Abduction of Helen

Paris has seen its share of struggles, but they are now past. He eventually makes it back to Troy and assumes the role of a prince after a few disasters. Without realizing that Aphrodite had omitted to acknowledge her marriage to King Menelaus of Sparta, he is desperate for Helen's affection. Thus, another dangerous mission to kidnap Helen of Sparta gets underway. In the absence of Spartan King Menelaus, Paris took the occasion to travel to Sparta under the guise of a diplomatic expedition. Paris considered this as a good opportunity to begin the siege of the queen as King Menelaus had traveled to Crete to bury his uncle Crateus.

Helen was either hit by Cupid's arrow or by Eros, the personification of love when he entered Sparta's gates. As predicted by Aphrodite, she fell in love the moment she set eyes on him. The deed that set off a feeling of revenge and competitiveness that fueled both Troy and Sparta was the forerunner to the Trojan War. According to legend, the renowned pair sails first to Egypt, then the terrified Paris docks at Sidon, and eventually they arrive at Troy.

The gods replaced Helen with Nephele, a hazy and ethereal lookalike, while the real Helen was already in Troy, according to a different version from the poet Stesichorus who lived in the sixth century. Whatever the circumstances, it was certain that Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, King Menelaus's wife and the queen of Sparta, had been kidnapped, was being held captive in Troy, and that a war had been declared to retrieve her.