His peace mission fails, and in making his escape from Sparta, takes Helen with him. The ‘abduction’ unites the Greeks and sends them off on a war against Troy.

The mythical conflict took place outside the walls of Troy, an ancient city on the coast of Asia Minor. But the seeds of war were sown far from there, in the city of Sparta on the Greek mainland.

Menelaus is the king of Sparta and temporarily departs ... hidden inside under the walls of Troy, pretending to be dedicated to the gods and ending the war. Falling for the trap, the Trojans ...

Head further back in time and fight in the Greek war between Athens and Sparta in Total War: Rome II's latest expansion.

Helen married King Menelaus of Sparta, then ran off with Paris from Troy, precipitating the 10-year Trojan War as a Greek alliance fought to get Helen back. In her first book of poems ...

Paris, Prince of Troy, is blown off-course and lands his ship at Sparta - home of Menelaus and ... he knows it will mean war…and that he will be 'in it up to my neck'. See Resources below ...

and that the Greeks really were at Troy sometime around 1200 BC – close to the traditional date of the war. A ten-year siege seems to be, from the archaeology, total nonsense. And Helen herself ...