Helen of Troy: The Story Behind the Most Beautiful Woman in the World 9780307485885

For 3,000 years, the woman known as Helen of Troy has been both the ideal symbol of beauty and a reminder of the terribl

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Helen of Troy: The Story Behind the Most Beautiful Woman in the World
 9780307485885

Table of contents :
Illustrations
Text Acknowledgements
Maps
Timeline
Dramatis Personæ
Family Trees
Foreword and Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION
Cherchez la Femme
An Evil Destiny
Helen-Hunting
Goddess, Princess, Whore
HELEN’S BIRTH IN PRE-HISTORY
A Dangerous Landscape
A Rape, a Birth
The Lost Citadel
The Mycenaeans
The Pre-historic Princess
THE LAND OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN
The Rape of ‘Fair Hellen’
Sparte Kalligynaika
Tender-eyed Girls
THE WORLD’S DESIRE
A Trophy for Heroes
The Kingmaker
A Royal Wedding
KOUROTROPHOS
Hermione
A Welcome Burden
Helen, High Priestess
La Belle Hélène
A LOVER’S GAME
The Golden Apple
Bearing Gifts
Alexander Helenam Rapuit
The Female of the Species Is More Deadly Than the Male
EROS AND ERIS
Helen the Whore
The Pain of Aphrodite
The Sea’s Foaming Lanes
TROY BECKONS
East Is East and West Is West
The Fair Troad
The Topless Towers of Ilium
The Golden Houses of the East
A Fleet Sets Sail
TROY BESIEGED
Helen – Destroyer of Cities
Death’s Dark Cloud
A Beautiful Death – Kalos Thanatos
The Fall of Troy
IMMORTAL HELEN
Home to Sparta
The Death of a Queen
The Age of Heroes Ends
‘Fragrant Treasuries’
The Daughter of the Ocean
THE FACE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND SHIPS
Helen in Athens
Helen Lost and Helen Found
Helen, Homer and the Chances of Survival
Veyn Fables
Helen of Troy and the Bad Samaritan
‘Perpulchra’ – More Than Beautiful
Dancing with the Devil
Helen’s Nemesis
APPENDICES
The Minotaur’s Island
La Parisienne
Women of Stone and Clay and Bronze
Elemental Helen – She-Gods and She-Devils
Royal Purple – The Colour of Congealed Blood
Epilogue – Myth, History and Historia
Abbreviations
Notes
Notes
Bibliography

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