Menelaus or Menelaos (Ancient Greek: Μενέλαος) was the King of Sparta before and during the Trojan War, in Greek mythology. Atreus was his father, and Agamemnon, leader of the Achaean army at Ilion (the plains of Troy), was Menelaus' brother. The "kidnapping" of Menelaus' wife Helen by Paris, shepherd son of Priam, was the cause of that conflict.
Etymology[]
Menelaos means 'wrath of the people', from Ancient Greek μένος (menos) 'vigor, rage, power' and λαός (laos) 'people'.
Description[]
Homer does not give Menelaus many epithets (e.g. "Brilliant", "Lord of Men", "who Gathers the Clouds", etc.) in The Iliad, but in The Odyssey it becomes known that he had red hair. In the account of Dares the Phrygian, Menelaus was described as "of moderate stature, auburn-haired, and handsome. He had a pleasing personality."
In the Homer's two narratives[]
Menelaus is a character of both The Iliad and The Odyssey: at war against the Trojans in The Iliad, and in The Odyssey back at his castle in Sparta with his retaken wife, and in that book is met by Telemachus from Ithaca, who searches for news of his father Odysseus.
Menelaus (right) intends to strike Helen (center); struck by her beauty, he drops his swords. A flying Eros and Aphrodite (left) watch the scene, detail of an Attic red-figure crater, c. 450–440 BC
Family[]
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| Preceded by: Tyndareus (Second Rule) and |
King of Sparta Mythic |
Succeeded by Orestes |
Popular Culture[]
- His character (though with some mythological inaccuracies) was portrayed by Brendan Gleeson in the 2004 film Troy.
Brendan Gleeson as Menelaus in Troy (2004)
See also[]
- Achilles
- Menestheus, king of the Athenians at the same time