Idiom Origins - Face that launched a thousand ships - History of Face that launched a thousand ships

Face that launched a thousand ships

Meanings and origins of thousands of idioms, curious words, and slang.

Origin of: Face that launched a thousand ships

Face that launched a thousand ships

The face that launched a thousand ships was the face of Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta who ran off with Paris of Troy and precipitated the subsequent war between Greece and Troy. The quotation is from Christopher Marlowe The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (1604): "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium?" (Ilium is another name for Troy).