Lucians The Judgment of the Goddesses

Names to know:
Zeus: King of the gods, husband of Hera, father of Athena; attributes: lightening bolt, bulls
Hera: wife of Zeus, goddess of motherhood and marriage; attributes: cows, pomegranates
Aphrodite: goddess of love, beauty and pleasure, attributes: beauty, the sea, magic belt
Athena: goddess of wisdom, law, and just warfare; attributes: grey eyes, helmet, aegis
Hermes: god of travel and trickery, messenger god: attributes: winged sandals, kerykeion
Paris: Prince of Troy, handsome youth, started the Trojan War by kidnapping Helen
Helen: the face that launched a thousand ships, beautiful mortal daughter of Zeus
Please answer these questions while you are reading the Judgment of the Goddesses.
Please turn in this handout at the end of our class discussion.
1. What does Zeus want Paris to do? Why cant Zeus do this himself?

2. How does Lucian portray the interactions between Aphrodite, Athena and Hera?

3. What does Aphrodite ask Hermes about Paris? Why might she have asked this?

4. What does Athena ask Hermes about Paris? Why might she have asked this?

6. Why does Paris say he cant judge the goddesses?

8. What does Hera offer Paris? What human emotion/feeling does she appeal to?

9. What does Athena offer Paris? What human emotion/feeling does she appeal to?

10. What does Aphrodite offer Paris? What human emotion/feeling does she appeal to?

11. What does Aphrodites offer reveal about the role of women in Ancient Greece?

12. Why is Aphrodite chosen?

13. What are some of the implications of choosing Aphrodite? What does our own society
value most: wealth, power or beauty?

14. Apples appear in many myths: (Adam and Eve, Snow White, the Judgment of Paris).
What might apples symbolize?