Paris (mythology)

Childhood

Paris was a child of Priam, the king of Troy, by his wife Hecuba.^[16] Just before his birth, his mother dreamed that she gave birth to a flaming torch. This dream was interpreted by the seer Aesacus as a foretelling of the downfall of Troy, and he declared that the child would be the ruin of his homeland. On the day of Paris's birth, it was further announced by Aesacus that the child born of a royal Trojan that day would have to be killed to spare the kingdom, being the child that would bring about the prophecy. Though Paris was indeed born before nightfall, he was spared by Priam. Hecuba was also unable to kill the child, despite the urging of the priestess of Apollo, one Herophile. Instead, Paris's father prevailed upon his chief herdsman, Agelaus, to remove the child and kill him. The herdsman, unable to use a weapon against the infant, left him exposed on Mount Ida, hoping he would perish there (cf. Oedipus). He was, however, suckled by a she-bear. Returning after nine days, Agelaus was astonished to find the child still alive and brought him home in a backpack (Greek pḗra, hence by folk etymology Paris's name) to rear as his own. He returned to Priam bearing a dog's tongue as evidence of the deed's completion.^[17]

Paris's noble birth was betrayed by his outstanding beauty and intelligence. In one account of his childhood, he routed a gang of cattle-thieves and restored the animals they had stolen to the herd.^[18] While on Mount Ida in Phrygia, Paris became enamoured with the nymph Oenone, a daughter of the river god Cebren. She was skilled in the arts of prophecy and medicine, which she had been taught by Rhea and Apollo, respectively. Through her ability to see the future, she foresaw Paris leaving her but loved him deeply even so. When Paris later left her for Helen, she told him that if he ever was wounded, he should come to her, for she could heal any injury, even the most serious wounds.^[19]

Paris's chief distraction at this time was to pit Agelaus's bulls against one another. One bull began to win these bouts consistently. Paris began to set it against rival herdsmen's own prize bulls and it defeated them all. Finally, Paris offered a golden crown to any bull that could defeat his champion. Ares responded to this challenge by transforming himself into a bull and easily winning the contest. Paris gave the crown to Ares without hesitation. It was this apparent honesty in judgement that prompted the gods of Olympus to have Paris arbitrate the divine contest among Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena.^[20]

Judgement of Paris

In celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, Lord Zeus, ruler and a chief deity of the Greek pantheon, hosted a banquet on Mount Olympus. Every deity and demi-god had been invited, except Eris, the goddess of strife (no one wanted a troublemaker at a wedding). For revenge, Eris threw the golden Apple of Discord inscribed with "For the most beautiful" (Ancient Greek: τῇ καλλίστῃ, romanized: tē(i) kallistē(i)) into the party, provoking a squabble among the attendant goddesses over for whom it had been meant.

The goddesses thought to be the most beautiful were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, and each one claimed the apple. They started a quarrel so they asked Zeus to choose one of them. Knowing that choosing any of them would bring him the hatred of the other two, Zeus did not want to take part in the decision. He thus appointed Paris to select the most beautiful.

Escorted by Hermes, the three goddesses bathed in the spring of Mount Ida and approached Paris as he herded his cattle. Paris was frightened at the appearance of the deities, but Hermes assured him it was the will of Zeus.^[27] Some artistic depictions have the goddesses appear unclad before the mortal. Still, Paris could not decide, as all three were ideally beautiful, so the goddesses attempted to bribe him to choose among them. Hera offered ownership of all of Europe and Asia. Athena offered skill in battle, wisdom and the abilities of the greatest warriors. Aphrodite offered the love of the most beautiful woman on Earth: Helen of Sparta. Paris chose Helen and thereby Aphrodite.

However, Helen was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta. When Menelaus was away from home, Paris seduced Helen into running away with him. In the Iliad, Helen notes how she had followed Paris to Troy,^[28] and Apollodorus describes the pair taking valuables together.^[29] Late sources claim Paris had to raid Menelaus's house to steal Helen from him, but most say he was first welcomed in.

The Spartans' expedition to retrieve Helen from Paris in Troy is the mythological basis of the Trojan War. This triggered the war because Helen was famous for her beauty throughout Achaea (ancient Greece), and had many suitors of extraordinary ability. Therefore, following Odysseus's advice, her father Tyndareus made all suitors promise to defend Helen's marriage to the man he chose for her. When Paris took her to Troy, Menelaus invoked this oath. Helen's other suitors, who between them represented most of Achaea's strength, wealth, and military prowess, were obliged to help bring her back. Thus, the whole of Greece moved against Troy in force and the Trojan War began.

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  7th-century BC Melian pithamphora depicting the Judgement of Paris, Archaeological Museum of Paros.
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  Paris receives Hermes who leads Athena, Hera and Aphrodite. Painting on terracotta panels, 560–550 BC
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  El Juicio de Paris by Enrique Simonet, c. 1904. Paris is studying Aphrodite, who is standing before him naked. The other two goddesses watch nearby.
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  Judgement of Paris, c. 1801, Capodimonte porcelain (Capitoline Museums, Rome)

Trojan War

The Iliad portrays Paris as a self centered and cowardly warrior, according to Christopher Ransom contrasting him to his brother Hector to establish the idealised framework of heroic virtue, contrasting Paris' physical indulgence with Hector's civic duty.^[30] Paris' preference for bow and arrow symbolically underscores this characterisation, since he does not follow the code of honor shared by the other heroes.^[31] He does, however, successfully wound several Greeks over the course of the poem, including Diomedes, Machaon, and Eurypylus.^[32]

In Book 3, Paris proclaims that he will duel any of the Greeks, only to flee once Menelaus steps up. After being reproached by his brother Hector, he consents to the duel. When it seems his defeat is imminent, Aphrodite whisks Paris away, taking him to his chamber. She then goes to Helen disguised as an old wool comber, telling her Paris waits in the bedroom, dressed for dancing rather than fighting.^[33] Helen however recognises the goddess, and refuses, disgusted with Paris' cowardice, asking Aphrodite if she is trying to trick her and have her follow her to some other city in Phrygia or Maeonia, to give her to another one of her favourites, and then telling her to become Paris' wife or slave herself, as she refuses to share his bed again. Aphrodite then turns on Helen in a rage, threatening to turn the Greeks and Trojans against her, dooming her to a terrible fate. Terrified, Helen submits and follows the goddess to Paris' bedchambers. Before sleeping with him, though, she tells him she wishes he had died on the battlefield at the hands of her former husband, mocking him for how he had boasted that he was a better spearman than Menelaus, then sarcastically telling him to challenge her former husband again. Paris replies that Menelaus only won because he was supported by Athena.^[34] According to Ransom, Book 3 contrasts Paris' effeminate nature with Menelaus' masculinity.^[35]

In Book 6 Hector is appalled to find that Paris is still at home alongside Helen while the war rages outside. He criticises him for remaining inside while the army bleeds for him, demanding that he get up immediately. Helen is apologetic, expressing self loathing and shame at Paris' behaviour, openly mocking Paris' lack of moral character and courage, and wishing that if the gods had to curse her as they did, they could have at least paired her with a better man.^[36] Hector tells her that he cannot stay, and asks Helen to make sure that Paris gets moving so that they can return to the fight together. He bids farewell to his wife Andromache, then finally Paris catches up to him, making a lighthearted joke about keeping him waiting, and Hector laments that Paris would have the strength and skill of a warrior, but lacks the courage and commitment to use them as would be expected of him. He tells Paris that the Trojans speak of him in utter disgrace, and wishes Paris would get his act together and remove the disgrace his actions have brought upon himself and Troy.^[37]

In Book 11, Paris wounds Diomedes from afar, with an arrow through the foot. In response to his unseemly crowing, Diomedes disparages him in multiple ways: "Archer, you who without your bow are nothing, slanderer and seducer!"^[38] In Book 13, Paris calls on the fighting Trojans to press the attack against the Greeks.^[39]

Hector and Achilles engage in a duel in Book 22, with the Greek hero emerging victorious. Immediately before his death, Hector prophesies that Achilles will meet his own demise at the hands of Paris and the god Apollo.^[40] In the Aethiopis, a lost epic that chronologically followed the Iliad, Achilles's death at the hands of Paris and Apollo was described.^[41] In the poem, he was probably killed by an arrow that was shot at his heel, the only part of his body susceptible to injury.^[42] According to a version in the Fabulae, a 2nd-century AD mythological handbook, Apollo kills him while disguised as Paris.^[43]

The Little Iliad and Sophocles's Philoctetes relate that Paris is killed during a duel with the archer Philoctetes. His body is fought over and recovered by Trojan soldiers.^[44]

In later versions, Paris doesn't die immediately, but after Philoctetes mortally wounds him, he goes to Mount Ida or is transported there by servants and attendants. There, either him or those accompanying him ask Paris's first wife, the nymph Oenone, to heal him, which she refuses.^{[citation needed]}

Depending on the account, Paris either dies on the mountainside, or is brought back to Troy where he dies the same day. When Oenone hears of his death she commits suicide, either by leaping from heights, hanging herself or jumping on Paris' funeral pyre.^[45] Yet another version has Oenone eager to heal Paris, but was prevented by her father from doing so.^[46]

In the account of Dares Phrygius, Paris fatally wounds Ajax the Greater with an arrow, but Ajax hunts him down and kills Paris before dropping dead.^[47]

After Paris's death, his brothers Deiphobus and Helenus competed for the hand in marriage of Helen, with Deiphobus winning out.^[48] Deiphobus was later killed by Menelaus during the sack of Troy.^[49][50]

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  Seduction of Helen by Paris, antique fresco in Pompeii, 1st century
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  Abduction of Helen, ceiling fresco, Venetian, mid-18th century
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  The Love of Helen and Paris by Jacques-Louis David (oil on canvas, 1788, Louvre, Paris)
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  Antique fresco from Pompeii, showing Trojan prince Paris with Helen of Troy (1st century CE)