Menelaus Εὐρυβίης‎

This concluding chapter examines Simonides’ ‘Plataea Elegy’. Sometime not long after the Greek defeat of the Persian army at Plataea, Simonides composed an elegy to commemorate this world-historical event in ostentatiously epic terms. Menelaus makes an appearance in the elegy, with the Dioscuri, as patron of the Spartan contingent. The intriguing poem provides a final glimpse of Menelaus as the archaic period draws to a close. It suggests that Menelaus’ place in the cultic environment of archaic Sparta was matched by a significant role in Spartans’ self-definition. The chapter then assesses Simonides’ description of Menelaus as εὐρυβίης‎. Simonides seems to have been the first to adapt the epithet εὐρυβίης‎ to describe a hero. Public performance of the elegy would have provided the opportunity for quick and widespread dissemination of the newly re-discovered word. Its special use then became normative in the lyric diction of epinician poets in the early to mid-fifth century.

The Cult of Menelaus and Helen at Therapne

This chapter studies the cult of Menelaus and Helen at Therapne. A ‘happy congruence’ of evidence, from the seventh century BC onward, indicates that Menelaus and Helen were honoured at a place known in antiquity as Therapne. Indeed, authors from the early archaic period through the end of the era attest to the presence of a shrine to Menelaus and/or Menelaus and Helen on the hills across the Eurotas River from modern Sparta. The site, comprising an archaic shrine built next to and atop an extensive Mycenaean site, was well-studied by the British School early and late in the twentieth century. Moreover, inscriptional evidence corresponds with the ancient testimonia to indicate that Menelaus and Helen were worshiped at the place already known in antiquity as the Menelaion. Dedications to Helen and Menelaus dated to the seventh and sixth centuries BC are among the earliest reported inscriptional evidence for the worship of any Homeric hero in Greece. The archaic cult at the Menelaion is frequently discussed both for the study of hero cult in itself and for the question as to how early Greek cult did intersect with the proliferation of epic poetry.

Menelaus in Archaic Art

This chapter explores the depiction of Menelaus in archaic art. Menelaus appears in Greek art by the mid-seventh century BC and continues to be depicted by artists into the classical period and beyond. One may roughly divide images of Menelaus into two categories: ‘with Helen’ and ‘everything else’. Early on, ‘everything else’—depictions of Menelaus without Helen—is in fact more frequent, so far as one can tell from the few images that remain. By the mid-sixth century, however, Menelaus is depicted with Helen almost exclusively. Menelaus-Helen images have been studied by art historians and philologists from the standpoint of Helen. Scant attention has been given, however, to what the pictures ‘say’ about Menelaus. Even though certain iconographic details change somewhat over the course of the sixth century, there is a mostly stable and coherent depiction of Menelaus in black- and early red-figure Athenian vases that differs from his depiction in the classical period. The chapter then provides an annotated catalogue of the known images in which Menelaus appears without Helen.

Why Menelaus?

This chapter assesses the depiction of Menelaus in non-Homeric archaic poetry. What emerges most clearly about Menelaus, from the bits and pieces remaining from non-Homeric archaic poetry, is relationships: chiefly with Agamemnon and Helen; but also with Nestor and his sons, Antenor, and with kinsmen and hosts on Crete. The Cyclic fragments, scant as they are, disclose something of Menelaus’ stature independent of Agamemnon. The Cypria particularly shows Menelaus in the events leading up to the Trojan War largely acting on his own, or the gods’, initiative. Meanwhile, the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women emphasizes Menelaus’ success by virtue of his wealth at the great world-historical moment, not the Trojan War per se but earlier, in the wooing of Helen. In what remains of Menelaus in archaic lyric, the relationships with Agamemnon and Helen are also prominent. In Alcman, he is celebrated, with Helen and the Dioscuri, as the recipient of choral song at a place called Therapne. In Stesichorus, Menelaus is sidelined while Helen turns prophet. In the extant fragments of Sappho, Menelaus is mentioned along with his brother and wife.

The Odyssey

This chapter examines the portrayal of Menelaus in the Odyssey. The Odyssey-poet has a new role for Menelaus to play: Menelaus will help Telemachus to find, and the audience to understand, Odysseus. The chapter also reveals the importance of relationships in Homeric character-portrayal. In the Iliad, Homer refigures the relationships by which Menelaus was traditionally construed. He consistently defers to Agamemnon not out of inferiority or dependency but acts out of affection and choice. Helen matters very little to Menelaus, apart from the injustice of her abduction. The Odyssey-poet thematizes these same relationships rather differently. As the narrative begins, the returns of Menelaus and Agamemnon depend on one another. But as the story progresses, Menelaus distances himself, for a time, from brother and wife. Menelaus extricates himself from Helen in the course of his narrative, eliminating her altogether in the story of Proteus and casting himself as a hero of Odyssean mettle, with a fate all his own. The relationships by which Menelaus traditionally is construed begin to close in on him after the close of the Proteus narrative. Homer finally leaves Menelaus behind, in the shadow of Helen, when Telemachus returns to Ithaca.

Introduction

It is certain archaic vases—as much as the Homeric texts—that invite ‘parallel’ consideration of Menelaus in the art and poetry of the age. We begin with the exceptional vase known as the ‘Euphorbos plate’ mentioned in the Preface (p. vi; Fig. 4.10) which was painted on Kos, found on Rhodes, and destined for heirloom status. We see depicted there a duel scene involving three figures, each identified by painted name-label. ‘Menelaus’ engages ‘Hector’ in a duel over a fallen warrior, ‘Euphorbus’. And in fact, in the seventeenth book of the ...

The Iliad

This chapter discusses the portrayal of Menelaus in the Iliad. Menelaus is among the most important heroes in the Iliad, mentioned by name or making an appearance in seventeen out of the twenty-four books. Menelaus’ stature does not primarily depend, however, on the frequency of his appearances. The scholia note Homer’s evident sympathy for Menelaus, observing that Menelaus is, like Patroclus, ‘kindly’. Menelaus expresses concern for the sufferings of others; he takes pity on an enemy and swiftly comes to the aid of others, even at potential harm to himself. Moreover, Menelaus yields to his friends, not out of weakness, but regard. Ultimately, his ‘sympathetic’ personality arises from an acute awareness of his own responsibility for the Trojan War. Homer portrays this special trait of Menelaus’ character, his sympathy, through repeated actions and marked language. Indeed, Homer fashions Menelaus as a memorable and unique character within the traditional diction and rhetoric of his craft.