Menelaus
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Menelaus. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
in Greek legend, one of the Greek heroes, a King of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, and the unfortunate husband of the lovely but faithless Helen, whose flight with Paris, the youthful envoy from Priam, led to the Trojan war. In the "Iliad" he fights a duel with Paris and does many brave deeds, including the bearing of the body of Patroclus from the battlefield. In the 10th year of the Trojan war, Helen, by perfidiously introducing Menelaus into the chamber of Deiphobus, obtained his forgiveness and she returned with him to Sparta, after a voyage of eight years. He died some time after his return.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
in Greek legend, the king of Sparta. He was the brother of Agamemnon and the husband of Helen whose abduction brought about the Trojan War. Menelaus summoned his friends and allies to his support in a siege of Troy which lasted ten years. While the object of the war was attained, and Menelaus recovered his wife, he is by no means the heroic personage of the legend. His return occupied eight years of wandering. See Achilles ; Ulysses ; Helen ; Priam ; Troy , etc.
1000 Classical Characters (1900)
A king of Sparta , brother to Agamemnon . He married Helen, the most beautiful woman of her time. Paris, having arrived in Sparta in the absence of Menelaus, persuaded her to elope with him, which was the cause of the Trojan war. In the tenth year of the war Helen, it is said, obtained the forgiveness of Menelaus, with whom she returned to Sparta, where, shortly after his return, he died. 2026 Editor's Note: The page describes Paris as having 'persuaded' Helen to elope, but ancient sources offer more nuanced and contradictory accounts of her agency. In Homer's account, Helen ultimately fell in love with Paris and willingly went to Troy with him, though there are also stories in which she was abducted. Homer depicts her ambivalently, both regretful of her choice and sly in her attempts to redeem her public image, while other accounts have a treacherous Helen who rejoiced in the carnage she caused. (Ed: BR 2026-06-21)