Quote Originally Posted by Cazero View Post
The thing is, we're explicitly informed that they're not behaving rationaly when some snotty brat abducting a king's wife/fiancee results in a war instead of a formal apology accompanied with the brat's head.

Kids were fongible back then, right?
"Yes, I'm totally going to execute my long-lost son because he obeyed when the Goddess of Love told him to seduce your wife."

Helen wasn't kidnapped, Paris seduced her and she decided to run off with him and rob her husband blind on the way out. Paris seduced her because he was following instructions given to him by Aphrodite after he judged her the one most worthy of the Golden Apple, promising that by doing so he would earn the love of the most beautiful woman in the world.

Also, at least some translations indicate that nobody wants to go to war over this but they're bound by oaths to do so and if they back out they won't get help from the other Greek King if they need it.