Editing Helen of Troy (section)

=== Fate ===
Helen returned to [[Sparta]] and lived with Menelaus, where she was encountered by Telemachus in Book 4 of ''[[The Odyssey]]''. As depicted in that account, she and Menelaus were seemingly reconciled and had a harmonious married life—he holding no grudge at her having run away with a lover and she feeling no restraint in telling anecdotes of her life inside besieged Troy.

According to another version, used by [[Euripides]] in his play ''[[Orestes (play)|Orestes]]'', Helen had been saved by [[Apollo]] from Orestes<ref>''Euripides and the Gods'', [[Mary R. Lefkowitz]]</ref> and was taken up to [[Mount Olympus]] almost immediately after Menelaus' return. She was then made a sea goddess, who watches over sailors alongside her brothers, [[Castor and Pollux]].<ref>Eurypides, Orestes, lines 1635-1637.</ref> A curious fate is recounted by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias the geographer]] (3.19.11–13), which has Helen share the afterlife with Achilles.<ref>Blondell, ''Helen of Troy'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=6uEC_Uh-MBIC&pg=PA46 46]</ref>

Pausanias also has another story (3.19.9–10): "The account of the Rhodians is different. They say that when Menelaus was dead, and [[Orestes (mythology)|Orestes]] still a wanderer, Helen was driven out by [[Nicostratus (mythology)|Nicostratus]] and [[Megapenthes]] and came to [[Rhodes]], where she had a friend in [[Polyxo (Rhodes)|Polyxo]], the wife of [[Tlepolemus]]. For Polyxo, they say, was an Argive by descent, and when she was already married to Tlepolemus, shared his flight to Rhodes. At the time she was queen of the island, having been left with an orphan boy. They say that this Polyxo desired to avenge the death of Tlepolemus on Helen, now that she had her in her power. So she sent against her when she was bathing handmaidens dressed up as [[Furies]], who seized Helen and hanged her on a tree, and for this reason the Rhodians have a sanctuary of Helen of the Tree."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D19%3Asection%3D10 |title=Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' |publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu |access-date=2014-03-13}}</ref> There are other traditions concerning the punishment of Helen. For example, she is offered as a sacrifice to the gods in Tauris by [[Iphigeneia]], or [[Thetis]], enraged when Achilles dies because of Helen, kills her on her return journey.<ref>Pierre Grimal, ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology'', ''s.v.'' "Helene p. 241"</ref>

Tlepolemus was a son of [[Heracles]] and Astyoche. Astyoche was a daughter of Phylas, King of Ephyra who was killed by Heracles. Tlepolemus was killed by [[Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)|Sarpedon]] on the first day of fighting in the ''[[Iliad]]''. Nicostratus was a son of Menelaus by his concubine Pieris, an Aetolian slave. [[Megapenthes]] was a son of Menelaus by his concubine Tereis, with no further origin.

In [[Euripides]]'s tragedy ''[[Trojan Women|The Trojan Women]]'', Helen is shunned by the women who survived the war and is to be taken back to Greece to face a death sentence. This version is contradicted by two of Euripides' other tragedies, ''[[Electra (Euripides play)|Electra]]'', which predates The Trojan Women, and ''[[Helen (play)|Helen]]'', as Helen is described as being in Egypt during the events of the Trojan War in each.