Re: The Solar Goddess.

Stephanie Budin writes:

As for Helen and Menelaos' readiness to take her back again, bear in mind that he married into the kingship of Sparta (the former king was Helen's father, not his own).  Menelaos needed to remain married to Helen in order to remain king.

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Indeed. But this is a different layer to the Helen-Cycle. In this regard, Menelaos had every reason in the world to levy war against Paris and his family. Note that he wanted not just Helen back, but her 'property' as well. Earlier, you read how Helen and Paris looted the palace at Sparta, removing all of Menelaos' property. The later Greeks had forgotten how matrilocal, matrilinear royal descent worked, and this indeed raised all sorts of questions for them. Had Menelaos not contested Paris, the people of Sparta would have probably slaughtered him and replaced him with whomever Hermione married. Notice how Helen left a suitable heiress behind -- her own daughter.

Menelaos as 'the moon people', as a lunar deity, as Tithonus, however, is something else. Notice how, in the First War of Helen (when Theseus kidnapped her, and in one version, made her pregnant with Iphigenia), she is saved by a pair of brothers -- in this case her brothers. In the Second War of Helen (the Trojan War, or actually, the Second Trojan War (the first was about Hesione -- the face that launched six ships -- and represents another related doublet), Helen is also rescued by a pair of brothers -- in this case her husband and his brother -- Menelaos and Agamemnon.

The 'Helen-Cycle' is as complex and with at least as many 'sources' as the Hebrew Bible, and visibly, in historic time, has undergone at least as much redaction as the Bible. It's like reading the first ten chapters of Genesis, and teasing out the two separate accounts.

I'm saying there is a myth of the kidnapped sun-goddess who is rescued by heroic brothers in here someplace. I would not be suprised if the Trojan palladium is somehow involved. It's interesting that Apollo and Artemis are on the same side as their mythological semi-doublets, Paris and Helen.  An approximate  reconstruction of the proto-Greek myth is probably possible; all the data is not in yet, though, or in any event, I've not read all the data yet (yeah, I'm that conceited: I know I'm on the right track; I'd like to know if someone has gotten there yet).

Mark.