Character list for Homer's "The Iliad"

King Priam of Troy "Armed with good-ashen spear" The wise king Priam, the father of Paris and Hector, condones Paris' theft of Helen after he saw the magnitude of her beauty. By giving safe haven to Paris and Helen, Priam prevented peace from being made. King Menelaus of Sparta "Fair-haired" Paris steals Helen from Menelaus, and he subsequently galvanizes all of Greece to unite behind him to reclaim Helen. Menelaus fiercely fights Paris, yet fails …

…fellow Trojans even though he has instigated this war. His cowardice is similar to that of Menelaus. Helen, woman of dual royalty "The lovely-haired" Helen, queen of Sparta and wife of Menelaus, is taken from her home by Paris and travels with him to Troy where she becomes his queen also. At the center of the entire conflict, the reader finds Helen, a peaceful woman drowning beneath the brutal waves of a man's bloody world.