According to legend, Helen was born from an egg. Her divine parents were Zeus and Leda. As the most beautiful woman of the time, Helen was desirable for every man who looked at her. Because of this, she was kidnapped by Theseus and Peirithoos to Aphidnai (Attica) at the age of twelve. Her brothers, the Dioscuri, freed her a short time later and brought her back to her homeland of Sparta. Helen was also promised as a wife to the Trojan prince Paris during a dispute between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite over the golden apple of Eris [Judgment of Paris]. Helen was then kidnapped by Paris and taken to Troy.
Rape of Helen Helen was one of the triggers for the outbreak of the Trojan War: a Greek army sailed to Troy and besieged the city in Asia Minor for ten years in order to bring the beautiful girl back to Greece. After the Trojan king Paris was promised the "most beautiful woman in the world" by Aphrodite, Paris sailed to Greece and met Helen there. They immediately fell in love and Paris took her to Troy [Rape of Helen]. This caused a problem, however, as Helen was already married to the Spartan king Menelaus. Nevertheless, he traveled back to Troy with Helen and some treasures. This made Menelaus so angry that he turned to his brother Agamemnon, who in turn mobilized a large army from all over Greece, including the invulnerable Achilles.
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