The once glorious hero Tyndareus was expelled from his kingdom by Hippocoon. After long wanderings, he found shelter with the king of Aetolia, Thestius. King Thestius fell in love with the hero and gave him his daughter Leda, beautiful as a goddess, as his wife. When the great son of Zeus, Hercules, defeated Hippocoon and killed him and all his sons, Tyndareus returned with his beautiful wife to Sparta and began to rule there.
Leda had four children. Beautiful Helen and Polydeuces were the children of Leda and the thunderer Zeus, and Clytemnestra and Castor were the children of Leda and Tyndareus.
Elena was wonderful. No mortal woman could compare with her beauty. Even the goddesses were jealous of her. Helen's fame resounded throughout Greece. Knowing about her divine beauty, the great Attica hero Theseus kidnapped her from Tyndareus, but Helen's brothers, Polydeuces and Castor, freed their sister and returned her to their father's house. One after another, suitors came to the palace of Tyndareus to woo the beautiful Helen, each wanted to call her, the most beautiful of women, his wife. Tyndareus did not dare to give Elena to one of the heroes who came to him as a wife, he was afraid that other heroes, out of envy of the lucky man, would begin to fight with him and a great discord would arise. Finally, the cunning hero Odysseus gave the following advice to Tyndareus:
“Let beautiful-haired Elena decide for herself whose wife she wants to become.” And let all the suitors take an oath that they will never take up arms against the one whom Elena chooses as her husband, but will help him with all their might if he calls on them for help in case of trouble.
Tyndareus listened to the advice of Odysseus. All the suitors took an oath, and Helen chose one of them, and this chosen one was the beautiful son of Atreus, Menelaus.
Menelaus married the beautiful Helen. After the death of Tyndareus, he became king of Sparta. He lived calmly in the palace of Tyndareus, not suspecting how many troubles his marriage with the beautiful Helen would promise him.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru