The Twitter Herodotus

2.111 S's son Pheros went blind after spearing a river. He was cured by washing his eyes in the urine of a virtuous woman (not Mrs. Pheros).

2.112 After Pheros came Proteus. In his precinct in Memphis there's a shrine to the Foreign Aphrodite. I think this refers to Helen of Troy.

2.113 There's a story that Helen and Paris landed in Egypt en route to Troy. Paris' lackeys told the Egyptians he'd stolen Helen from hubby.

2.114 They told their king, Proteus, who ordered that Paris be arrested and brought to him.

2.115 Proteus rebuked Paris for stealing Helen & said he'd keep her in Egypt until her husband came. Paris had 3 days to leave the country.

2.116 I think Homer knew of this version of the Helen story. He opted not to use it, but he alludes to Paris' "wandering" in his epics.

2.117 These references prove that the Cypria was not composed by Homer: it says Paris went from Sparta to Troy in 2 days, with no straying.

2.118 The priests said they knew the story from Menelaus himself. After Troy fell, when Helen wasn’t there, he came to Egypt to get her.

2.119 Menelaus got Helen back but was delayed in Egypt by contrary winds. He sacrificed 2 native kids to appease the winds, then sailed off.

2.120 I believe the Egyptians: if Helen had been in Troy Priam would have handed her over to the Greeks. She wasn't worth the price of war.