Helen of Troy

In Greek mythology Helen of Troy was the daughter of the god Zeus and the human Leda. She was reportedly the most beautiful woman in the world, and her abduction by Paris of Troy (ancient city) from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta, caused a ten-year war known as the Trojan War. She features prominently in Homer's Iliad, which emphasises her isolated position within Troy, due to her being considered the cause of the war. She is also mentioned in Virgil's Aeneid: when the Greeks broke into the city, the Trojan hero Aeneas had an opportunity to kill Helen but was dissuaded by his mother, the goddess Venus, who had been largely responsible for the original abduction. Helen returned to Sparta with Menelaus.