Menelaus (might of the people) In Greek mythology, king of Sparta; son of Atreus and Aerope; younger brother of Agamemnon, Anixibia, and Pleisthenes; husband of Helen. He returned to Sparta with Helen after the Trojan War. His return voyage is described in Homer’s Odyssey (book 4), and Theocritus’s Idyll 18 is a marriage song for Menelaus and Helen. Menelaus and Helen were worshipped as demigods at Therapne near Sparta. He appears in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Euripides’ Helen, and Vergil’s Aeneid.
SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition – Written by Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow– Copyright © 2009 by Anthony S. Mercatante
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