From RayR - High Adventure - 25mm Menelaus 45pts

  

Its time for another Challenge Studio adventure, I've already visited The Trojan War earlier in the Challenge with my Ajax figure and I'm going back there again in this post. 

High Adventure: Whether it’s battling mummies in a pyramid, or scaling the Himalayas in search of a Yeti, the entries for this studio all remind us of the spirit of High Adventure, daring and risk-taking. All that, and fighting a giant Gorilla on the Empire State Building.

I think you could definitely call Menelaus a High Adventurer, he and the Greek armies of the day set off to Troy to reclaim Helen, who had ran off with Paris. Luckily for us, all the adventures were written down by Homer fro us to read.

Menelaus was a king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the Iliad, Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War, leading the Spartan contingent of the Greek army, under his elder brother Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Prominent in both the Iliad and Odyssey, Menelaus was also popular in Greek vase painting and Greek tragedy, the latter more as a hero of the Trojan War than as a member of the doomed House of Atreus.

Homer's Iliad is the most comprehensive source for Menelaus's exploits during the Trojan War. In Book 3, Menelaus challenges Paris to a duel for Helen's return. Menelaus soundly beats Paris, but before he can kill him and claim victory, Aphrodite spirits Paris away inside the walls of Troy. In Book 4, while the Greeks and Trojans squabble over the duel's winner, Athena inspires the Trojan Pandarus to shoot Menelaus with his bow and arrow. However, Athena never intended for Menelaus to die and she protects him from the arrow of Pandarus. Menelaus is wounded in the abdomen, and the fighting resumes. Later, in Book 17, Homer gives Menelaus an extended aristeia as the hero retrieves the corpse of Patroclus from the battlefield.

According to Hyginus, Menelaus killed eight men in the war, and was one of the Greeks hidden inside the Trojan Horse. During the sack of Troy, Menelaus killed Deiphobus, who had married Helen after the death of Paris.

So there we have my 4th entry into the Challenge and Menelaus will be joining Ajax on my Dad's shelf as he's part of my Dad's birthday present on the 27th Jan.

1 x 25mm figure 5 pts

Bonus round 20pts

Gift Store Bonus 20 pts

Total 45 pts!

This gives me a total of 126 points

I tried reading the Iliad a few years ago and I couldn't get through it, so thank you for providing the background for your adventurer, Ray. The simple armour and plain black shield add a slightly imposing quality to the figure, perfect for a king of Sparta. I hope your father enjoys his gift.