“What can I think or say? For after my previous troubles, this is a fresh piece of ill-luck I hear, if, indeed, after recovering my wife from Troy and bringing her hither, and putting her for safety in the cave, I am then to find another woman living here with the same name as my wife.”
~ ‘Helen’ by Euripides (Edward P. Coleridge translation. GB5 - p. 302)
The play starts with Helen in Egypt. We immediately learn that Helen, whom Paris took to Troy and the one for whom the Greeks fought for over ten years, was not the real Helen but a fake phantom created by Hera with her breath. The real Helen was whisked away by Hermes to Egypt and has been living under the protection of King Proteus until recently. King Proteus has died, and his son Theoclymenus rules Egypt; he wants to marry Helen, and she has been taking refuge near the tomb of Proteus. At this point, Helen is still unsure of the outcome of the Trojan War.
Teucer, Ajax’s half-brother, arrives in Egypt since he has been exiled by his father for not stopping Ajax’s suicide. He came to Egypt to seek counsel from Theonoe, the King’s sister, who is a famous prophetess. He is shocked to see Helen here and, after the initial disbelief, tells her what happened at Troy and about the Greek victory. He says the army was scattered in the raging seas on the way back, and Menelaus might have died.