Stealing Helen: The Myth of the Abducted Wife in Comparative Perspective

Lowell Edmunds; Lowell Edmunds

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Stealing Helen

The Myth of the Abducted Wife in Comparative Perspective

Lowell Edmunds and Lowell Edmunds

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2015

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About this book

It's a familiar story: a beautiful woman is abducted and her husband journeys to recover her. This story’s best-known incarnation is also a central Greek myth—the abduction of Helen that led to the Trojan War. Stealing Helen surveys a vast range of folktales and texts exhibiting the story pattern of the abducted beautiful wife and makes a detailed comparison with the Helen of Troy myth. Lowell Edmunds shows that certain Sanskrit, Welsh, and Old Irish texts suggest there was an Indo-European story of the abducted wife before the Helen myth of the Iliad became known.

Investigating Helen’s status in ancient Greek sources, Edmunds argues that if Helen was just one trope of the abducted wife, the quest for Helen’s origin in Spartan cult can be abandoned, as can the quest for an Indo-European goddess who grew into the Helen myth. He explains that Helen was not a divine essence but a narrative figure that could replicate itself as needed, at various times or places in ancient Greece. Edmunds recovers some of these narrative Helens, such as those of the Pythagoreans and of Simon Magus, which then inspired the Helens of the Faust legend and Goethe.

Stealing Helen offers a detailed critique of prevailing views behind the "real" Helen and presents an eye-opening exploration of the many sources for this international mythical and literary icon.

Author / Editor information

Lowell Edmunds is professor emeritus of classics at Rutgers University. He is the author of Oedipus: The Ancient Legend and Its Later Analogues and the editor of Approaches to Greek Myth.

Reviews

"A weighty contribution to the study of Helen as well as the study of folklore in ancient Greece."---Ryan Platte, Journal of Hellenic Studies --- "An excellent, important book in both its methodology and data. . . . Edmunds has brought about a leap of quality in understanding the myth of Helen."---Ephraim Nissan, Fabula --- "Edmunds brings to this rich, sophisticated book an innovative approach to the Helen story: he looks at it with a comparative eye." --- "Ultimately, the book's greatest merit may lie . . . in his [Edmunds'] broad horizons--in his delight at discovering similarities between classical literature and the tales and experiences of people across the globe."---Barbara Graziosi, Times Higher Education

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Frontmatter
i

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Contents
v

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List of Figures
ix

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Preface
xi

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Abbreviations
xv

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Introduction
1

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1. “The Abduction of the Beautiful Wife” as International Tale
20

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2. Dioscuri
66

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3. Helen Myth
103

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4. Hypostases of Helen
162

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5. Helen in the Fifth Century and After
197

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Conclusion
236

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Appendix 1. Examples of “The Abduction of the Beautiful Wife”
247

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Appendix 2. Inventory of Art Objects
303

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Notes
313

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References
369

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Index Locorum
407

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General Index
420

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Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

January 15, 2016

eBook ISBN:

9781400874224

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400874224

eBook ISBN: 9781400874224

Keywords for this book

Poetry; Narrative; Castor and Pollux; Menelaus; Trojan War; Greek mythology; Stesichorus; Cypria; Isocrates; Odysseus; Homer; Euripides; To Helen; Fiction; Herodotus; Hesiod; Lacedaemon (mythology); Theseus; Classics; Etymology; Theocritus; Clytemnestra; Epic poetry; Wreath; Guinevere; Rhiannon; Hexameter; Palinode; Tyndareus; Oral tradition; Midir; Writing; Pwyll; Priam; Tragedy; Gorgias; Mycenae; Thucydides; Iconography; Literature; N. (novella); Valmiki; Ancient Greece; The Various; Theoclymenus; Epithalamium; Ancient Greek; Alcman; Sophocles; Simon Magus; Parody; Heroides; Iphigenia; Aristophanes; Figurine; Theban Cycle; Swan maiden; Anecdote; Dawn goddess; Epictetus; Atreus; The Telling; Aeschylus; Greek literature; Epithet; Oreste; Encomium; Ibycus; Hellenistic period; Menelaion

Audience(s) for this book

For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research

Stealing Helen

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Figures

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

1. “The Abduction of the Beautiful Wife” as International Tale

2. Dioscuri

3. Helen Myth

4. Hypostases of Helen

5. Helen in the Fifth Century and After

Conclusion

Appendix 1. Examples of “The Abduction of the Beautiful Wife”

Appendix 2. Inventory of Art Objects

Notes

References

Index Locorum

General Index

Bibliographic data