Helen Knows that She is Destined to Play a Part in The Iliad Itself

'The Iliad' by Homer & Emily Wilson, 2023;

"...Helen knows that she is destined to play a part in The Iliad itself. According to the lost epic the Cypria, Zeus designed the Trojan War in order to reduce the pesky population of humans. He needed only two elements: Helen, the premise for the war, and Achilles, its greatest warrior. Without Helen’s abduction, there could be no war. Without the Trojan War, there is no story. Like Achilles, Helen has a particularly broad perspective on the wider narrative in which she plays a crucial part: she can view and name all the Greek warriors from the walls of Troy (in Book 3), and she can represent their stories in her weaving:

. . . a massive double-layered cloth

in dazzling colors, patterning upon

the many troubles, tests, and tribulations

that Trojan horsemen and bronze-armored Greeks

suffered at Ares’ hands because of her.(3.155–59)

Neither Achilles, nor Helen, nor the poet, can change the outcome of the Trojan War, or save any mortal from death. But each can offer a sense of the larger story within which each life’s thread is woven..."

 artist: Rudolph Belarski (1900-1983), 1948