Menelaus,
red-haired, son of Atreus and brother of Agamemnon. King of Sparta (Lacedaemon).
The abduction of his wife Helen by Paris was the casus belli for
the Trojan War. All Helen's suitors had pledged to help her and Menelaus
if anything went wrong. In the Iliad he picks up Paris' challenge to single
combat in Book 3, but is hurt by Pandarus' arrow in Book 4. He is a bit
of a softy compared with the other warriors (he actually wants to spare
Adrestus in Book 6 until Agamemnon persuades him otherwise). Agamemnon is
very anxious for him not to go on the raid in Book 10. In 17 he has some
good fights. After the Iliad he returns home safely and is found in domestic
bliss at Sparta by Telemachus in the Odyssey (Book 4). In later literature
he becomes nastier - especially in Euripides' Orestes. A Mycenaean
palace is being excavated at Therapne, above Sparta, near the so-called
Menelaion - allegedly the tomb of Menelaus and Helen.
James
and Andy near the Menelaion on a wet day in 1996