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| Helen of Sparta with a Goddess Aphrodite |
Written on 26th of December 2013
There is one painting of Michelangelo “Leda and the Swan” I was interested in during all the years I have spent in Italy; not because it was lost, but because it is telling one of the Greek myths. The colors chosen for this painting seems to be unusual for Michelangelo, or maybe the copy was not that precise...The painting was lost, but the story still stirs the imagination...
Here it is...
A wife of a Spartan king, Leda (Λήδα), was admired by Zeus (Ζεύς), who seduced her in the guise of a swan. As a swan, Zeus fell into her arms for protection from a pursuing eagle; this is how the most beautiful woman on earth was conceived. Her name was Helen (Ἑλένη-Eleni). She was half-a human, half-a goddess. We Greeks, call her H Ωραία Ελένη (E Orea Eleni-Helen the Beautiful), but she is also known to the world as Helen of Sparta, and Helen of Troy. She was a wife of Menelaus the king of Sparta, and a lover of Paris, a prince of Troy.
Her story can be read in Iliad because the Trojan War was all about her....
This story is as old, as the story of all Greeks, and up till now every Greek man is in love with an elusive, undescribed beauty that makes people forget the reality, and do what the loving heart says. Every Greek man is in love with Eleni the Beautiful.
Well.....Eleni is still alive, you can find her on the streets of Sparta, doing her everyday chores, somewhere in Athens, busy, going for a meeting. I met Eleni recently....... in England.
It happened unexpectedly, a few days ago on the flight from London to Edinburgh. My 6 months old son was delighted, my husband was surprised, I was stunned. Eleni had big blue eyes, blond hair and beautiful legs. She was dressed in a business suit and had a delicate aura around her. Eleni spotted us in the plane very quickly. It was not that difficult, because Oresti, my son, is right now a magnet to anybody who loves babies. He has a head full of very dark hair, big dark eyes, one tooth which he shows while smiling and...and he is mumbling to himself, nobody understands what is he talking about ...but he is talking. Eleni has heard us speaking Greek and at first sat in her own seat, but soon changed to the seat close to us. In no time she became a friend of Oresti. He was seducing her by smiling and showing his only tooth. Suddenly, she looked at me strange way and introduced herself: ‘My name is Eleni’ At first, I thought that it was a joke, since she can be easily called Helen the Beautiful, but it was not a joke. She opened her purse, found there a small pouch, where she has kept her business cards, and gave one to me.
Her name was really Eleni... the last name was Gaelic. She was..... a Scottish Eleni, not Helen, ELENI. She did not speak Greek, as I hoped for; she did not have any Greek connection except the name.... and the looks.... I was expecting an interesting story, and I got one...Eleni’s mother was so much in love with Greek culture that she not only gave her a Greek name but also cooked Greek food. Eleni was brought up very Greek and was told Greek myths very often. The only thing missing was a knowledge of a Greek language...she did not speak any Greek, but love it... that is why she wanted to be close to us, to listen to our language...her mother passed to her a love of everything Greek....
At the Edinburgh airport Eleni was picked up not by a Paris, prince of Troy, but by a one handsome man who had a very Scottish name... Brian.
