Had it not been for the beauty of Helen, Hermione's mother,
there would have been no Trojan War. Had it not been for their
mothers, Jocasta and Clytemnestra, the heroes Oedipus and
Orestes would have remained obscure. Mortal mothers of other
legendary heroes had important (if lesser) roles in the ancient
Greek epics of Homer and drama of the tragedians Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides. Poor Niobe. She thought herself so
blessed in the abundance of her children that she dared to
compare herself with a goddess. Not a smart thing to do. She
lost all her children by most accounts and by some she was
turned to stone. The daughter of Zeus and Leda, Helen's beauty
attracted attention even from a young age when Theseus carried
her off and according to some accounts sired a daughter named
Iphigenia on her. But it was Helen's marriage to Menelaus
(through whom she became the mother of Hermione) and her
abduction by Paris that led to the events of the Trojan War
renowned in Homeric epic. 3. JocastaThe mother of Oedip