The Judgement of Paris
In brief
- At a wedding feast, the goddess of discord tossed out a golden apple inscribed "to the fairest," sparking a bitter rivalry between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite.
- Zeus refused to choose between them and sent the goddesses to Mount Ida, where the Trojan prince Paris was tending sheep, to judge instead.
- Each goddess offered him a bribe; Paris chose Aphrodite's promise of the world's most beautiful woman, setting in motion the events that led to the Trojan War.
At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, every god and goddess was invited except Eris, goddess of discord: a deliberate snub. Eris took her revenge by tossing a single golden apple into the feast, inscribed with the words "to the fairest." Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite each claimed it as her own, and the argument threatened to unravel the celebration entirely.
Zeus, unwilling to make an enemy of any of the three, refused to judge between them himself. Instead he sent the goddesses to Mount Ida, near Troy, where a young shepherd was tending his flock: Paris, an exiled prince of Troy who did not yet know his own royal blood.
Each goddess offered Paris a bribe to win his verdict. Hera promised him power over all of Asia; Athena offered wisdom and unmatched skill in war; Aphrodite promised him the love of the most beautiful woman alive. Paris, weighing the offers, chose Aphrodite, and with her his prize: Helen, already married to King Menelaus of Sparta.
The judgement won Paris the enmity of Hera and Athena forever after, and set him on the path to Sparta, where he would meet, and take, Helen from her husband's home. From a shepherd's simple choice on a quiet mountainside, the seeds of the Trojan War were sown.
