payment page
Menelaus is the king of Sparta, and it is the abduction of his wife, Helen, that sparked the Trojan War. Menelaus leads the Spartan contingent of the Greek army, under his older brother Agamemnon, in an attempt to retrieve his wife. Menelaus proves quieter, less imposing, and less arrogant than Agamemnon throughout The Iliad, and he possesses a stout heart and dedication to his fellow soldiers that Paris, the man who stole away with Helen, distinctly lacks. In Book 3, Menelaus challenges Paris to single combat in an attempt to end the war. Though not considered the greatest of the Achaean warriors—he is certainly less impressive than Achilles, Ajax, or Diomedes—his epithets are nonetheless “master of the war-cry” and “spear-famed,” and he soundly bests Paris in battle. He breaks his sword over Paris’s helmet, and Aphrodite intervenes at the last moment to save Paris and end the duel, a disastrous result; where before the war seemed on the verge of ending, now it must continue, and Menelaus feels some responsibility for the Greek lives lost.
Book 16 ends with the tragic death of Patroclus after he dons Achilles’s armor in an attempt to rally the Greek troops. Book 17 opens with the Greeks and the Trojans fighting over Patroclus’s body. Menelaus is able to kill Euphorbus, the Trojan who first speared Patroclus. He also, with the help of Ajax, forces Hector to back down and prevents Patroclus’s body from being removed or desecrated. Homer’s description of Menelaus’ actions in Book 17 is an example of an aristeia, a convention of epic poetry in which a hero’s finest moment in battle is spoken of at length. The death of Patroclus and the fight over his body is pivotal; it spells the beginning of the end for the Trojans, as Menelaus sends Antilochus to alert Achilles.
