Judgement of Paris

The Judgement of Paris is a story from Greek mythology, in which the legendary roots of the Trojan War can be found. As with many mythological tales, details vary depending on the source. (For a more complete treatment, see Paris)

Zeus (Jupiter) held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. Left off the guest list was Eris (goddess of strife), and upon turning up uninvited she threw a golden apple on to the table, with the inscription 'to the fairest'. Hera (Juno), Athena (Minerva) and Aphrodite (Venus) contended for the apple, and eventually Zeus declared that Paris, a Phrygian mortal, would judge their cases.

All three of the candidates attempted to bribe Paris; Hera offered to make him a king, Athena offered great knowledge, and Aphrodite offered the love of the world's most beautiful woman. This was Helen of Sparta, wife of the Greek king Menelaus. Paris accepted Aphrodite's gift, receiving Helen and the enmity of the Greeks. The Greeks' expedition to retrieve Helen is the borderline mythological basis of the Trojan War.

The Judgement of Paris and its fallout figures in any number of artistic endeavors, including the Portland Vase, the Pyxis Pot, Lucian's "The Judgement of the Goddesses," and Peter Paul Rubens' "The Judgement of Paris", and a novel by that name by Gore Vidal. Interestingly, the most important artistic work on the Trojan War, Homer's Iliad references Paris' stealing of Helen in a rather oblique way involving only Aphrodite; some commentators have suggested that it is playing off a different legend of Paris, now lost; others (Richmond Lattimore) suggest the internal tensions of the Iliad led Homer to pick and and choose among which parts of the myth he would keep.