Book 3: Paris Runs Away In Battle, Aphrodite Makes Helen Hang Out With Him
Paris and Menelaus Decide To Duel
Book Three book opens at dawn the following day when the Greek men march into battle.
On the Trojan side, Paris is the first to wake up, jumping up and reaching for his weapons. When he understands that the war is beginning, he sets off onto the field. From his chariot he calls out to the Greeks, loudly challenging any one of them to battle him in hand-to-hand combat (this is a really dumb move by Paris — just wait and see).
From the Greek side, Menelaus sees Paris approaching and he’s THRILLED, to say the least. Menelaus dismounts from his chariot and stares Paris down, taking on Paris’ challenge like the Greek hero he is.
However, Paris did not assume anyone would call his bluff, let alone the man he stole his current wife from. And so, Paris craps himself and turns to run away (see, I told you this was dumb).
Hector sees this happening and shouts at Paris that he wishes Paris were dead. He says the Greeks must be laughing at the Trojans because even though Paris is nice to look at, he’s weak as hell (considering he is currently fleeing a fight that he, himself, asked for). Hector continues to completely blame Paris for the issues that Troy is now facing and even reiterates how Paris physically went to get Helen in his boat — holding his brother accountable for his actions and condemning him for his unwillingness to face the consequences.
To be fair to Paris, he takes this like a champ. Paris tells Hector that he is right to be frustrated, however does question what else he was supposed to do in his unique situation. He explains that Aphrodite, the goddess of love, gave him a gift. This gift just so happened to be Helen. Was he supposed to say no and reject a goddess, given that she willingly gave him something with zero strings attached?
In order to appease his brother, Paris suggests that he should have a one-on-one duel with Menelaus in a bid to end the war right there and then — Helen’s husbands fighting it out to the death. Paris says that whomever wins this duel will win Helen and put an end to the fighting. He asks Hector to command the rest of the army to hang back in order to have the space to propose this fight to the Greeks.
Hector is happy that his brother is finally showing some kind of bravery, so does as he says and tells the Trojans to leave the fighting to Paris.
Agamemnon notices that Hector is standing in front of the Trojans and stalling the army. Thinking this is odd, Agamemnon instructs his own army to stop fighting and listen to what the Trojan princes have to say.
Hector stands in the middle of the two armies and announces the duel between Paris and Menelaus. He says that this duel will decide which side wins the war, as whoever wins will then leave with Helen.
Menelaus accepts, highlighting that Troy has suffered because of Paris’ stupidity and that he is more than happy to put an end to the suffering today. He instructs the two armies to conduct sacrifices to honour Zeus before the men duel.
Helen Watches From The Wall
The action shifts to Helen, who is visited by Iris, the goddess of rainbows, in the form of her sister-in-law (the wife of Antenor’s son), Laodike. Laodike is noted by Homer as being the hottest woman in Troy, meaning that the hottest woman in the known world is in the same scene as the hottest woman in Troy … Let that sink in. Anyways, Iris/Laodike finds Helen weaving and updates her on what has just happened on the battlefield.
Surprisingly, this news makes Helen miss Menelaus and her family back in Sparta. She stands and puts a shawl around her shoulders, a tear falling from her eye, and she and her two attendants go to stand on top of the city walls to watch over the battlefield.
When the women get to the wall, King Priam and his old men friends are already there (the reason that they’re not fighting is because they are so old that they would hinder to the army). When the men see Helen, they whisper to one another that they blame her for the war raging on beneath them. However, they don’t actually whisper this — they really say it loud enough so that Helen can hear, which causes her to feel pretty awkward and unwelcome.
King Priam speaks over the loud whispers and invites Helen to sit with him, explicitly saying that he does not blame her for this war. Helen takes her seat next to him.
Priam begins to point to a number of the men on the battlefield, asking Helen who they all are. First she names Agamemnon, followed shortly by Odysseus.
Antenor interrupts Helen to say that Odysseus had come to visit Troy with Menelaus before the war and that he (Antenor) entertained them. Helen ignores his interjection (as she should since he was just rude to her not more than five minutes ago??).
Helen then points out big Ajax, followed by the Cretan hero Idomeneus. We are told that she and Menelaus had apparently entertained Idomeneus at their home in Sparta, which is how she knows him.
As Helen looks out to the battlefield, she tells Priam how she is surprised that her brothers, Castor and Polydeuces, are not among the army fighting for her return home. Homer lets the reader know that the twins were actually already dead and buried back in Lacedaemon, which explains why they are not part of this rescue mission.
Priam notices that the sacrifices have now been brought to the battlefield, and so he descends from the wall with Antenor and hops in his chariot to go and officiate the rites. Once this is finished, Priam gets back into his chariot with Antenor, and Antenor drives them back to the gates. Remember: Priam is TOO OLD to fight but he is still the king.
The men repeat the terms of the duel but add that if Priam is not willing to let Menelaus take Helen after Paris is killed (if this is the outcome), then Agamemnon will fight the king “for a ransom”.
Menelaus and Paris Fight
Hector and Odysseus measure out the duelling field. They put lots into a bronze helmet, shake it, and pull one out to see which of the pair will throw their spear first and begin the duel. While the armies call to the gods for protection, Hector pulls Paris’ name from the helmet.
Menelaus and Paris put on their armour and gear up for their fight. They stride into the middle and face each other, ready to settle this once and for all.
Paris throws his spear first, as decided by the lots. The spear hits Menelaus’ shield but the force behind it is not hard enough to actually break through the layers of protection. Unfortunately for the Trojan prince, the spear simply bounces off and does no harm to the son of Atreus.
Menelaus does a quick prayer to Zeus and then takes his turn to throw his spear at Paris. This time, Menelaus’ spear goes right through Paris’ shield and even through Paris’ armour! Luckily for Paris though, he manages to swerve out of the way fast enough so that the spear only pierces the fabric of his clothing at his waist.
Having lost his spear somewhere behind Paris, Menelaus then takes his sword and whacks Paris on the helmet four times. This results in the sword breaking and then falling out of his hand. Understandably Menelaus is incredibly mad, using this moment to yell up at Zeus “HOW HAVE I NOT HIT HIM YET!” (not an exact quote*).
In his angry state, Menelaus leans forwards and grabs onto the horse hair on Paris’ helmet, forces the Trojan to the ground, turns on his heels and drags the poor sod towards the Greek army.
Considering Paris is being dragged along the ground by his helmet, his chin strap begins to choke him. Aphrodite sees this and intervenes by cutting the strap and freeing Paris.
This leaves Menelaus with a handful of helmet he didn’t want, so he throws it towards the Greek army to vent his frustrations in NOT killing Paris (do not worry: the Greeks pick up the helmet to keep in their stash of Trojan armour).
Menelaus picks up his spear and charges at Paris in an attempt to finish him off, but Aphrodite wraps Paris in a divine mist and brings him to his bedroom, safely within the walls of Troy.
Aphrodite Forces Helen To Hang Out With Paris
Aphrodite goes to seek out Helen and finds her in the tower by the gates (right where we left her). The goddess of love takes on the guise of some old lady and tells Helen that Paris is back from battle. She instructs her to go and see him in his bedroom.
However, Helen is too smart and realises that this must be Aphrodite. In response to Aphrodite’s request, Helen asks what more the goddess could possibly want from her: could it be to carry her away somewhere else and shack up with another man who Aphrodite kind of likes? She goes on to tell Aphrodite she’s sad from seeing the Greek heroes as it has made her miss home, and therefore is not in the mood to see Paris.
Unsurprisingly, Aphrodite is having none of this. She suddenly becomes furious and tells Helen that she should feel lucky that a goddess likes her, but if Helen becomes too rebellious, her life can easily become a living hell. Helen gets scared by this threat and so she follows Aphrodite to Paris’ room.
When they get to Paris’ room, Aphrodite picks up a chair and places it right in front of Paris. She then picks up Helen and pops Helen in the chair, forcing her to face the Trojan prince.
Staring at Paris in the face, Helen expresses her annoyance that Paris has returned from battle as she wishes he would have died at the hands of Menelaus. She also says that prior to this, Paris used to boast that he was stronger than Menelaus, but this was his chance to prove that sentiment and he blew it. However, she concludes that the pair not fighting to the death is probably for the best considering Menelaus would have slaughtered Paris.
Again, Paris takes this like a champ. He replies to her saying that he believes Athena was helping Menelaus and that’s the only reason why he nearly won. To end his speech, the Trojan prince notes how hot Helen is and invites her into bed. Considering she was just threatened by a goddess, Helen follows Paris under the sheets.
Agamemnon Declares Menelaus The Winner
Back on the battlefield, Menelaus is still raging that Paris just disappeared into thin air. He’s in such denial that we see him running around trying to find Paris in order to kill him, thinking that the Trojan prince is just hiding among the army.
Homer notes that the Trojans would have given Paris to Menelaus if he was hiding among them since they all hate him just as much as they hate the idea of death. But alas — Paris is no where to be found.
Agamemnon stands up in front of the Trojans, declares that Menelaus is the winner of the duel and further demands Helen’s safe return so that they can all go home.
The book ends with the Greek army roaring in approval at Agamemnon’s words (but then again, when do they not?).
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Thumbnail: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/255341
Terracotta oon (egg). Attributed to the Washing Painter ca. 420–410 BCE.
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 159
Youth abducting woman
”Eggs are well attested as funerary offerings—real eggs, artistic counterparts in marble and terracotta or, as here, diminutive vases of egg shape. This example was found with another, now in Athens, and both originally had lids. The abduction scene has been interpreted as depicting Paris and Helen. The shape is particularly pertinent to the subject because Helen was hatched from an egg.” (Copied from the Met Museum website).