Helen of Troy to the underworld, the domain of Hades, to kidnap Persephone. Hades pretended to offer them hospitality and set a feast, but, as soon as the pair sat down, snakes coiled around their feet and held them there. Helen's abduction caused an invasion of Athens by Castor and Pollux, who captured Aethra in revenge, and returned their sister to Sparta. In most accounts of this event, Helen was quite young; Hellanicus of Lesbos said she was seven years old and Diodorus makes her ten years old. On the other hand, Stesichorus said that Iphigenia was the daughter of Theseus and Helen,
Helen of Troy Helen's sister, begs her husband to reconsider his decision, calling Helen a ""wicked woman"". Clytemnestra tries to warn Agamemnon that sacrificing Iphigenia for Helen's sake is, ""buying what we most detest with what we hold most dear"". Before the opening of hostilities, the Greeks dispatched a delegation to the Trojans under Odysseus and Menelaus; they endeavored without success to persuade Priam to hand Helen back. A popular theme, "The Request of Helen" (Helenes Apaitesis, Ἑλένης Ἀπαίτησις), was the subject of a drama by Sophocles, now lost. Homer paints a poignant, lonely picture of Helen in Troy. She is filled with