To return to that oath — that stupid promise made so long ago; it had all happened because of a girl — Helen, the most beautiful girl in Greece. Every young man had dreamed of marrying Helen. Odysseus had been no exception. He had gone to Sparta to declare his love but he was not surprised when Helen‘s father chose Menelaus, the king of Sparta, to be Helen‘s husband. After all, Menelaus’ brother, Agamemnon, was king of Mycenae, and the most powerful ruler in Greece.

But the real cause of all the trouble to come was Hera, the queen of the gods, and two other goddesses, Athena and Aphrodite. They were very vain and had a furious quarrel over which of them was the most beautiful. Finally they decided to let a man settle their argument. Their judge was to be Paris, son of the King of Troy.

Now Paris hoped that if he chose Aphrodite, the goddess of love, she would make Helen fall in love with him. And this is what happened. Helen eloped with Paris and took a lot of her husband‘s treasure with her. By the time Menelaus discovered the loss, the two lovers had disappeared.

At the time of Helen‘s betrothal, many of the suitors had protested that their love was greater than that of Menelaus. To avoid any trouble, Helen‘s father had insisted that they all swear an oath that if any one took Helen away from Menelaus, the others would unite to get her back. But the trouble was, nobody knew where she had gone.

Years passed. Then a few months before our story begins, Paris returned to Troy, bringing the beautiful Helen with him. This was the news that was now worrying Odysseus. The oath had been sworn, and now he and the other disappointed suitors were being called upon to honour it.