Helen abducted when very young

Some affirm that Helen was not a virgin when suitors from the whole of Hellas came asking for her hand. For Theseus, they say, had abducted her years before, fathering a girl Iphigenia, whom Helen handed over to her sister Clytaemnestra when she came back to Sparta, having been rescued by her brothers the DIOSCURI, who destroyed the city of Aphidnae in Attica, where Theseus had hidden her.

Helen's beauty

But many others never cared about these rumours, finding this daughter of Zeus who was hatched from an egg to be of unsurpassed beauty. And when because of her, war broke up, some aged wise men found it perfectly understandable that Achaeans and Trojans should slaughter each other for her sake. For to such an extent may sometimes wisdom submit to beauty. So when it became known that King Tyndareus of Sparta was offering in marriage his stepdaughter Helen, princes and noblemen from the whole of Hellas came to win her hand. Already at this stage it was feared that Helen could cause a war. And when Tyndareus saw the multitude of suitors, he feared that choosing one of them might provoke the others to start quarrelling. Noticing his plight, Odysseus promised that if the king would help him to win the hand of Tyndareus' niece Penelope, he in return would reveal a way by which all trouble could be avoided. When Tyndareus accepted this bargain, Odysseus told him to exact an oath from all the suitors that they would defend and protect him who was chosen as Helen's husband against any wrong done against him in regard to his marriage.

The Oath of Tyndareus

This is how The Oath of Tyndareus came about, the suitors being sworn by the king, and Odysseus receiving Penelope from Icarius ₁, brother of Tyndareus. The ceremony was done in the place later called The Tomb of the Horse on the road from Sparta to Arcadia; for before administrating the oath to the suitors, Tyndareus sacrificed a horse, and after the suitors had been sworn standing upon the pieces of the horse, the animal was buried in the same place.

Helen chooses Menelaus

It is also told that Tyndareus feared that Agamemnon might divorce his daughter Clytaemnestra, and following Odysseus' advice, bound himself by an oath, and gave Helen leave to choose a husband. And she chose Menelaus, putting a wreath on his head.

The oath invoked

Later, when the seducer Paris came to Sparta and abducted Helen taking her to Troy, The Oath of Tyndareus was invoked by her husband Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon in order to form the coalition that sailed against Troy. But The Oath of Tyndareus, through which Odysseus won Penelope, turned against its inventor. For now Odysseus was bound, by the oath he himself had conceived, to go to war. Furthermore, an oracle had declared that if he sailed to Troy he would be away twenty years, and he would lose everything. So, being reluctant to join the alliance, Odysseus feigned madness, but Palamedes, seeing through the deception, forced him to stop pretending, and go to the war.

Agapenor was king of the Arcadians and their leader against Troy. After the war he founded Paphos in Cyprus. Agapenor was son of Ancaeus ₁ & Iotis. Ancaeus ₁ was son of Lycurgus ₂, son of Aleus, son of Aphidas ₁, son of Arcas ₁, son of Zeus and Callisto.
Apd.3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.609; Pau.8.5.2; QS.12.314ff.

Ajax ₁.

Ajax ₂.

Alcmaeon ₁ was leader of the EPIGONI against Thebes. After capturing Thebes, Alcmaeon ₁ learned that his mother Eriphyle had been bribed to his undoing as well as to his father's. So, in accordance with an oracle given to him by Apollo, Alcmaeon ₁ killed his own mother, perhaps in conjunction with his brother Amphilochus ₁. But he was haunted by the ERINYES of his mother's murder and, having gone mad, he first went to Arcadia, where he was received by Oicles. Thence he came to the court of Phegeus ₁ at Psophis who, having purified him, gave him his daughter Arsinoe ₁. Nevertheless the fields were believed to have become barren on his account, and so he departed to Achelous who purified him again and gave him his daughter as well. But his second wife asked for the necklace of Harmonia ₁ that Arsinoe ₁ had received from Alcmaeon ₁. And when he tried to get it back from his first wife, Phegeus ₁ understood he was being deluded by Alcmaeon ₁ and sent his sons Pronous ₁ and Agenor ₃ to kill him, or perhaps killed him himself (see also Robe & Necklace of Harmonia ₁).
Parentage: Amphiaraus and Eriphyle. Mates & Offspring: Alcmaeon ₁ was father of Clytius ₁₁ by Alcinoe ₁; of Acarnan ₁ and Amphoterus ₁ by Callirrhoe ₂; of Amphilochus ₂ and Tisiphone ₂ by Manto ₁.
Apd.3.7.2-7; Hes.CWE.68.15, 99; Hyg.Fab.245; Pau.6.17.6.

Amphilochus ₁, brother of Alcmaeon ₁, is known, among other things, for having killed his own mother in conjunction with his brother (see Robe & Necklace of Harmonia ₁). He is not always well distinguished from Amphilochus ₂, son of Alcmaeon ₁. Amphilochus ₁ was the son of Amphiaraus and greedy Eriphyle. They say that he was killed by Apollo at Soli. Amphilochus ₁ was one of the EPIGONI.
Apd.3.7.2-5, 3.10.8.; Hdt.3.91; Hes.Mel.1, 8; QS.14.366

Amphimachus ₁ was the leader from Elis (see ACHAEAN LEADERS) and died at Troy killed by Hector ₁ He is son of Cteatus and Theronice, daughter of Dexamenus ₁, son of Oeceus. Cteatus was one of the MOLIONIDES (see Elis).
Apd.3.10.8; Apd. Ep.3.12; Hom.Il.2.536ff., 2.620, 13.185; Pau.5.3.3-4

Ancaeus ₂ of Samos, son of Poseidon is counted among the ARGONAUTS. He is not reported to have fought at Troy. King of Samos, was son of Poseidon, either by Althaea or by Astypalea. He married Samia, daughter of the river god Meander, and had children by her: Perilaus ₁, Enudus, Samus, Alitherses, and Parthenope ₂. Ancaeus ₂ is counted among the ARGONAUTS. He is not reported to have fought at Troy.
Hyg.Fab.14, 81; Pau.7.4.1; Val.1.413

Antilochus, son of Nestor, either by Anaxibia ₃ or by Eurydice ₈, was one of the leaders from Pylos against Troy. Antilochus died in the Trojan War killed either by Hector ₁ or by Memnon. Leonymus says that he saw his soul in the White Isle, but Odysseus met his soul in the Underworld when he descended there. Antilochus, who is counted among the SUITORS OF HELEN, was father of Paeon ₃, whose sons were expelled from Messenia by the HERACLIDES Temenus ₂ and Cresphontes.
AETH.1; Apd.1.9.9; Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.5.3; Hom.Od.3.452, 11.468; Hyg.Fab.97, 112, 113, 252; Pau.2.18.8, 3.19.12; QS.2.256, 2.262; Try.18

Ascalaphus ₁. An Argive, son of Lycus ₄ and Pernis or of Ares and Astyoche ₅, daughter of Actor ₇, son of Azeus, son of Clymenus ₂, son of Presbon, son of Phrixus ₁, son of Athamas ₁. Ascalaphus ₁ is also counted among the ARGONAUTS, and the ACHAEAN LEADERS. He perished at Troy killed by Deiphobus ₁, son of King Priam ₁.
Apd.1.9.16, 3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.494ff., 2.512, Il.13.518; Hyg.Fab.97

Blanirus is otherwise unknown.
Hyg.Fab.81.

Clytius ₁ was one of the ARGONAUTS. He is son of Eurytus ₄ and Antiope ₂. Eurytus ₄ is the Prince of Oechalia who received a bow from Apollo, that became, through Iphitus ₁, Odysseus' renowned bow. Clytius ₁ was killed by King Aeetes of Colchis, or by Heracles ₁, and that is why he never was at Troy.
Dio.4.37.5; Hes.CWE.79; Hyg.Fab.14, 81.

Diomedes ₂.

Elephenor led the Euboean Abantians against Troy, where he died killed by Agenor ₈, the son of Antenor ₁ who was in turn killed by Neoptolemus. Elephenor was son of Chalcodon ₁, the Euboean king that waged war against Thebes and was killed by Amphitryon.
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.3.11; Hom.Il.2.536ff., 4.463ff.; Hyg.Fab.97.

Epistrophus ₁, son of Iphitus ₂ and Hippolyte ₁, led the Phocians against Troy.
Apd.3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.517; Hyg.Fab.97

Eumelus ₁, son of Admetus ₁ and Alcestis, led the Pheraeans against Troy. He married Iphthime, daughter of Icarius ₁ and sister of Penelope, Odysseus' wife. At the end of the war he was one of the warriors who hid inside the WOODEN HORSE.
Apd.3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.715ff.; Hom.Od.4.797; QS.12.314ff.; Try.172

Eurypylus ₁, who led the Ormenians against Troy, is said to have received a cursed chest after the war and on seeing it went mad. But some say that the one who found the chest was Eurypylus ₇, son of Dexamenus ₁, son of Oeceus. Eurypylus ₁ is the son of Evaemon ₁, son of Ormenus ₃, son of Cercaphus ₂, son of Aeolus ₁.
Apd.3.10.8; Hyg.Fab.97; Pau.7.19.6, 10.27.2; QS.12.314ff.; Try.176

Ialmenus ₁. A Leader against Troy from Aspledon and Minyan Orchomenus and brother of Ascalaphus ₁ (see above). Ialmenus ₁, who had been one of the ARGONAUTS, is found among the ACHAEAN LEADERS and among those who hid inside the WOODEN HORSE.
Apd.1.9.16, 3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.494ff.; Hyg.Fab.97; QS.12.314ff.

Idomeneus ₁, son of Deucalion ₂, son of Minos ₂, led the Cretans against Troy. Idomeneus ₁'s wife Meda ₂, like other Achaean women, took a lover while her husband was fighting at Troy. Her lover Leucus ₁ usurped power and when Idomeneus ₁ returned he was driven out of Crete. And after that Leucus ₁ killed Meda ₂ and her daughter Clisithyra, whom she had by Idomeneus ₁. King Idomeneus ₁ migrated to Italy.
Apd.3.3.1; Apd.Ep.3.11ff., 6.10; Hom.Od.13.260; Hyg.Fab.81; QS.12.314ff.; Try.168.

Leitus was also one of the ARGONAUTS, for no common men asked for Helen's hand. He led the Boeotians against Troy and was wounded by Hector ₁, but nevertheless he was the only one among the Boeotian chiefs to return home from Troy. His parentage is disputed.
Apd.1.9.16; 3.10.8; Eur.IA.259; Hom.Il.2.494, 17.605; Hyg.Fab.97; Pau.9.4.3

Leonteus ₁ is the Lapith leader against Troy, who buried Calchas when he died after the war at Colophon in Asia Minor. Leonteus ₁, who hid inside the WOODEN HORSE at the end of the Trojan War, was son of Coronus ₁, son of Caeneus ₁, who formerly was a woman Caenis was turned into an invulnerable man by Poseidon. A great advantage it would seem, but as he could not be killed the CENTAURS buried him alive in the earth.
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.6.3; Hom.Il.2.726ff., 2.746, 12.128; QS.7.484, 12.314ff.; Try.176

Lycomedes ₄. A Cretan.
Hes.CWE.68.50.

Machaon from Tricca in western Thessaly is son of Asclepius and Epione and was himself a surgeon. During the Trojan War he cured the wound that the arrow of Pandarus ₁ inflicted on Menelaus and he also healed the wound of Philoctetes. Machaon failed in obtaining Helen's hand and married Anticlia ₃, daughter of Diocles ₁, son of Orsilochus ₁, son of the river god Alpheus. Machaon had by Anticlia ₃ several children: Alexanor, Sphyrus, Polemocrates, Nicomachus ₁ and Gorgasus. Machaon hid inside the WOODEN HORSE, say some, but others say that he was killed by the Amazon Penthesilia, an ally of Troy, and that is before the sack of Troy. Still others say that Machaon was killed at Troy by Eurypylus ₆, a Mysian ally, son of Telephus, son of Heracles ₁.
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.5.1; Dio.4.71.4; Hom.Il.2.732, 4.215ff.; Hyg.Fab.97, 108; Pau.2.11.5, 2.23.4, 2.29.1, 2.38.6, 3.26.9, 4.30.3; Prop.2.1.59; QS.6.408; SI.5; Vir.Aen.2.63.

Meges ₁, who commanded forces from Elis or from Dulichium against Troy is also found among those who hid inside the WOODEN HORSE. Meges ₁ was son of Phyleus ₁, son of Augeas, the man whose stables Heracles ₁ had to clean.
Apd.3.10.8; Eur.IA.285; Hom.Il.13.692; Hyg.Fab.97; QS.12.314ff.; Try.180

Menelaus won the hand of Helen.

Menestheus ₁.

Establishing a model that was later used in historical times, Menestheus ₁ was appointed king in Athens by the DIOSCURI, who were Spartans. This happened because of Theseus' abduction of Helen which caused the Peloponnesian armies to invade Attica (see Theseus). Menestheus ₁ was son of Peteos, who migrated from Attica to Phocis when pursued by Theseus' father Aegeus ₁. Peteos, some say, was originally an Egyptian, who later obtained Athenian citizenship. But Peteos is also called son of Orneus ₁, who was son of Erechtheus, a pure Athenian (see Athens). Menestheus ₁ is among those who hid inside the WOODEN HORSE.
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.1.23, 6.15b; Hes.CWE.68.42; Hom.Il.2.536ff., 2.552; Pau.1.23.8; QS.12.314ff.

Meriones became a leader from Crete against Troy, being also the squire of Idomeneus ₁. He is among those who hid inside the WOODEN HORSE. Meriones is son of Molus ₁, a bastard son of Deucalion ₂ or else son of Minos ₂. Meriones' mother was Melphis.
Hom.Il.7.166; Hyg.Fab.81, 97; QS.12.314ff.

Nireus ₂ became leader of the Syme, a small island between Caria and Rhodes, and was killed in the Trojan War by Eurypylus ₆, son of Telephus, son of Heracles ₁. Nireus ₂ is son of Charopus and Aglaia ₄
Apd.Ep.3.11ff.; Hom.Il.2.672; Hyg.Fab.81, 97; QS.6.372

Odysseus did not win the hand of Helen. Instead he received Penelope for having conceived what is called The Oath of Tyndareus.

Patroclus ₁.

Peneleus became one of the Boeotian leaders against Troy. He is found among the ARGONAUTS and among those who hid inside the WOODEN HORSE. Peneleus died in the Trojan War killed by Eurypylus ₆, son of Telephus, son of Heracles ₁. Peneleus was son of Hippalcimus ₂, son of Itonus ₂, son of Boeotus, son of Itonus ₁, son of Amphictyon, son of Deucalion ₁, the man who survived the Flood.
Apd.1.9.16, 3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.494; Hyg.Fab.97; Pau.9.5.15-16; QS.7.104; Try.180

Phemius ₁. Otherwise unknown.
Hyg.Fab.81.

Phidippus led against Troy the forces from Cos, which is one of the Sporades Islands off the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. After the war he settled in Andros, the most northerly of the Cyclades Islands. Phidippus is son of Thessalus ₁, son of Heracles ₁. His mother was Chalciope ₄.
Apd.Ep.6.15; Hom.Il.2.670ff.; Hyg.Fab.81.

Philoctetes came from Meliboea, a city in Thessaly, and he led the Olizonians against Troy. On his way to the war he was bitten by a water-snake in Tenedos, an island off the coast of the Troad, and as the wound did not heal the Achaean army put him ashore on the island of Lemnos, with the bow of Heracles ₁ which he had in his possession. There he survived by shooting birds while the war was going on at Troy. But when Calchas prophesied that the city could not be taken unless the Achaeans had the bow and arrows of Heracles ₁ fighting on their side, Odysseus and Diomedes ₂, or as others say Neoptolemus, went to Philoctetes in Lemnos, and persuaded him to sail to Troy. After being cured by Podalirius, Philoctetes shot Paris with his poisoned arrows. After the war he went to Campania in Italy, and having made war on the Lucanians, he settled in Crimissa where he founded a sanctuary of Apollo to whom he dedicated the famous bow. Philoctetes is counted among the ARGONAUTS and among those Achaean warriors who hid inside the WOODEN HORSE. Philoctetes was son of Poeas and Demonassa ₂.

Podalirius the healer is brother of Machaon and son of Asclepius and Epione. He was inside the WOODEN HORSE, and after the Trojan War he settled in the Carian Chersonese in southwestern Asia Minor.
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.3.11ff., 5.8, 6.18; Dio.4.71.4; Hom.Il.2.732; Pau.2.29.1, 3.26.10; QS.12.314ff.; SI.5.

Podarces ₂ led the people of Phylace, a Thessalian city west of the Gulf of Pagasae, against Troy. He is son of Iphiclus ₁, son of either Phylacus ₁ or Cephalus ₁, both sons of King Deion of Phocis, son of Aeolus ₁.
Hes.CWE.68.35; Hom.Il.2.670ff.; QS.1.238

Polypoetes ₁ led the people of Gyrtone, a city in Thessaly, against Troy. He was inside the WOODEN HORSE and after the war he was among those who buried Calchas at Colophon in Asia Minor. Polypoetes ₁ was son of notorious Pirithous, the man who wished to marry Persephone.
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.6.3; Dio.4.63.1; Hom.Il.2.670ff., 12.182; Pau.10.26.2; QS.12.314ff.

Polyxenus ₂ led against Troy the people of Aetolia, the region in mainland Greece north of the Gulf of Patrae. Polyxenus ₂ survived the war and entertained Odysseus when he came to Elis to inspect his herds after the killing of the SUITORS OF PENELOPE. Polyxenus ₂ is son of Agasthenes, son of Augeas, the man whose stables Heracles ₁ had to clean. Polyxenus ₂ had a son Amphimachus ₆, whom he named after his friend Amphimachus ₁ who died at Troy.
Apd.3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.624; Hyg.Fab.97; Pau.5.3.4; Tel.1.

Protesilaus is brother of Podarces ₂ (see above). He led the people of Phylace against Troy. Protesilaus was the first of the Achaeans to land on Trojan soil, and on landing he killed many but was himself killed. His wife (Laodamia ₂ or Polydora ₃), who loved him still, made an image of him and consorted with it. So, through the pity of the gods, Hermes brought up Protesilaus from the Underworld. His wife thought then that he had returned from Troy, but when he was carried back to Hades, she stabbed herself to death. Protesilaus was killed by Hector ₁, or by an unknown Dardanian leader, as he leapt forth from his ship, or by Cycnus ₁, son of Poseidon and Calyce ₂ and king of Colonae, a city in the Troad
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.3.11ff., 3.30; CYP.1; Hdt.9.116; Hom.Il.698ff.; Hyg.Fab.103, 113; Pau.4.2.7; QS.4.469.

Prothous ₄, son of Tenthredon, led the people of Magnesia, the coastal area of eastern Thessaly south of Mount Ossa, against Troy.
Hom.Il.2.756; Hyg.Fab.81.

Schedius ₁ led against Troy the people of Phocis, the region bordering the Gulf of Corinth west of Boeotia. Schedius ₁ is brother of Epistrophus ₁ (see above). He was killed by Hector ₁ during the Trojan War.
Apd.3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.494ff., 2.517, 17.306ff.; Hyg.Fab.97.

Sthenelus ₂. This leader from Argos against Troy is counted among the EPIGONI and among those who hid inside the WOODEN HORSE. Sthenelus ₂ is son of Capaneus, son of Hipponous ₁. His mother was Evadne ₂, the woman who threw herself on the pyre of her husband Capaneus when he died in the war of the SEVEN AGAINST THEBES, and was burned with him. Sthenelus ₂'s son Cometes ₂ became during the war the lover of Aegialia, wife of Diomedes ₂. Sthenelus ₂'s other son Cylarabes became king of the Argives after the Trojan War, and was succeeded by Orestes ₂.
Apd.3.7.2, 3.10.8; Apd.Ep.6.10; Eur.IA.246; Hom.Il.2.564; Hyg.Fab.97, 108; Pau.2.18.5; QS.12.314ff.; Vir.Aen.2.61

Teucer ₁ led against Troy the people of Salamis, the island off the coast of Attica in the Saronic Gulf. He was among those who hid inside the WOODEN HORSE. After the war he founded the city Salamis in Cyprus, which he ruled. Teucer ₁ is Telamon's bastard son by Hesione ₂, the girl whom Heracles ₁ assigned to Telamon after having saved her from a monster. Teucer ₁'s half brother is Ajax ₁, son of Telamon and Periboea ₂.
Apd.3.10.8; Eur.Hel.87 and passim; Hom.Il.8.285ff.; Hyg.Fab.97; Pau.1.23.8, 2.29.4; Pin.Nem.4.46; QS.12.314ff.; Soph.Aj. passim; Try.170.

Thalpius is yet another leader from Elis against Troy, who joined the warriors who hid inside the WOODEN HORSE. He is son of Eurytus ₁, an Elean general, son of Actor ₄ and Molione, or of Poseidon and Molione, or of Augeas.
Apd.3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.536ff., 2.620; Pau.5.3.4; QS.12.314ff.

Thoas ₂ was king of Pleuron and Calydon. He led the Aetolians against Troy and is counted among those who hid inside the WOODEN HORSE. Thoas ₂ survived the war and years later Odysseus, who had been sent into exile because of the killing of the SUITORS OF PENELOPE, came to him and married his daughter. Thoas ₂ was son of Andraemon ₁ and Gorge ₂, daughter of Oeneus ₂ (see Calydon).
Apd.Ep.3.11ff., 7.40; Hom.Il.13.216; Hyg.Fab.81, 108; Pau.5.3.6; QS.12.314ff.; Vir.Aen.2.62.

Tlepolemus ₁ led against Troy the people of Rhodes and was killed in the war by Sarpedon ₁, the King of Lycia to whom Zeus granted life for three generations. His wife Polyxo ₄ is said to have arranged the death of Helen to avenge the loss of her husband (see Helen). Tlepolemus ₁ is son of Heracles ₁.
Apd.2.7.7ff.; Dio.5.59.5; Hom.Il.2.653, 5.655ff.; Hyg.Fab.81; Pau.3.19.10; Plu.GQ.37; Strab.8.3.5.

See above.