Illustrations
Text Acknowledgements
Maps
Timeline
Dramatis Personæ
Family Trees
Foreword and Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION
Cherchez la Femme
An Evil Destiny
Helen-Hunting
Goddess, Princess, Whore
PART ONE
HELEN’S BIRTH IN PRE-HISTORY
1 A Dangerous Landscape
2 A Rape, a Birth
3 The Lost Citadel
4 The Mycenaeans
5 The Pre-historic Princess
PART TWO
THE LAND OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN
6 The Rape of ‘Fair Hellen’
7 Sparte Kalligynaika
8 Tender-eyed Girls
PART THREE
THE WORLD’S DESIRE
9 A Trophy for Heroes
10 The Kingmaker
11 A Royal Wedding
PART FOUR
KOUROTROPHOS
12 Hermione
13 A Welcome Burden
14 Helen, High Priestess
15 La Belle Hélène
PART FIVE
A LOVER’S GAME
16 The Golden Apple
17 Bearing Gifts
18 Alexander Helenam Rapuit
19 The Female of the Species Is More Deadly Than the Male
PART SIX
EROS AND ERIS
20 Helen the Whore
21 The Pain of Aphrodite
22 The Sea’s Foaming Lanes
PART SEVEN
TROY BECKONS
23 East Is East and West Is West
24 The Fair Troad
25 The Topless Towers of Ilium
26 The Golden Houses of the East
27 A Fleet Sets Sail
PART EIGHT
TROY BESIEGED
28 Helen – Destroyer of Cities
29 Death’s Dark Cloud
30 A Beautiful Death – Kalos Thanatos
31 The Fall of Troy
PART NINE
IMMORTAL HELEN
32 Home to Sparta
33 The Death of a Queen
34 The Age of Heroes Ends
35 ‘Fragrant Treasuries’
36 The Daughter of the Ocean
PART TEN
THE FACE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND SHIPS
37 Helen in Athens
38 Helen Lost and Helen Found
39 Helen, Homer and the Chances of Survival
40 Veyn Fables
41 Helen of Troy and the Bad Samaritan
42 ‘Perpulchra’ – More Than Beautiful
43 Dancing with the Devil
44 Helen’s Nemesis
APPENDICES
1 The Minotaur’s Island
2 La Parisienne
3 Women of Stone and Clay and Bronze
4 Elemental Helen – She-Gods and She-Devils
5 Royal Purple – The Colour of Congealed Blood
Epilogue – Myth, History and Historia
Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Bettany Hughes is a cultural and social historian, writer, and television presenter. She received degrees in ancient and medieval history at Oxford University and has carried out research in the Balkans, Greece, and Asia Minor. She has presented numerous documentaries and historical series for the BBC, PBS, and the Discovery Channel, and also writes pieces on popular history for several newspapers and magazines.
“Dazzling. . . A look at the love match between beauty and power,
displaying the archetypal ‘trophy mistress” to the modern world.”
–O, The Oprah Magazine
“A divine biography. . . . Sizzling. . . . [Hughes] , a young
British historian, explores not only the Bronze Age babe but also
what she has meant throughout history and the cultural significance
of being both desired and despised.” –USA Today
“[Hughes’] multi-faceted, multi-hued, and multi-period portrait of
la Belle Helene will capture the imagination of professional
scholars and general readers alike. I cannot recommend it too
strongly.” –Professor Paul Cartledge, Cambridge University
“Hughes brings a passion for ancient history and archaeology
crossed with a strain of feminism to the figure of Helen.” –The
Washington Post Book World
“The book triumphantly reclaims Helen from some of her traducers.
Hughes’s portrait is as close to a real, living Helen as we are
likely to get.”
–Financial Times
“When Helen launched her “thousand ships,” was she a “shameless
hussy?” Or, like her mother, was she a rape victim? . . . The
answers have always depended on who you speak to and when. Hughes
has them all.”
–The Times
“Hughes skillfully brings this period back to life. A fascinating
window onto the power politics of an age . . . a genuinely exciting
historical narrative.”
–Sunday Telegraph.
Ask a Question About this Product More... |