- Angry because she was not invited to the wedding of the Sea Goddess Thetis to King Peleus, Eris tossed the Golden Apple marked “To the Fairest” into the banquet.
The Fairest - Aphrodite, (goddess of love and beauty) Hera (Zeus wife) , and Athena (goddess of wisdom, knowledge and skill in battle) ALL wanted the apple.
- Zeus would not choose. He did not want the goddesses angry with him.
- Paris was asked to make the decision.
The Decision - Hera offered to make Paris ruler of Europe and Asia.
- Athena offered to let him lead Troy in a victory over the Spartans.
- Aphrodite offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world.
- The most beautiful woman in the world is Helen, the wife of King Menelaus.
- Aphrodite helps Paris seduce and kidnap Helen.
- King Menelaus called on all those who were loyal to him.
- They gathered a huge army and built a thousand ships to carry the army to Troy.
- Helen of Sparta was now called “Helen of Troy.”
- She was “The face that launched a thousand ships.”
The Trojan War - The battle raged for 10 years.
- Many great heroes lost their lives.
- A prophet predicted that Troy could be captured only with the help of Achilles.
- Knowing of the prophecy, and worried that her son would be killed in war, Achilles’ mother dipped him in the river Styx to make him immortal.
- His only weakness was the place on his heals where she held him.
Achilles - Achilles agreed to allow his friend Patroclus to wear his armor. The next day Patroclus was killed and stripped of the armor by the Trojan hero Hector, who mistook him for Achilles.
- Achilles was overwhelmed with grief for his friend and rage at Hector.
- Achilles kills Hector. He desecrated the body, dragging it behind his chariot before the walls of Troy.
- Finally Paris, aided by Apollo, wounded Achilles in the heel with an arrow; Achilles died of the wound.
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