Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
intriguing story which is claimed to be the cause of the great Trojan War is found in Apollodorus and
is also mentioned by Pausanias).
When the dark beauty, Hecuba, the wife of King Priam, was pregnant, she had a terrifying dream.
She dreamed she gave birth to a firebrand and awoke screaming that the city of Troy was burning to
the ground. Alarmed by this, her husband consulted his son, the seer Aisacros, who told him the
baby would one day cause the destruction of his country. Accordingly Priam ordered that the child
should be put to death. So, after the boy was born, he was given to the chief herdsman, Agelaus, to
be killed. Agelaus left the child on Mount Ida to die from exposure but, returning five days later,
found the boy still alive and took him home, where he brought him up secretly. As a young man,
Paris became noted for his extreme beauty, wit and prowess.
At about this time the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the hero and the sea-goddess, was celebrated
on Mount Pelion. All the gods and goddesses were invited, with the noted exception of Eris, the
Goddess of Strife, who was hideous and disagreeable. Angered at being left out of the nuptuals she
strode into the middle of the wedding feast and threw a golden apple into the assembled company. It
landed between the three most powerful goddesses, Hera, Athene and Aphrodite. Picking it up,
Zeus found it was inscribed For the Fairest. Wisely deciding not to judge between the three deities
himself, Zeus nominated the beautiful Paris as arbiter, but first he sent Hermes to enquire whether
he would be willing to act as judge. Paris agreed and so a time was set for the three goddesses to
appear to him on Mount Ida.
When the day came, Paris sat himself on a boulder and waited with beating heart for the arrival of
the three great deities. All at once a great light appeared which covered the entire mountain. At first
Paris was blinded, but then the goddesses cloaked their light in cloud so that he was able to look at
them. First Hera, the great queen, approached him and flaunted her beauty in front of him. Radiant
with glory she made him a promise. If he awarded her the apple, she would grant him wealth and
power. He would rule over the greatest kingdom on earth. Paris felt the excitement of this and his