Judgement of Paris

In Greek myth, at the marriage feast of Peleus and the goddess Thetis, Eris (Discord) threw down a golden apple (the ‘apple of Discord’) inscribed ‘for the most beautiful’. The goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphroditē all claimed it, and they applied to Paris, the most handsome of mortal men, then a shepherd on Mount Ida near Troy, to settle the dispute. Each goddess offered him a reward in return for the apple: Hera greatness, Athena success in war, and Aphrodite the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife (compare the ‘choice of Heraclēs’). Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite, and with her help carried off Helen. It was ultimately this judgement which brought about the Trojan War, but it is not an aspect of the story used by Homer: he retains the hostility of Hera and Athena for Troy, but leaves it unexplained.