Who was Menelaus? | Early Life of the King of Sparta

Sign up for a 14-day free trial and enjoy all the amazing features MyHeritage has to offer. If you decide to continue your subscription, you’ll get a 50% discount. bit.ly/WanaxTV
We know him as a legendary king of Sparta, one of the chief Achaean leaders during the Trojan war. When his wife Helen was abducted by Paris of Troy, Menelaus went to Mycenae and urged his brother Agamemnon to declare war on Troy.
In this episode, we go through the early life of Menelaus, from his upbringing as a Mycenaean prince to his rise as the king of Sparta.
✅ Please SUBSCRIBE for more content.
✅ PATREON - / wanaxtv
☑️ Follow WanaxTV:
Facebook - / wanaxtv
Twitter - / wanaxtv
▶️ Machinma:
Total War Saga: Troy
Total War ROME II - Emperor Edition
Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
🎞️ Directed, narrated & animated by WanaxTV
🎼 Music: Epidemic Sound
#TrojanWar #ancientgreece #achaeanhistory #bronzeage #greekmythology

[@WanaxTV]

Sign up for a 14-day free trial and enjoy all the amazing features MyHeritage has to offer. If you decide to continue your subscription, you’ll get a 50% discount. bit.ly/WanaxTV

[@AGS363]

I hope you will eventually talk about Aeneas too.

[@WanaxTV]

I did! Here’s the link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIbWnZuwo8SJeLcsi=3sEZmHfY6NAWizHs

[@GothPaoki]

Great video.A noteworthy mention! This version of Sparta has nothing to do with the Sparta of the Persian wars and the later years in everything else but geography. This is the achean Sparta under Mycenaean rule. In other words it's a different tribe of Greeks that was settled in Sparta around the date of the Trojan war approximately 1250 bc. The more warlike Spartan civ as we know it today wouldn't exist for almost another 150 years , when the Dorian Greeks ( greeks from the Northern part of Greece) descended on the south and displaced the acheans in a series of wars . Therefore we're essentially talking about two different Spartan civs who although both Greek in origin were wildly different.

[@WanaxTV]

Good take!

[@ecurewitz]

Agamemnon choosing to marry Clytemnestra - that would end up being a very bad decision 6:24

[@WanaxTV]

True.

[@vijaykumarnadaraja531]

He made a mess by sacrificing his daughter for fair wind. The useless clot.

[@TheRealTomahawk]

This was a great mini documentary. I would love to see this in a Future film… starting maybe with the end of Herakles’ life and idk maybe the seven against Thebes and the return of the epigoni and then Menalaus and Agamemnon if it’s in the timeline… and maybe even include Diomedes and Achilles

[@richardarcher7177]

That would be great, provided the producers stayed faithful to the source material and didn't muck it up. I know there is a lot of leeway as nothing is set in stone but film and TV today still somwhow manage it. Probably the people who did 'Rome' or some of the recent Italian productions aboout Romulus could be trusted not make a dog's breakfast of it. I'd love to see people dressed as proper late bronze age aegean warriors and not some of the odd confections I've seen over the years.

[@WanaxTV]

I have plans for the origins of the Heracleidae, starting with the death of Heracles and going across 5 generations until the conquest of Peloponnese by Temenus and his brothers. Possible for 2024.

[@lazy_guy_2525]

As a greek , i confirm this

[@Weedwizard600]

As another Hellen o agree

[@billy-bo_]

Ελλάδα! ❤

[@Rithymna]

Excellent presentation as always! Συγχαρητήρια Wanax TV!

[@WanaxTV]

Appreciate it brother! Thanks!

[@thomasdaywalt7735]

there should be a prequel to troy

[@WanaxTV]

Agreed.

[@thomasdaywalt7735]

@WanaxTV I mean the house of a trade is a legendary house I mean, what brought Hector The breaker of horses the history of Priam Or like what was hercules doing at the time

[@spacebunny4335]

Great video.

[@WanaxTV]

Thanks!

[@mercianthane2503]

Menelaus is without question my favorite character from the Iliad. He is fair and just ruler, and before the great war, he literally asks for his wife to be returned, because Menelaus wants to avoid war and bloodshed. He is calm and collected, only lashing out against his true rival: Paris/Alexander. When he confronts Helen, at the end, he grows soft and pardons her, showing his good side. He was about to spare the life of one of the warriors he bested, until his brother objected. He is exactly like Yudhishthira from the Mahabharata, as scholar J. Doylen said: "he is depicted as an ideal Brahmin, a wise, justice-loving ascetic who desires to negotiate peace and avoid conflict, but who is eventually inspired to do battle in the name of justice and in order to avenge the dishonor done to his wife, and who leads his forces to victory while achieving the climactic kill with his terrifyingly unstoppable spear." This is why Menelaus is frightening only when his wrath overcomes him to fight Paris in dual combat.

[@klausbrinck2137]

How did it come that all swore loyalty to Menelaos in the first place ??? Tyndareus, Helen´s father, was in trouble: All the kings of Greece were there, eager to marry Helen, but he knew, that he´be in even bigger trouble, if he gives his daughter to any other than Menelaos, the richest, most powerfull Greek (whose brother Menelaos is the biggest General in Greece). Odysseus, also invited to plead for Helen´s hand, had no real interest. He actually got some interest, when he met Helen´s first cousin, Penelope. He, the smartest of all, noticed the trouble that Tyndareus was in, and proposed him and Menelaos, that all the kings swear an oath of eternal loyalty, for the one that Helen chooses (the extreme opposite of figthing with each other for the sake of Helen). The kings, all found it funny, and agreed, because they believed, that with that great oath, they at least pay tribute to Helen´s beauty, even if she doesn´t choose them personally, at the end... So, the kings swore the oath, and Helen then chose, guess, Menelaos. From that moment on, they were all bount to Menelaos. For his trickery, Odysseus demanded that Penelope, Tyndareus niece, marries him. He got happy with his wife Penelope, even if they missed each other for 20 years. In opposition to Menelaos and Agamemnon, who were unlucky. Women and the passion towards them is often the motive for greek myths.

[@guillermoletsworkitout3522]

Pelops was the grandson of zeus

[@FishBoneD14]

And partly the dinner of Zeus

[@WanaxTV]

Also happened to Thyestes with the dinner by Atreus. Perhaps they have it in the family?@@FishBoneD14