by Lesley Rigg

Created on: July 11, 2008   Last Updated: December 03, 2010

The origin of the Trojan War has everything you, or indeed Cecil B. de Mille could possibly have wished for in a legendary epic tale-lust, betrayal, jealousy, greed, pride, blood and battle. At the wedding of sea-goddesses Thetis and Peleus, a golden apple was thrown onto the table of wedding guests by Eris (meaning discord), a goddess who felt slighted because she was barred from attending the nuptials on the orders of Zeus, and as such was determined to make her mark on proceedings.

The apple, sometimes referred to in texts as the "apple of discord", was marked "for the fairest" and the three goddesses Hera, Aphrodite and Athena all wished to vie and make a claim for the title. The goddesses asked Zeus to act as judge, and very sensibly he declined the offer, and instead he assigned Paris, a young Trojan prince to the thankless task.

Each goddess offered Paris a prize if he judged them to be the fairest and winner of the apple, thus putting him under incredible pressure to make a decision in their favor. Hera offered to make him the leader of the most powerful kingdom in existence, whilst Athena offered him the chance to be a legendary general revered by all. Finally, Aphrodite offered him the hand in marriage of the mortal considered most beautiful in the world, Helen of Sparta.

Helen was the daughter of Leda who was believed to have been seduced by Zeus whilst he masqueraded as a swan, making him Helen's father. She was however, already married to Menelaus, a fact which did not seem to concern anyone. In actual fact, Paris was also married to the nymph, Oenone. A cautionary note about dealing with goddesses though is that you should always pay your dues. Menelaus, when plying his suit for Helen had promised Aphrodite 100 oxen if he won her hand-something he forgot about, hence the goddess was keen to avenge herself and see Paris win Helen.

Despite the magnitude of the other prizes on offer for a mere mortal, Paris chose desire over legend and chose Helen as his prize and declared Aphrodite as the fairest. Paris travelled to Sparta and Aphrodite used her magic to make Helen fall in love with him. At the first opportunity whilst her husband was at a funeral Helen ran away with Paris to Troy with many of Sparta's valuables but without her daughter Hermione.

Forces soon gathered against Paris and Troy to take back Helen and hence the Trojan War began.

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