Editing Helen of Troy (section)

== Cult ==

The major centers of Helen's cult were in Laconia. At Sparta, the urban sanctuary of Helen was located near the Platanistas, so called for the plane trees planted there. Ancient sources associate Helen with gymnastic exercises or/and choral dances of maidens near the [[Evrotas River]]. This practice is referenced in the closing lines of [[Lysistrata]], where Helen is said to be the "pure and proper" leader of the dancing Spartan women. [[Theocritus]] conjures the song [[epithalamium]] Spartan women sung at Platanistas commemorating the marriage of Helen and Menelaus:<ref>Theocritus, ''The Epithalamium of Helen'', [http://www.theoi.com/Text/TheocritusIdylls3.html#18 43–48]<br />* Edmunds, ''Helen's Divine Origins'', 12</ref>

{{Blockquote|<poem>
We first a crown of low-growing lotus
having woven will place it on a shady plane-tree.
First from a silver oil-flask soft oil
drawing we will let it drip beneath the shady plane-tree.
Letters will be carved in the bark, so that someone passing by
may read in Doric: "Reverence me. I am Helen's tree."</poem>}}

Helen's worship was also present on the opposite bank of Eurotas at [[Therapne]], where she shared a shrine with Menelaus and the Dioscuri. The shrine has been known as the [[Menelaion]] (the shrine of Menelaus), and it was believed to be the spot where Helen was buried alongside Menelaus. Despite its name, both the shrine and the cult originally belonged to Helen; Menelaus was added later as her husband.<ref>Herodotus, ''Histories'', VI, 61.[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D6%3Achapter%3D61%3Asection%3D3 3]<br />* Hughes, ''Helen of Troy'', 30–31; Lynn Budin, ''The Ancient Greeks'', 286</ref> In addition, there was a festival at the town, which was called Meneleaeia (Μενελάεια) in honour of Menelaus and Helen.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:alphabetic+letter=M:entry+group=2:entry=menelaeia-cn|title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), MACELLUM, MATRA´LIA, MENELAEIA|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>
[[Isocrates]] writes that at Therapne Helen and Menelaus were worshiped as gods, and not as heroes. Clader argues that, if indeed Helen was worshiped as a goddess at Therapne, then her powers should be largely concerned with fertility,<ref>Isocrates, ''Helen'', 63;<br /> Clader, ''Helen'', 70;<br /> Jackson, ''The Transformations of Helen'', 52.<br /> For a criticism of the theory that Helen was worshiped as a goddess in Therapne, see Edmunds, ''Helen's Divine Origins'', 20–24.</ref> or as a [[solar deity]].<ref>Euripides, ''Helen'', translated by Robert E. Meagher, University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst 1986.</ref> There is also evidence for Helen's cult in Hellenistic Sparta: rules for those sacrificing and holding feasts in their honor are extant.<ref>Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'', III, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D15%3Asection%3D3 15.3], and [https://books.google.com/books?id=DhfmgSz1eR4C&dq=helen,+cult,+Platanistas&pg=PA193 19.9];<br /> Allan, ''Introduction'', 14 ff.;<br /> Calame, ''Choruses of Young Women'', 192–197;<br /> Pomeroy, ''Spartan Women'', 114–118.</ref>

Helen was also worshiped in Attica along with her brothers, and on [[Rhodes]] as Helen ''Dendritis'' (Helen of the Trees, Έλένα Δενδρῖτις); she was a vegetation or a [[fertility goddess]].<ref group=lower-alpha>A shared cult of Helen and her brothers in Attica is alluded to in Euripides, ''Helen'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0100%3Acard%3D1642 1666–1669]. See also Edmunds, ''Helen's Divine Origins'', 26–29. Concerning Helen Dendritis, Gumpert (''Grafting Helen'', 96), and Skutsch (''Helen'', 109) support that she was a vegetation goddess. Meagher (''The Meaning of Helen'', 43 f.) argues that her cult in Rhodes reflects an ancient fertility ritual associated with Helen not only on Rhodes but also at Dendra, near Sparta. Edmunds (''Helen's Divine Origins'', 18) notes that it is unclear what an ancient tree cult might be.</ref> [[Martin P. Nilsson]] has argued that the cult in Rhodes has its roots to the [[Minoan]], pre-Greek era, when Helen was allegedly worshiped as a vegetation goddess.<ref>Cited by Gumpert, ''Grafting Helen'', 96, Edmunds, ''Helen's Divine Origins'', 15–18, and Skutsch, ''Helen'', 109. See critical remarks on this theory by Edmunds, ''Helen's Divine Origins'', 16.</ref> [[Claude Calame]] and other scholars try to analyze the affinity between the cults of Helen and [[Artemis]] Orthia, pointing out the resemblance of the [[Greek terracotta figurines|terracotta female figurines]] offered to both deities.<ref>Calame, ''Choruses of Young Women'', 201;<br /> Eaverly, ''Archaic Greek Equestrian Sculpture'', 9;<br /> Pomeroy, ''Spartan Women'', 162 f.</ref>