Helen of Troy Paris dies and Troy falls. Helen was portrayed by Diane Kruger in the 2004 film "Troy". In this adaptation, as in the 2003 television version, she is unhappily married to Menelaus and willingly leaves with Paris, whom she loves. However, in this version she does not return to Sparta with Menelaus (who is killed by Hector), but escapes Troy with Paris and other survivors when the city falls. Jacob M. Appel's 2008 play, "Helen of Sparta", retells Homer's "Iliad" from Helen's point of view. Inspired by the line, "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships...?" from Marlowe's "Faustus",
Menelaus (son of Lagus) Menelaus (son of Lagus) Menelaus (; , "Menelaos"), son of Lagus and brother of Ptolemy I Soter (ruler of Egypt), served as priest of the eponymous state cult of Alexander, and was for a time king in Cyprus, under his brother. His name does not occur among the officers or generals of Alexander the Great (336–323 BC) during the lifetime of that monarch, though it is incidentally mentioned by Phylarchus in terms that would seem to imply that he then already occupied a distinguished position. The first occasion on which he appears in history is 315 BC, when he was