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| Gustave Moreau Hélène glorifiée ca. 1890 oil on canvas Musée Gustave Moreau, Paris |
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| Luca Ferrari Venus preventing her son Aeneas from killing Helen of Troy ca. 1650 oil on canvas Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide |
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| Angelica Kauffmann Venus induces Helen to fall in love with Paris 1790 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
THE CAUSE OF THE TROJAN WAR
Paris came to Ida.
He grew to slim height
Among the silver-hoofed beasts.
Strange notes made his flute
A Phrygian pipe.
He caught all Olympos
In his bent reeds.
While his great beasts
Cropped the grass,
The goddesses held the contest
Which sent him among the Greeks.
He came before Helen's house.
He stood on the ivory steps.
He looked upon Helen and brought
Desire to the eyes
That looked back –
The Greeks have snatched up their spears.
They have pointed the helms of their ships
Toward the bulwarks of Troy.
– from Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides, translated by H.D. (1919)
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| Jacob de Backer Paris admitted to Helen's Chamber ca. 1585-90 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Jacopo Tintoretto Abduction of Helen ca. 1578 oil on canvas Prado, Madrid |
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| Giovanni Francesco Romanelli Abduction of Helen ca. 1630-32 oil on canvas Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome |
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| Maarten van Heemskerck Panorama with Abduction of Helen amidst Wonders of the Ancient World 1535 oil on canvas Walters Art Museum, Baltimore |
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| Giuseppe Angeli Abduction of Helen 1760 fresco Villa Widmann, Mira |
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| Jacques-Louis David Love of Paris and Helen 1788 oil on canvas Louvre, Paris |
MUTABILITY, FROM AJAX'S SPEECH
All strangest things the multitudinous years
Bring forth, and shadow from us all we know.
Falter alike great oath and steeled resolve;
And none shall say of aught, 'This may not be' . . .
– from Ajax by Sophocles, translated by Charles Stuart Calverley (1862)
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| Giovanni Francesco Susini Abduction of Helen 1627 bronze statuette Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Giovanni Bernardi Abduction of Helen before 1553 chalcedony intaglio British Museum |
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| Attic Greek lekythos Paris embracing seated Helen ca. 420-400 BC glazed pottery Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
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| Anonymous Italian metalworker Two-sided Renaissance Plaquette with images of Helen and Paris (front) 15th century bronze British Museum |
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| Anonymous Italian metalworker Two-sided Renaissance Plaquette with images of Helen and Paris (back) 15th century bronze British Museum |