特洛伊的海伦究竟有多美
特洛伊战争中的海伦（Helen），是古代西方世界公认的大美女。她的美我们没亲眼见过，也没有画像或雕塑传世，只在荷马（Homer）的史诗和其它神话传说中留传。那么海伦究竟有多美呢？
说实话，Robert Fitzgerald
注的荷马史诗"伊利亚特" （THE ILIAD，Oxford Uni. Press，1974），当初买来主要就想一睹海伦原汁原味的芳容，但开始却有点失望。荷马说特洛伊战争因她而起，但全篇史诗中提到海伦的地方总共才１５处，几乎没有任何直接的描写，而且提到她的地方，只比爱神阿芙诺蒂特（Aphrodite）的多了一处，也没有写太阳神Apollo和智慧女神Athena的地方更多一些。
失望之余，对海伦的美也更多了一分好奇。史诗中描写海伦的主要有三处：
第一处，Iris( Paris的妹妹，海伦的小姑子)告诉海伦两军阵前对峙，Menelaus（海伦的前夫）要求和
Paris
个人之间用长矛决斗，谁赢了谁就娶海伦回家。于是海伦披
上银面纱，登上特洛伊的城墙去观战。这时，特洛伊的将领们窃窃私语：
Watching Helen as she climbed the
stair
in undertones they said to one
another:
‘We cannot rage at
her, it is no
wonder
that
Trojans and Achaeans wonder arms
should for so long have borne the pains of
war
for one like this.’
‘Unearthliness, A Goddess the woman is to
look at.’
‘Ah, but
still, still, even so,
being all
that she is, let her go in the ships
and take her scourge from our children.’
这些话，既有感慨，也有埋怨，希望她带着财产早点离开特洛伊的。但对海伦容貌未置一词。古希腊女人婚龄一般是
15-20岁。用海伦自己回答Priam（Paris的父亲，特洛伊国王）的话来说:On the day I joined
your son, and left my
bridal chamber, my brothers, my grown child, my childhood friends!这样在初次认识Paris的时候，海伦不但早已是有夫之妇，而且孩子也已长大，据此推算，观战时的海伦该是0岁的少妇了吧。显然，她的美依然在所有特
洛伊人眼中无可争议，只是她又被视为倾国倾城的苦难象征。
第二处是同书稍后，描写海伦如何在爱神的鼓动下，和
Paris(昵称Alexandrus)一起情不自禁而坠入情网：
In this guise, ravishing Aphrodite said
:
Come home
with me. Alexandrus invites you.
On the ivory-inlaid bed in
your bedchamber
he lies at ease, and freshly
爱神是谁
dressed-so handsome
ever could you imagine the
man
came
just now from combat;…
Helen, daughter of Zeus beyond the storm cloud,
took her seat with downcast eyes,
and greet him: Home from the war?
You
should have perished there ,
brought down by that strong soldier,
once my husband…
I
wouldn’t, If I were you. No,
don't
go back to war against the tawny-headed man
of war like a rash fool. You'd
crumple
under his lance.
Paris
replied: Love, don't be bitter with me
.
…
My soul was never so
possessed by longing,
not even
when I took you first aboard off
Lacedaemon, that sweet land, and sailed in
the long ships, Not at Cranae Island
when I first went to bed