Castor and Pollux delivering Helen - Léon Cogniet

Theseus and his friend Pirithoos had spied Helen while she was still a child offering a sacrifice to Artemis. They drew lots, and Theseus won her. He kidnapped her, took her to Athens and locked her up in the fortress of Aphidna, entrusting her to the care of her mother Æthra, while he himself went to the Underworld to conquer Persephone. Then Helen's brothers Castor and Pollux (the Dioscuri), having learned where their sister was being held, went to Attica, attacked Aphidna, kidnapped Helen and Theseus' mother and brought them to Sparta.

Æthra draped in black can be seen in the background on the right.