Menelaus challenges Paris to a duel for Helen’s return. Menelaus soundly beats Paris, but before he can kill him and claim victory, Aphrodite spirits Paris away inside the walls of Troy. In Book 4, while the Greeks and Trojans squabble over the duel’s winner, Athena inspires the Trojan Pandarus to shoot Menelaus with his bow and arrow. However, Athena never intended for Menelaus to die and she protects him from the arrow of Pandarus. Menelaus is wounded in the abdomen, and the fighting resumes. Later, in Book 17, Homer gives Menelaus an extended "aristeia" as the hero retrieves the corpse of
Sparta (mythology) Sparta (mythology) In Greek mythology, Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, "Spártā"; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, "Spártē") was the daughter of King Eurotas of Laconia. She was wife of King Lacedaemon (also her uncle) by whom she became the mother of Amyclas and Eurydice, wife of King Acrisius of Argos. The city of Sparta is said to have been named after her; however, the city was often called Lacedaemon as well. The two names were used interchangeably. Sparta was represented on a sacrificial tripod at Amyclae. She was said to be a fair and beautiful maiden worth defending and protecting at all costs.