Jelica:this name might refer to a Greek person, a ''Hellene.''
The sources of its popularity balance between a saint and a sinner.
On one hand, there is
St. Helena, mother to Constantine the Great, whose purity allowed her to discover the True Cross. On the opposite hand, there is the notorious Helen of Troy, whose adulterous flight in the arms of the Trojan
prince Paris ''launched a thousand ships'' (in the
words of Christopher Marlowe) and started the bloody Trojan War.
The image of the latter Helen's bewitching beauty has lasted through the ages. In a film version of Marlowe's 16th-century play Faustus, the devil offers Helen (portrayed by
Elizabeth Taylor) to the title character in exchange for his
soul. Faustus swiftly agrees to the bargain.