In the cycle of ancient legends about the Trojan War, Helen of Troy is a central character. She is ultimately the cause of the war. What do we know about her father, Tyndareus? The ancient sources reveal much about who he was, what he did, and why he was important.
Tyndareus, a prince of Sparta
The most basic information that we know about Tyndareus is that he was born a prince of Sparta. His father was the king of that city-state. Some sources call his father Oebalus, a king of Sparta descended from Lacedaemon, the eponymous forefather of the Spartans. Other sources make him the son of a different king, Perieres son of Aeolus son of Hellen. In either case, he came from an illustrious background.
Tyndareus’ wife was a woman named Leda. She was a princess from Aetolia in western central Greece, a daughter of King Thestius. Leda bore several children with Tyndareus, including Timandra, Phoebe and Philonoe. More famously, she bore Castor, Pollux, Helen, and Clytemnestra. However, these four children were actually the offspring of Zeus, who had relations with Leda while he was disguised as a swan.
Exiled and restored to the throne of Sparta
Eventually, Tyndareus appears to have succeeded his father as the king of Sparta. However, his reign was not unopposed. He had a brother named Hippocoon who plotted against him. Ancient Greek historian Apollodorus tells us that Hippocoon and his ten sons expelled Tyndareus and his other brother, Icarius, from Sparta.
As a result, the two exiled brothers fled to the kingdom of Thestius. It was at this point in Tyndareus’ life that he met Leda and married her. In close conjunction with this, Apollodorus mentions that Tyndareus and Icarius allied themselves with Thestius and assisted him in his war against his neighbours. Perhaps Thestius gave Tyndareus his daughter Leda in marriage as a reward for his conduct during the war.
In any case, Apollodorus tells us what happened next. Heracles killed Hippocoon and his sons, allowing Tyndareus to return to the throne.
Aphrodite’s curse
During his reign, two princes from Mycenae sought refuge in his kingdom. They were Agamemnon and Menelaus. Tyndareus took them in and treated them kindly, for they had been driven out of their own kingdom by a ruler named Thyestes after the death of their father, Atreus.
King Tyndareus of Sparta helped Agamemnon and Menelaus reclaim control of Mycenae. He also eventually gave them two of his daughters in marriage, Clytemnestra and Helen. However, his careless actions would later incur the wrath of Aphrodite.
Tyndareus, according to an early Greek poet named Stesichorus, neglected to show honour to Aphrodite during his worship of the gods. Thus, she became furious with him. She directed this fury against three of his daughters. As well as the two who married the princes of Mycenae, the third daughter was Timandra. Aphrodite made them destined to desert their respective husbands. In each case, this came to pass, most famously in the case of Helen abandoning Menelaus in favour of Paris of Troy.
The end of Tyndareus’ reign
How did Tyndareus’ reign come to an end? Despite Aphrodite’s wrath against him, Tyndareus was able to end his reign peacefully and uneventfully. After Menelaus married Helen, he stepped down from the throne and allowed his son-in-law to become the new king of Sparta. Agamemnon, his other son-in-law, continued ruling over Mycenae.
Sources differ as to what eventually became of Tyndareus. Some sources claim that he died before the Trojan War. However, a popular tradition claimed that he survived past the end of that war and lived to see his daughter, Clytemnestra, get murdered by her own son by Agamemnon, Orestes. Tyndareus’ grief over his daughter’s death led him to pursue justice against Orestes, but without success.
Ultimately, we see from Apollodorus, Pausanias, and Euripides that Tyndareus had a mournful end to his life, profoundly disappointed with – or even hateful of – his daughters Clytemnestra and Helen, as well as his grandson Orestes.
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