In the words of Christopher Marlowe, she was the "face that
launched a thousand ships." Helen of Troy was certainly one of the most desired women in all
history (in fact and myth). Abducted when she was just a child, Helen became the mate of dozens
of men; among them were Ajax, Menelaus and Paris. The daughter of Zeus, she was proclaimed the
most beautiful woman in the world, and the Trojan War was fought primarily because of her
abduction.
Different writers give various descriptions of her final
years. After Paris' death, she became the mate of his brother, Deiphobus; when Deiphobus was
killed (and mutilated, by either Odysseus or Menelaus), Menelaus spared her from the sword after
she dropped her robe to reveal her great beauty. Menelaus and Helen were reunited in Sparta
following the war, and at "the end of their mortal existence, they continued to be together in
Elysium." Other sources claim she eventually made her way to Rhodes, where she was "hanged... on
a tree."
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