Menelaus Paris the most beautiful woman in all the world. After concluding a diplomatic mission to Sparta during the latter part of which Menelaus was absent to attend the funeral of his maternal grandfather Catreus in Crete, Paris ran off to Troy with Helen despite his brother Hector's prohibition. Invoking the oath of Tyndareus, Menelaus and Agamemnon raised a fleet of a thousand ships and went to Troy to secure Helen's return; the Trojans refused, providing a "casus belli" for the Trojan War. Homer's "Iliad" is the most expansive source for Menelaus’s exploits during the Trojan War. In Book 3, Menelaus
William Menelaus Aberdare. Unfortunately, she died ten weeks later in November 1852 of cholera. Menelaus did not remarry, but brought up and educated two nephews: William Darling, who became a law lord, and Charles Darling, who became an MP and later a baron. Although paid well from his work at Dowlais and investments in other steel, coal and commercial activities, Menelaus lived a simple lifestyle at his home in Merthyr Tydfil. His only extravagance was his art collection, which included works by many of the modern and noted European artists. Menelaus died on 30 March 1882 at Charlton House, in Tenby. Having