Menelaus

Reading notes

• The Art of Love §2.17 Menelaus

  King of Sparta and husband of Helen, whose absence let Paris carry her off.

• The Heroides §5 the younger son of Atreus

  Menelaus, Helen's wronged husband, who 'cries out at the broken pact of his bed.'

• The Heroides §5 Menelaus

  King of Sparta whom Helen first loved and betrayed, now left in a 'widowed bed.'

• The Heroides §8 father-in-law

  Menelaus, who waged the Trojan War to reclaim his stolen wife Helen — the example Hermione bids Orestes follow.

• The Heroides §8 Menelaus

  Hermione's father, who (she argues) will forgive her love for Orestes, having yielded to love himself.

• The Heroides §13 Menelaus

  Helen's husband, who wages the war to reclaim her — to many wives a 'lamentable avenger.'

• The Heroides §16 Menelaus

  Helen's husband, the Spartan king, whom Paris belittles in beauty and arms.

• The Heroides §17 Menelaus

  Helen's husband, now away in Crete, trusting her character.

• Metamorphoses §12.383 the lesser Atrides

  King of Sparta, the 'lesser' son of Atreus, who does not dare claim Achilles's arms.

• Metamorphoses §13.393 Menelaus

  King of Sparta, Helen's husband and Agamemnon's brother.

• The Cure for Love §2 Menelaus

  King of Sparta and husband of Helen, whose loss launched the Greek expedition against Troy.