I had the same thought about Helen, or even the taking of Sarai from Abraham in Genesis. I expect that it is generally a real event but one that is felt to have mythic significance, that is it is retold because it is felt to be illustrative of the relations between individuals and groups, which would also be why it is sometimes probably made up, as I suspect Helen was. Whether the fictional absconding is made up by the actual participants, eg Menelaus or more likely Agamemnon, or by the story tellers is an interesting question.
I had the same thought about Helen, or even the taking of Sarai from Abraham in Genesis. I expect that it is generally a real event but one that is felt to have mythic significance, that is it is retold because it is felt to be illustrative of the relations between individuals and groups, which would also be why it is sometimes probably made up, as I suspect Helen was. Whether the fictional absconding is made up by the actual participants, eg Menelaus or more likely Agamemnon, or by the story tellers is an interesting question.
More likely the 'absconding' is a bowdlerising fig leaf covering a naked disloyalty.