Doctor Faustus (Marlowe)

Explain the lines from Dr Faustus? Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships, And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?

Explain the lines from Dr Faustus?
Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?

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Last updated by Aslan
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This is an allusion r to Helen of Troy. Apparently she was said to be so beautiful that, when she was abducted, a fleet of a thousand ships set sail to win her back from Paris, sparking the Trojan Wars.