Helen

Acts

• Prologue

  Helen explains: she never went to Troy. Hera sent a phantom in her place. The real Helen has been in Egypt, faithful to Menelaus.

  164 lines
• Parodos

  The chorus sympathises with Helen — blamed for a war she did not cause.

  101 lines
• First Episode

  Teucer tells Helen that Troy has fallen and Menelaus is presumed dead.

  859 lines
• First Stasimon

  Ten years of slaughter for a phantom — a cloud shaped like a woman.

  62 lines
• Second Episode

  Menelaus arrives, shipwrecked. He left "Helen" in a cave — she vanished. He meets the real Helen.

  137 lines
• Second Stasimon

  The chorus meditates on the impossibility of knowing truth.

  70 lines
• Third Episode

  Helen and Menelaus plot escape. She will tell the Egyptian king Menelaus is dead and request a ship for funeral rites.

  82 lines
• The Escape

  On the open sea, they overpower the Egyptian crew and sail for Greece.

  60 lines
• Exodos

  The Dioscuri restrain the Egyptian king. Helen will be deified after death.

  192 lines