The Judgment of Paris One day, high on Mount Olympus, a wedding was taking place. A sea goddess, Thetis, was marrying a mortal king. All of Olympus was in attendance, except for Eris, who was not invited. Eris was furious at being excluded and decided to throw her golden apple at the place of the wedding. The golden apple of Eris, however, was not a golden apple of love, like those of other goddesses, but one of discord. A fight or argument always broke out when it was thrown at a group of people. The apple had the words "For the fairest of all" printed on it, so naturally, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all wanted to claim it as their own. Zeus put an end to their quarrel by asking Hermes to bring them to the field of Paris, a Trojan shepherd who was the most handsome man in Greece. He was asked to decide which of the three goddesses was the most beautiful. When he could not decide, the goddesses started to bribe Paris, so that he would decide in their favor. Hera offered him all of Asia as his kingdom, Athena the wisdom and strategy to defeat Greece, and Aphrodite offered the most beautiful woman in world. Paris decided to award the golden apple to Aphrodite. The most beautiful woman in the world was Helen of Sparta (Sparta is in Greece). But she had a husband! A man named Menalaus was married to her. But Aphrodite had to keep her promise, so she helped Paris to steal Helen. At this, Menalaus declared a great war against Troy. It lasted 10 years. |
