Helle
heroDaughter of Athamas who fell from the golden ram into the strait that bears her name — the Hellespont.
The Myth
She fell from a flying ram into the sea — and named one of the most strategically important waterways in the ancient world. Helle and her brother Phrixus were escaping their stepmother Ino on the back of the golden ram Chrysomallus. Over the narrow strait between Europe and Asia, Helle lost her grip and plunged into the water. The strait became the Hellespont (Sea of Helle), known today as the Dardanelles. Phrixus reached Colchis and sacrificed the ram, setting up the entire Golden Fleece quest. Helle's death is often overlooked, but without it there would be no Hellespont, and the geography of the Trojan War and Persian Wars would have been narrated differently.
Parents
Athamas, Nephele
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Hellespont (Dardanelles) is still one of the world's most strategic waterways, named for a girl who fell.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Phrixus
heroSon of Athamas who rode the golden ram to Colchis, sacrificed it, and gave its fleece to King...
Golden Fleece (Origin)
conceptThe fleece of the golden ram Chrysomallus that carried Phrixus to Colchis, becoming the object of...
Golden Fleece
conceptThe fleece of a golden-wooled ram, hung in a sacred grove in Colchis and guarded by a sleepless...
Ino
heroTheban princess who raised the infant Dionysus, was driven mad by Hera, and leaped into the sea to...
Deucalion
heroDeucalion survived Zeus's flood and repopulated the earth by throwing stones.
Deucalion (Flood)
heroSon of Prometheus who survived Zeus's great flood by building an ark on his father's advice, then...
Hellen
heroSon of Deucalion and Pyrrha, ancestor of all Greek peoples, whose name gave the Greeks their own...
Antilochus
heroSon of Nestor, youngest Greek commander at Troy, beloved companion of Achilles who died protecting...
Colchis
placeColchis was a kingdom at the eastern edge of the Greek world, on the shore of the Black Sea in...
Pyrrha
heroWife of Deucalion and daughter of Epimetheus who survived the great flood and helped repopulate the...
Trojan Horse
conceptThe hollow wooden horse used by the Greeks to infiltrate and destroy Troy. Devised by Odysseus, it...
Trojan War
conceptThe Trojan War was the central event of Greek mythology — a ten-year siege of Troy by a Greek...