I couldn’t wait to accomplish the ninth task that Circe gave me to perform on my trek around the Mediterranean Sea: You may not choose to sleep with me, Kalypso, Sappho, or even Nausikaa but you must meet them all and absolutely spend a night with Helen of Troy. Do not, however, touch Odysseus’ wife Penélopê or your entire odyssey will come to naught.
The Idiot’s nightlong encounter with Helen is described in the 19th chapter of “The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean.”
Who wouldn’t welcome a task that involved sleeping with Helen of Troy?
19. Sleeping with Helen of Troy
Dueling for a Haunted Lady – the title of Book Three in The Iliad
“The immortal gods had never willed it.” – The Iliad
My next challenge in the Peloponnese involves, as Circe requested, finding the bed where Paris spent his first night with Helen before taking her home to Troy. And, Circe insisted much to my surprise, “Sleep with her!”
Most Greeks are well enough versed in the classics to know that Paris, the besotted Trojan prince, slept with Helen, the unfaithful Queen of Sparta, on the minute island of Kranai before whisking her to Troy more than 3,200 years ago. Their fateful frolic and reckless spree led to the long-running Trojan War. Had that night not occurred, had Helen not engaged in a torrid extramarital affair, we would not have Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
The tiny island of Kranai in the Peloponnese.
The incident has had such an impact on Greek history that many contemporary lovers in the Peloponnese use their first romantic date to visit the tiny island, which is also called Marathonissi and is now connected to the mainland with a causeway. Indeed, local couples consider a night spent on the island a requisite rite of passage in the evolution of their relationship.
After a couple weeks on the stark and solitary Mani Peninsula, I don’t hesitate to get in on the amorous action. As part of my MedTrekking research, I decide to camp for a night in exactly the same spot – though not in exactly the same bed – that led to the Trojan War.
It took a lot of research to find the place where Helen and Paris actually slept together.
Here’s where we spent the night together.
The matted grass is indicative of the sleep I didn’t get.
Want more? Simply download the interactive and/or paperback versions of “The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean” @ http://followtheidiot.com/purchase.
Next week: An excerpt from the chapter Prancing About The Peloponnese illustrates what The Idiot saw before encountering Helen of Troy.
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