collective list of the random shit helen of troy did,
its far to easy to forget that helen is a hero from mythology as well and got up to some wild shit, where is the helaniad retelling "Naturally they weep; but Helen, being a daughter of Zeus, and having learned many counsels from the wise men of Egypt," "Helene, who ate more than any other woman ever did."(he spe-Athenaeus, Deipnosophists
"what time she beheld Canobus, the helmsman, swooning on the sands of Thonis; for as he slept a female blood-letter, on which he had pressed, struck him in the neck and belched forth its deadly poison into him, turning his rest to ruin. Therefore Helen crushed the middle of its trailing shape, breaking the ligatures of the back about the spine, so that the backbone started from its body. "-Nicander, Theriaca "he (Thonis) fell in love with her, and when he attempted to force her to lie with him, the story goes that the daughter of Zeus repeated the whole tale to the wife of Thonis (Polydamna was her name), and she on her side, anxious lest this alien should prove more beautiful than she, removed Helen to the safety of Pharos and gave her a herb disliked by the snakes there; so as soon as they were aware of this, the snakes went underground. But Helen planted the herb and in time it flourished and produced seed disagreeable to the snakes, and in Pharos such creatures have never recurred. Experts in these matters say that this herb is called Helenion." "Canobus, the helmsman of Menelaus, encountered in Egypt during the reign of Thonis; and when Helen realised how strong this venomous, beast was she broke its spine and extracted the poison. But for what purpose she was eager to obtain this precious stuff I am unable to say"-Aelian, Characteristics of Animals
"Some say that Helen was taken away by Alexander when she hunted on the mount of the Virgin" -Photius, Bibliotheca excerpts
"All these personages Helen surpassed in proportion as she excelled them in the beauty of her person. For not only did she attain immortality but, having won power equalling that of a god, she first raised to divine station her brothers, who were already in the grip of Fate, and wishing to make their transformation believed by men, she gave to them honors so manifest that they have power to save when they are seen by sailors in peril on the sea, if they but piously invoke them.
After this she so amply recompensed Menelaus for the toils and perils which he had undergone because of her, that when all the race of the Pelopidae had perished and were the victims of irremediable disasters, not only did she free him from these misfortunes but, having made him god instead of mortal, she established him as partner of her house and sharer of her throne forever." -Isocrates 9, Helen
"The eighth tells about Proteus the Egyptian seer, whose daughter Theonoe fell in love with Kanobos (the steersman of Menelaus from Troy), unrequited. And how Kanobos, who was handsome and young, was bitten by a viper and his leg rotted when Menelaus was taking Helen away from Egypt and they landed their ship. After a little he died and Menelaus and Helen buried him in Egypt where the city named for him now stands."-Conon, Narrations
"Helenium, which had its origin, as I have said, in the tears of Helen, is believed to preserve physical charm, and to keep unimpaired the fresh complexion of our women." -Pliny the Elder, Natural History
(about a cursed tripod, or just a fancy tripod people fight over, given to the wisest man or people will war over it) "There is yet another version, that it was the work of Hephaestus presented by the god to Pelops on his marriage. Thence it passed to Menelaus and was carried off by Paris along with Helen and was thrown by her into the Coan sea, for she said it would be a cause of strife" -Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers "and some strangers from Miletus bought the catch as yet unseen. It proved to contain a golden tripod which Helen, on her voyage from Troy, is said to have thrown in there, when she called to mind a certain ancient oracle." -Plutarch, Life of Solon
"for thence he says that Helen brought things of virtue which Polydamna, the Egyptian wife of Thon, gave her; there the grain-bearing earth produces most drugs, many that are good, and many baneful" -Theophrastus, Enquiry Into Plants
"For you may remember the verses of Homer in which he relates how Helen mingled in the bowl of wine certain drugs from Egypt to drown the heartache of the heroes; well, I think that Helen must have picked up the lore of the Egyptians, and have sung spells over the dejected heroes through their bowl of wine, so healing them by a blending of words and wine."-Philostratus "The pan is, it is said, a monstrous sea fish whose appearance reminds one of Pan; in his body is found a stone, the "asterite" which, exposed to the sun, catches fire; it is useful otherwise to make a potion. Helen was in possession of this stone, which carried graven on it the image of the pan fish itself, and she used it as a seal."-Photius, Bibliotheca excerpts edit: the stuff I found later "This seems to be from a story, inasmuch as Helen is said to have received many drugs from the wife of Thon, as Homer [Odyssey 4.228] says: ‘These (drugs) Polydamna, the wife of Thon, gave her—an Egyptian woman—many good ones mixed together, and many baneful ones.’" scholia to euripidies
" Gras is the son of Orestes. For Orestes, after killing his mother, went mad, as Euripides says. But wanting to kill Helen because she had angered him by stirring up the crowd and making him an exile"
-tztetses
