashley Gail Rosales

In this essay I will be showcasing Helen Of Troy through a painting by Eugene Francis Savage. First, I will tell you the story of Helen of Troy and then relay how her story is depicted in the painting.

Helen of Troy is firmly established in Greek mythology, she has survived the test of time and her legacy has continued throughout the generations of storytelling. She is often characterized as “an object of seduction” (Holdridge 2) and the “cause of the Trojan War” (Holdridge 2). She herself is actually a construct of patriarchal monarchy and its representation in ancient greek mythology. Through her different roles as a mother, sister, wife and lover she fulfills ideas about women that solidify the patriarchy.

Helen was the daughter of the mortal Leda and the god Zues. Her story goes that Zues wanted to reduce the human population so he arranged for the birth of Helen and Achilles. They were represented as “seductive female beauty and destructive male strength” (Wilson). Helen was said to be irresistible to any man and from a young age Helen was abducted many times. Eventually, Menelaus of Mycenae won Helen as his wife because of his extraordinary wealth. However, after a short time passed a Trojan Prince named Paris was appointed to judge between three goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite. He ended up choosing Aphrodite because she promised him Helen as a reward for him if she was chosen. Her abduction by Paris was then what caused the Trojan War. The poet of the Iliad suggests that she is sympathetic to the start of the Trojan war and that she blames herself, and that she regrets her actions. No matter if you believe that she is a victim in the situation, or a perpetrator of the Trojan War we can agree that she is quintessential to Greek Mythology and that her existence represented a lot of the patriarchal ideals that are still held today in modern society.

Next, we have the painting by Eugene Francis Savage. Savage was a professor at Yale well into the middle of the twentieth century. He had previously been awarded the Prix de Rome prize from the Art Institute of Chicago for his works about Greek Mythology. In this painting Abduction of Helen of Troy by Paris  he depicts Paris abducting her after Aprodite promised her as a prize. Her previous husband had to honor his oath as her suitor and fight to get her back which launched them into the Trojan War.

This painting by Savage accurately depicts Helen and her story as we learned about her in class and I think that the depiction of her here is absolutely beautiful. I especially like the fact that she is portrayed here as fighting off her abductor, she is seen scratching at his arm and shoulder and her facial expression shows that she is angry. Some recollections of Helen state that she was adulterous and willingly went with Paris, and that she blames herself for the war like I stated earlier. However, other sources claim that she was in fact abducted by Paris and that is how she is depicted here. Paris’s wooing and abduction of Helen is oftentimes referred to as “The Rape of Helen” (Morford et al. 21) which just solidifies my opinion that she was abducted and was not adulterous.  Personally, I like this depiction because I believe that people want to blame her for the Trojan War because of her beauty, and believe that there is no way that she didn't cheat on her husband because of how “sultry” she was. This idea is still represented today. Anytime a beautiful woman is successful or powerful she is often torn down by other people because of her beauty.

In conclusion, the story of Helen of Troy is one that is firmly rooted in Greek Mythology and for good reason. Her story is interesting and has many parallels to today's society around the perception of beautiful powerful women. For this reason, I chose to compare her story to the painting of her by Savage and respect his choices that he made in portraying her the way he did. I believe it brings respect and honor to her in a way that other retellings of her story do not.

Works Cited (Ashley):

Holdrige, Shannon. Helen of Troy Figure. 2000. Texas Tech University, Master of Arts dissertation. https://ttu-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/2346/21398/31295016611864.pdf?sequence=1

Morford, Mark, et al. Classical Mythology. 11th ed., Oxford UP, 2019.

Savage, Eugene F. Abduction of Helen of Troy by Paris. (N.D.). Taylor | Graham, New York. Taylor | Graham, Eugene Francis Savage, Abduction of Helen of Troy by Paris | Taylor Graham (taylorandgraham.com). Accessed 29 July 2021.

“Slut-Shaming Helen of Troy.” The New Republic, 27 Apr. 2014, newrepublic.com/article/117430/helen-troy-beauty-myth-devastation-ruby-blondell-reviewed.

Richard Zhang

Curator’s Remarks on Gia tin Eleni

        This piece of music is written by Manos Hatzidakis, a Greek composer and songwriter, and the lyrics came from Mihalis Bourboulis’ “About Eleni”, which addressed many fractions of Helen’s various stories. The most relevant story of Helen addressed by the lyrics was the Trojan War. It was sang by Maria Dimitriadi. This piece will mainly focus on analyzing the portrayal of Helen in this song and in the Greek mythology, and the similarities and differences between them.

        First, in the Greek mythology, Helen is one of the daughters of Zeus and Leda. “She grew up to be the most beautiful of women, and from the many Greek princes who were her suitors she chose Menelaüs, who became king of Sparta. The rejected suitors swore to respect her choice and help Menelaüs in time of need” (Mark 2018). Thing seemed going well for her. However, everything was changed by a person’s visit to Sparta when Helen’s husband was away from home, and this person was the Trojan prince Paris. During his visit, he seduced Helen and brought her back to Troy, and that’s the cause of the Trojan War. So, to retrieve Helen and vindicate the rights of Menelaüs, Helen’s husband. Menelaüs’ brother raised the Achaean (Mycenaean Greek) army against Troy (Mark 2018). That’s the portrayal of Helen in the Greek mythology, a femme fatale that has caused a bloody war because of her beauty.

        Secondly, in this song Gia tin Eleni, Helen is portrayed as a more mysterious character that the writer of the lyrics could never touch. According to the composer of this song, Manos Hatzidakis, Helen is almost like “a girl that appears every now and then and disappears again, through rain, through the clouds and through the sea” (Nishri 2012). Through his words, it’s not hard to tell the difference between the portrayal of Helen in the Greek mythology and this song. One is more like the sun, since her beauty has great influence on everything around her, just like the sun lighting up the world. On the other hand, one is more like the clouds, like she is going to disappear in the next moment, just like how clouds could have dispersed at any time. The mysterious atmosphere of this song is further demonstrated by the questions in the lyrics, asking what Helen is doing, who does Helen love, and where is she. None of them was answered in the song, but the refrains end in this way, “but I don’t answer. I seal my heart, and embroidering my bitterness” (Nishri 2012). It represents that to the lyric writer, Helen is just a concept of a very beautiful woman, unattainable, mysterious, and unknown to him since such concept of a woman never appear in his love life.

Works Cited for Richard

Mark, Robert, Michael, & 1929-, M. P. O. (n.d.). Classical Mythology. Oxford University

Press.

“Two Daughters of Zeus.” In The Beginning Of The Song, Avi Nishri, 17 Oct. 2012,

greeksongstories.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/two-daughters-of-zeus/.

Oleh Fylyk

To this day Helen of Troy and her associated myths are highly contested topics between scholars, enthusiasts and artists. Her birth story, life narrative and eventual end have just the right amount of ambiguity and conflicting versions to let the imagination run wild. This part of the essay aims to compare Eugene Francis Savage’s Abduction of Helen of Troy by Paris to other famous paintings depicting the same scene throughout history.

        Savage’s painting is dated to the early 20th century and immediately what makes it stand out among his contemporaries and their depictions of Helen is the hair. In his painting, Helen is drawn with extremely dark and wavy brown hair whereas in other paintings of the same time her hair is shown more typically as blonde. For example in Evelyn de Morgan’s painting Helen of Troy she is shown with long wavy blonde hair with a strawberry hue. A fully red-headed Helen appears in Gaston Bussière Helen of Troy with a very pale complexion resembling a Northern European lineage. With these examples in mind one has to wonder whether Helen was really blonde or dark haired. So looking at some of the oldest origins of her story in Homer’s Iliad one can see her described as “...fair-hair’d Helen”(240) meaning she was indeed considered to be blonde or light brunette. In fact many Greek aristocrats and gods were described as blonde and considered more beautiful and rare than darker colored hair beings. Perhaps the reason why Eugene’s piece shows Helen as dark haired is because many Greeks today are actually dark haired thus the painting serves better as a modern representation of a character with Greek heritage. Or a more personal reason can be that he believed darker hair to be more attractive than lighter hair and in trying to depict Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, in his mind darker hair would suit her better.

        Now this essay does not aim to argue whether Helen was abducted or seduced by Paris of Troy. Rather it will assume that Helen was indeed forcibly abducted and will compare only portraits that attempt to present her abduction in the truest sense of the word. Some famous paintings that depict Helen’s abduction (sometimes titled as rape) are by Tintoretto, Francesco Primaticcio and Luca Giordano. All three paintings are branded The Rape of Helen and in each Helen is shown tightly grasped by either Paris or another male counterpart in the service of Paris. Likewise, Savage's painting has Helen being seized and thrown up into the air from the waist in the hands of Paris. However what sets Savage’s portrayal of the action apart from the Italian masters is the emotion on Helen's face. The three Italians showed Helen with a face that is more resigned and serene rather than surprised. Her calm facial features coupled with the vicious actions of the males who assault her make the scenes look artificial and staged (with poor acting on the part of Helen). Yet in Savage’s Helen, the horror and shock show unrestrainedly on her face as her exposed body is being tugged out of her bed. These emotions contort her face so much that she looks older and her face certainly would not be considered as one belonging to the most beautiful mortal. Yet the emotions are beyond accurate as Helen’s vulnerability in the whole affair is obviously defiled since she is treated as an object and bounty. In other words Savage’s portrait is the best representation of an abduction since Helens reaction is the most realistic out of any portrait depicting the same event.

Works Cited

Hoakley. “The Face That Launched a Thousand ARTISTS: Helen (and Paris).” The Eclectic Light Company, Wordpress, 27 Feb. 2018, eclecticlight.co/2018/03/09/the-face-that-launched-a-thousand-artists-helen-and-paris/.

Homer. The Iliad (AmazonClassics Edition). Amazon Kindle, 2017.

Zaidan, Henry. “39 Old MASTERS Artist Embedded with Helen of Troy, with Footnotes.” 39 Old Masters Artist Embedded with Helen of Troy, with Footnotes, Blogspot, 1 Jan. 1970, painting-mythology.blogspot.com/2016/01/39-old-masters-embedded-with-helen-of.html.