A Spartan Girl and Boy
Welcome to The Tales of Helen and Lysander
Helen
Helen is a young Spartan girl. She is aged 7 and she is both clever and outspoken. She wants to be a famous Spartan and she has a plan for that. She feels as though boys have a better time of things in Sparta than girls and she is vocal about this.
She will be trained to grow up as a fit and healthy young women. She will have more rights and responsibilities than a women in any other Greek city state.
Her main role will be to make the next generation of Spartans. A role she does not quite understand yet. She has a strong rivalry with her twin brother, Lysander, but deep down she cares for him dearly.
Lysander
Lysander is a young Spartan boy. He is Helen's twin brother. He is also clever and filled with a sense of duty about his role in Sparta.
He is proud of his father who serves in the Spartan army and wants to follow in his foot steps. He will be trained to grow up as a Spartan warrior standing in the hoplite phalanx. This is the military formation used by Sparta and the other Greek City States and is feared throughout the known world.
Lysander is not allowed to be friends with Pylos but he views him almost as a friend and spends more time in his company than he should.
Pylos
Pylos is a helot (the Spartan word for slave). He works in Helen's and Lysander's house. Although he must stay in the background and not draw attention to himself, Pylos is probably the smartest of our three characters.
Even though it is forbidden for Spartans to be friends with helots, Pylos and Lysander are close to each other.
Pylos will quietly help Helen and Lysander behind the scenes at great danger to himself and to Lysander.