The Trojan War in the absence of Helen

Hector seated

The Trojan War, as recounted by Homer, is a beautiful love story of Paris and Helen set against the cruelty of war when Achilles dragged the dead body of Hector behind his chariot around the city. It is the kind of subject we can still recognize today. 

Recently, I had echoes of another version in which Helen never made it to Troy but stayed in Egypt instead. One of the sources was Herodotus’ book "Histories". 

At first, I dismissed the information, mostly because Homer’s account was so familiar. When Heinrich Schliemann discovered the walls of Troy and Priam’s gold treasury in the late 19^th century, the history of Troy and the Trojan War came back alive. 

Herodotus, a native of Halicarnassus, is described as ‘The Father of History’. He was an intrepid traveler, very inquisitive about foreign lands and customs. He journeyed widely around the Mediterranean, as far south as Elephantine on the first cataract of the River Nile and as far north as the Black Sea. He visited southern Italy and eventually settled in Thurii on the Gulf of Taranto. He may well have spent time in Cyrene and even in Babylon. 

Herodotus

This Greek historian lived in the 5^th century BC (he died in 425 BC), roughly three hundred years after Homer. Both men relied on the world around them and on the sources that were available to them.

During his stay in Egypt, Herodotus spoke to the priests of the Temple of the “Foreign Aphrodite”, meaning Astarte. They said that Helen arrived in Egypt with Paris after a severe storm had blown their ship off course. The couple was brought before the pharaoh in Memphis, who condemned Paris for taking Helen away from her husband, whether by force or not, and seizing treasures from Sparta. He granted Paris three days to leave the country to return to Troy,  but he kept Helen in Memphis. 

Questioning the priests further, Herodotus was informed about the Trojan War as told to them directly by Helen's husband, Menelaus. 

What happened was that after the abduction of Helen, the Greeks sent their forces to support Menelaus. The Spartan king and his delegation were received at Troy’s Palace, where they demanded the return of Helen and the stolen treasures. The Trojans responded that neither Helen nor the treasure was in their possession, but was held in Egypt instead. Obviously, the Greeks refused to believe them and laid siege to Troy. They fought each other for ten years, and all that while Helen waited in Egypt. 

When Troy fell, and there was still no trace of Helen, Menelaus sailed to Memphis. After giving the pharaoh a true account of what had happened, he was reunited with Helen, 'having suffered no evil’, and the stolen treasure was restored. 

This looks like a happy ending, but it was not. Menelaus got cross because contrary winds pinned him down in Egypt for a long time. As an offering to the gods, he took two Egyptian children, whom he offered in sacrifice. This act of disrespect turned the friendship of the Egyptians into hatred. Menelaus was pursued but managed to escape to Libya with Helen and his ships. What happened afterwards, the priests did not know. 

Herodotus was not the only one to suggest that Helen never went to Troy but stayed in Egypt during the Trojan War. 

Euripides

There was Euripides, who in 412 BC wrote his play "Helen", in which Helen is taken to Egypt by the gods. The Helen who accompanied Paris to Troy was an eidolon, a spirit-image or likeness, cursed for her infidelity by the Greeks and Trojans alike. Meanwhile, the real Helen spent the ten-year siege of Troy in Egypt! 

It is noteworthy that Euripides was born ca. 480 BC, meaning that he was 55 years old when Herodotus died in 425 BC. He definitely must have known Herodotus’ travel history and the details of his encounters. Euripides may well have given his own twist to Herodotus’ tale of Troy. 

A similar eidolon image is introduced in Stesichorus' account. This lyric poet, who lived from around 630 to 555 BC, antedates both Herodotus and Euripides. The story goes that Stesichorus was blinded because he slandered Helen, but recovered his eyesight after writing her praise. 

Helen’s eidolon image may have been introduced by Homer or Hesiod, who reached his peak in popularity around 700 BC. 

In his "Histories", Herodotus believes that Homer knew of this eidolon version keeping the real Helen in Egypt, but that he decided not to use it, preferring the more epic poetry. 

Troy walls

Interpreting this ‘eidolon’ in today’s world is very difficult. We may think that Paris believed in ghosts since, according to this story, nobody in Troy had ‘seen’ Helen. It is clear that, in antiquity, the gods played an important role in daily life. Before the outbreak of the Trojan War, Paris had built a reputation for making fair decisions, away from outside influences. For that reason, he had been appointed by Zeus to choose which of the three goddesses was the most beautiful: Athena, Aphrodite, or Hera. He elected Aphrodite, the goddess of love. In return, Aphrodite brought Helen, the most beautiful mortal, into the life of Paris, and they fell in love. The fact that Helen was already married to Menelaus, king of Sparta, and had a daughter, Hermione, did not bother Aphrodite. To alleviate the pain of Paris being separated from his beloved Helen, the goddess introduced Helen's eidolon. 

That leaves me with Alexander cherishing the Iliad to the point of keeping it at his bedside. His copy had annotations made by Aristotle, which indicates that the Iliad was well studied and discussed by both men. It is unthinkable that Aristotle was not aware of  Helen’s eidolon substitute in Troy, and this goes for Alexander as well. However, I assume that Alexander’s fascination with the Iliad was mainly because of Achilles' heroics. 

Two temples identified in Thonis-Heracleion

It is noteworthy to realize that underwater archaeology is a very recent discipline. It started seriously in the 1960s, and the techniques and equipment have grown and improved considerably since. 

Although Thonis-Heracleion was mentioned by Herodotus and Strabo, its location at Abukir Bay in the Nile Delta remained unknown until its discovery in 2000. Since then, much of the port has been mapped (see: Heracleion, an ancient Greek port in Egypt). A variety of ships in all shapes and sizes have been located, as well as hundreds of anchors. 

In my earlier post, Remains of an almost unique warship discovered in Thonis-Heracleion, I spoke about an ancient Greek warship discovered beneath the rubble of a temple destroyed by an earthquake in the 2^nd century BC. As a result, the ship sank into the muddy seabed, which contributed to its preservation. It could be established that the 25-meter-long ship was built in Egypt using both Egyptian and Greek techniques. 

By now, it has been established that this temple was dedicated to the god Amon-Gereb, who played a key role in the continuity of the pharaohs’ dynasty. It was here in Thonis-Heracleion that Ptolemaic rulers were confirmed and legitimized in their power. The temple was part of a large sanctuary that covered an area of more than 3 hectares, surrounded by walls made of limestone blocks. Remarkably, the naos of the temple was built using red granite, which automatically linked it to Amon-Gereb, the supreme god of Egypt in the 6^th-4^th centuries BC. 

The cult of Amon-Gereb was already known from the Royal Decree of Canopus established by Ptolemy III Euvergetes in 238 BC. From its Greek version, we learn that every year a statue of Osiris was carried in his sacred boat from this sanctuary in Heracleion to his temple in Canopus. The Decree also mentions the temple of Amon-Gereb.

The research, which started in 2019, revealed countless artifacts ranging from statues to gold jewelry like the eye of Horus, earrings in the shape of a lion’s head, silver ritual phiales, a bronze jug, and alabaster bottles for perfumes and ointments. Also, a more than six-meter-high stele from the reign of Ptolemy VIII that stood near the Temple of Amon-Gereb has been found in several pieces and is much eroded. Because of its condition, it could be only partially deciphered. 

Three colossal statues of a royal couple in pink granite, a five-meter-tall god of fertility, and the Nile flood were retrieved. The statues of the Ptolemaic rulers are the best preserved so far. 

In 2023, a temple of Aphrodite was also discovered, and remains of some buildings supported by preserved wooden beams dating from the 5^th century BC. It is not surprising to read that bronze and ceramic artifacts of Greek origin were found. 

The Temple of Amon disappeared in the 2^nd century BC, and the city of Heracleion vanished in the 8^th century AD after surviving years of earthquakes and land liquefaction caused by tidal waves. Until now, it is estimated that only five percent of the city’s surface has been discovered. 

For more information and pictures as used above, please visit the website of Franck Goddio.

Not all Seven Wonders of the World are the same

We like to believe that the list of the Seven Wonders of the World in antiquity was well-established, but that is not entirely correct. 

In the 1^st century BC, Diodorus mentions them by name: the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the statue of Zeus in Olympia, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesos, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. This is the list we follow nowadays, but the importance of each monument has been subject to personal taste and appreciation of its time. 

Well before Diodorus, many writers had their opinions on the matter. The oldest known is, for instance, Herodotus who, in the 5^th century BC does not mention the Hanging Gardens of Babylon but provides a very detailed description of the Walls of Babylon built with baked bricks cemented together with bitumen. The ramparts were 72 kilometers long, 10 meters thick, and 22 meters high! A striking feature is that the top of the wall was wide enough for two four-horse chariots to pass each other. The intermittent towers were 27 meters high. 

Callimachus of Cyrene, who lived in the 3^rd century BC, chose to include the Ishtar Gate of Babylon – a marvel that has been reconstructed inside the Pergamon Museum in Berlin (see: A mental reconstruction of Alexander’s triumphal march into Babylon). 

Philo of Byzantium in 225 BC lists the Walls of Babylon, but not the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which had not been built yet. He said he had actually seen the Hanging Gardens but omitted to situate them in Babylon. Their existence remains questionable, and there still is an unconfirmed theory that these gardens were in Nineveh. They were described as vaulted terraces, raised one above another, and resting upon cube-shaped pillars. These were hollow and filled with earth to allow trees of the largest size to be planted. The pillars, the vaults, and the terraces were constructed of baked brick and bitumen. The Gardens were initiated by King Nebuchadnezzar II around 575 BC. Philo tells of the Statue of Zeus by Phidias in Olympia, the bronze Colossus of Rhodes featuring Helios (the Sun), and the Temple of Artemis in Ephesos. He further includes the Tomb of King Mausolos in Halicarnassus, and the Pyramids of the Giza plateau, not singling out the Great Pyramid. 

Antipater of Sidon, who lived in the 2^nd/1^st century BC writes that he laid eyes on the ‘walls of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots’, and the Hanging Gardens; the statue of Zeus in Olympia, the Colossus of the Sun in Rhodes, the huge achievement of the high pyramids in Giza, the vast tomb of Mausolos at Halicarnassus; and the Temple of Artemis in Ephesos saying ‘that [as] it mounted to the clouds those other marvels lost their brilliancy’. 

Strabo, in the 1st century BC, gives by far the most detailed description of the Seven Wonders. 

The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, the oldest and only wonder that still exists, was erected around 2560 BC. It is the largest of the three Pyramids at Giza, which are all equally important, as stated by Philo of Byzantium. The proportions of the Great Pyramid are colossal. The original height from the base to the peak was about 147 meters. The length of each side at the base averaged around 230 meters. The theories about its construction and function are widespread and are by no means conclusive. 

The statue of Zeus in Olympia stood inside the Temple of Zeus. The large sitting Zeus was made of ivory and gold by Phidias in 436 BC. Although he was seated, Zeus stood 12.4 meters high, meaning that his head nearly touched the ceiling. Nothing much of the temple remains, but its impressive East and West pediments are exhibited in full glory at the local museum (see: Olympia, in the footsteps of Pausanias). 

The first Temple of Artemis in Ephesus goes back to the 7^th century BC. After its destruction, it was completely rebuilt to an unheard scale of 115 x 55 meters, i.e., larger than the Parthenon in Athens. The Artemis venerated in this temple is represented with many breasts, and is clearly not of Greek origin but imported from the East (see: Alexander’s presence in Ephesus). Nothing remains today to prove its grandeur and glory.

The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (see: Halicarnassus, capital of Caria) from about 350 BC was a rectangular monument measuring 40 x 30 meters, and about 45 meters high. It was decorated with scenes from Greek mythology, such as the battle of the Centaurs with the Lapiths and fighting Amazons, although scholars disagree on their precise position. It is certain, however, that the statues of King Mausolos and his wife/sister Artemesia riding in a four-horse chariot, now at the British Museum, stood at the very top of the Mausoleum. The tomb survived in pretty good condition for many years despite recurrent earthquakes, but the final blow happened in 1494 when the Knights of St John of Rhodes invaded the area and reused the stones of the Mausoleum to build their castle. Remnants are still visible to modern visitors on the walls of Bodrum Castle. 

The Colossus of Helios in Rhodes, the work of Chares of Lindos, was completed in 282 BC. It stood near the entrance of the harbor, although the exact location is unknown. The Colossus wore a crown of sun rays – hence its name, Colossus of Helios - and held up a torch. It was made of bronze and rested on a marble pedestal. With a height of 33 meters, it is considered the tallest bronze from antiquity. It was the shortest-lived ancient wonder that disappeared 60 years after its construction due to a severe earthquake. Its legend lives on, though. 

The Lighthouse or Pharos of Alexandria was the last wonder added to the list of seven, replacing the Walls of Babylon. It was conceived in three stages: a square stone base, an octagonal middle section, and a cylindrical shape at the top. Inside, a fire would guide the seafarers into the harbor of Alexandria. By day, they were led by the smoke, and at night by its bright light (see: Alexandria’s past futures). The Lighthouse stood over 100 meters tall, and its light could be seen 50-60 kilometers out at sea. Its construction was completed between 300 and 280 BC during the reigns of Ptolemy I Soter and his son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus.  

The ancient historians of Alexander the Great have spent very little ink on these Seven Wonders – or the texts simply have not reached us. The Temple of Ephesos, which was burnt down the night Alexander was born, was still under construction at the time of his visit. But the king must have witnessed the grand Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and the main features of Babylon, such as its Walls, the Ishtar Gate (which he used to enter the city), and the Gardens if they were indeed part of the Royal Palace. Strangely enough, Giza and its Pyramids are absent from all documents, as if they never existed!

Getting around in the Nile Delta

Speaking of the Nile Delta, we obviously mean the embouchure of the river Nile where its waters mingle with those of the Mediterranean Sea. 

The problem, however, is to picture the ancient cities and harbors along that coastline. There are several elements to be taken into account. 

Historically, we best know the role played by Alexandria and Pelusium, situated on opposite sides of the Delta, roughly 250 kilometers apart. 

[From Pinterest]

Pelusium, about 30 kilometers south of modern Port Said, was looking to the East. This city was the entrance gate for conquerors coming from the east. Alexander entered Egypt through Pelusium, as did the Hittites and Persians before him. For the Egyptian pharaohs, it was their gateway to the lands on the eastern Mediterranean. The city played an essential role as a transit station for the goods coming from and going to the lands around the Red Sea (see: The fame of elusive Pelusium). 

Alexander founded Alexandria after he returned from visiting the oracle in Siwah. It arose on the most westerly end of the Delta, on the Canopic Branch of the Nile. The city was intentionally oriented towards Crete and Greece, creating a close trading route with its homeland.

The Greeks had already established thriving trade emporiums in the area. Best known is Naucratis, settled as early as the 7th century BC (see: Egypt, land of the free for ancient Greeks?) As mighty Egypt allowed them to operate a lucrative business, even granting them special privileges, Naucratis eventually became a melting pot of Greek and Egyptian art and culture where they lived in harmony with each other. In its heyday, it was home to at least 16,000 people who appear to have lived in high-rise buildings three to six floors high, not unlike the mud-brick houses we encounter today in Yemen. 

Archaeological research has found proof that the Canopic Branch of the Nile was navigable all the way down to the heart of the city. However, Herodotus gave us the impression that the freight from the ships arriving from the Mediterranean was to be transshipped into barges which would sail to reach Naucratis (see: An update about Naucratis). 

A look at the above map illustrates that vessels heading for the harbor of Naucratis had to sail an extra distance from the Mediterranean. Alexandria was obviously more accessible. 

[Mosaic from Madaba, Jordan, showing the Nile with Pelusium]

Another major port was Heracleion, which the ancient Egyptians called Thonis, founded back in the 8th century BC. Known more commonly as Thonis-Heracleion, the site has been discovered under ten meters of mud near modern Abukir Bay (see: Heracleion, an ancient Greek port in Egypt, and Underwater excavation at Heracleion still ongoing). The above map shows Thonis/Thanis on a more easterly branch of the Nile, closer to Pelusium. Recent excavations have exposed 64 ancient, beautifully preserved shipwrecks and more than 700 anchors. Heracleion reached its peak between the 6th and the 4th century BC. 

Halfway between Alexandria and El-Alamein, Ptolemy II Philadelphus founded Taposiris Magna around 280-270 BC. The harbor played a significant role in the trading route for the goods from the east arriving over Lake Mareotis and overland from the Cyrenaica (see: Cyrene, founded by the Greeks). Alexandria, built on the headland between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mareotis, claimed taxes on the goods that transited through the city until the 7th century AD at least (see: Taposiris Magna in Egypt). 

The Egyptians founded the city of Marea, as highlighted on the map, in the 7^th century BC. It actually lies on the southern shore of Lake Mareotis, modern Lake Maryut, and 45 kilometers southwest of Alexandria. Speaking of strategic locations! 

The last major city in the Nile Delta is Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, which Alexander saw in full glory with its countless temples and at least 30 towering obelisks. The sunrise over Heliopolis must have been a sight for sore eyes when the first sunrays hit the golden pyramidal point on the obelisks (see: Buried secrets of Heliopolis)! 

This religious center was a meeting place where the priests studied philosophy, astronomy, and theology. Many Greeks, like Homer, Pythagoras, Plato, and Solon, consulted the available library that contained the entire history of Egypt. This seat of learning was eventually moved to Alexandria once the city was completed. 

For centuries, every single Pharaoh made it to the sacred city of Heliopolis, where the gods would confer their power. When Alexander, who fully understood the importance of this ritual, followed suit, he was accepted by the Egyptians as their new Pharaoh.

How the Greeks were perceived in Asia

We are so used to looking through the eyes of the West that only a few of us are aware that among the Persians and Indians, the Greeks go under different names. 

Ever since the reign of Darius I, the Greeks were called Yauna or Yona, as documented in the inscription of Bisutun from c.520 BC. In the 5th century BC, Herodotus mentions the Yaunas in his Histories, linking them mainly to the Ionians, who lived along the coastline of Asia Minor. The historian also specifies that under Persian rule, the Ionian Greeks constituted one tax district that included the Pamphylians, Lycians, Magnesians, Aeolians, and Carians. 

Yauna may simply be a transliteration of the Greek for ‘Ionians,’ and the name surprisingly appears in Sanskrit literature and Sri Lanka’s Mahavamsa (historical chronicle) – a very long way from home! 

The name also has a corrupted form with the Assyrians, who called the Greeks Iawanu, and the Babylonians used Yaman or Yamanaya. Nowadays, Turkish, Persian, and Arabic languages use Yunan, which clearly derives from the ancient Persian Yauna. 

The Persians, as we know, did not stop their conquest of Greece at the coast of modern Turkey. They soon mounted an expedition to conquer Macedonia with its rich gold and silver mines. 

An inscription to that effect can be seen on Darius’ tomb at Naqsh-e Rustam, where the Macedonians are called the “Greeks with sun hats” based on their typical headwear. 

The same Macedonians threatened Persia in 340 BC when Philip II besieged Perinthus, a vital point on the Hellespont. In the end, Alexander the Great crossed into Asia and conquered Persia. How much of this campaign has been recorded in their literature remains vague. It is impossible that a well-organized civilization like Persia’s has not kept written records. Could we assume they are either still hidden or have not yet been deciphered? 

Alexander and his Macedonians marched on to Central Asia and even India. Ancient sources use the word Yonaka when referring to the later Graeco-Bactrians and Indo-Greeks, who became kingdoms in their own right. They were the result of those veterans left in the regions by Alexander, who built a civilization based on Greek principles. They rose to power in the late 4th century BC and ruled until the first decade of the 1st century AD. 

Yavana is the word that lived on in the medieval literature of India. It was generally used to define foreigners, but until approximately 1000 AD, they meant the Greeks. 

As always, there is so much more in a word than we assume at first sight. In this case, it ends up being a story on its own.

Healthcare knowledge roughly 300 years before Alexander

Alexander’s medical knowledge is based on the teaching he received from Aristotle. Sophisticated medicine did, however, exist much earlier. Hippocrates of Cos, for instance, lived only one hundred years before their time. The Hippocratic Oath, which may have appeared only after the physician’s death, has survived until today (see: A healthy mind in a healthy body – in early antiquity). This oath was, in fact, a religious document established to ensure that a doctor operated within and for community values. The oath was sworn by Apollo, Hygeia, and Panacea, promising to respect their teacher, not to administer poison or abuse their patients; quite importantly, they swore to keep the confidentiality between doctor and patient. 

[Fragment of a clay tablet from the Library of Ashurbanipal. Kouyunjik (ancient Nineveh), Neo-Assyrian, British Museum]

Three hundred years before Alexander and Aristotle, King Ashurbanipal of the Neo-Assyrian Empire kept the Nineveh Medical Encyclopaedia in his Library. These clay tablets held thousands of remedies and descriptions of the symptoms, which Alexander may have shared with the doctors traveling with the army. His men's lives were precious, and attending to their health and well-being was a priority (see: Alexander caring for the wounded and the dead). 

Plants were most certainly used in early civilizations since their medical effects were recorded around 2000 BC in Mesopotamia. The help of the gods was invoked for more complicated diseases requiring the performance of certain rituals or magic. Throughout antiquity, medicine mainly implied using plants, which were either applied to the affected body part or taken internally as potions. The ancient Egyptians also had a thorough knowledge of medicine, as documented by Herodotus. He reports that each part of the body requires specific treatments. It seems that physicians were actually specialized to treat one particular ailment of any sick patient. 

Anyway, in Mesopotamia, as the collection of medical texts grew over the centuries, the extensive Library of King Ashurbanipal was created in the 7th century BC. Scribes had gathered enough information to compose a medical dictionary, which may well be the first standardized, systematic handbook on therapeutic medicine. 

This Encyclopaedia was divided into twelve sections. The subjects moved from the head, through the torso, to the legs and feet. Each tablet constituted the equivalent of a chapter in our modern books, but some subjects are spread over more than one tablet, and there are 50 tablets in total. These tablets counted at least 250 lines. A note was added at the end of each tablet that referred to its place in the series. 

Today’s merit of this Library is to better understand how people looked at diseases and the best way to treat them in ancient times. Basically, they knew two types of specialists, one corresponding to our modern doctors and the other that could best be described as an alternative healer. 

This precious information collection has only been revealed in recent years because the tablets had been smashed to pieces in 612 BC when Nineveh fell into the hands of the Persians, Medes, and Babylonians. They divided the region between them afterward. Piecing the broken tablets back together was and is a tedious task as only a handful of people can decipher the cuneiform writing and thus reconstruct the texts. 

Once again, it is amazing, to say the least, that such precious knowledge remained hidden from us for 2,600 years! Where would our medical science be if we had continued elaborating and improving on the knowledge from the reign of King Ashurbanipal? Not only was it known to Alexander through Aristotle (and possibly to other physicians) but also to other key figures like King Philip’s doctor who operated on his eye, and Alexander’s own physician Philip of Acarnania (see: Alexander’s near-fatal dip in the Cydnus River at Tarsus)? So much information from antiquity has been sadly lost to us.