Paris

=Paris=

Paris is an important character in many Greek legends, one of the most famous being his wedding with Helen, the queen of Sparta, which sparked the Trojan war. According to legend, he was the son of Priam, king of Troy, and Hecuba. The night before his birth, his mother dreamt that she was giving birth to a flaming torch. Her dream was interpreted as a foreshadow of the downfall of Troy, therefore, Paris was sentenced to death before even being born. However, his parents could not get themselves to kill their own child, so they ordered a servant to go out in the mountains and do it. The servant, Agelaus, faced the same problem than Paris' parents, and resigned to leaving the baby on Mount Ida, because he figured he would get killed or eaten by animals. To his surprise, a she-wolf took care of Paris and brought him back to Agelaus nine days later; so the servant decided to raise Paris by himself, and brought Priam a dog's tongue as proof that he had killed Paris. Paris means "backpack", he earned that name because the servant/herdsman hid him in a backpack when he brought him back. After his childhood, Paris is known to take part in two famous legends:

__**1) The Judgment of Paris**__ When Peleus and Thetis got married, Zeuz hosted a banquet at Mount Olympus. All the gods had been invited with the exception of Eris, the goddess of strife. Due to jealousy, she threw the golden apple of discord into the wedding with an inscription saying " for the fairest"; this led to arguments between all the goddesses of the party. The three goddesses considered the most beautiful were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. When the three goddesses fought over who was the most beautiful, Zeus decided to appoint Paris to be the judge because he didn't want to get involved. Paris could not decide, so the three goddesses bribed him. Hera offered him all of Europe and Asia, Athena offered him skill in battle, and Aphrodite offered him the love of the most beautiful woman on Earth, Helen of Sparta. Paris chose Aphrodite.

__**2) The Trojan War**__ Aphrodite forgot to tell Paris that Helen was already married to Menelaus, King of Sparta; nevertheless, Paris got Helen to follow him back to Troy. All of Greece had to help try to get Helen back from Troy, and thus the Trojan war began. During this war, Paris killed the famous hero, Achilles, with an arrow throw his foot. He also engaged in duels with King Menelaus where he lost but the gods stop Menelaus before he killed Paris. Finally, Philoctetes mortally wounded Paris.

A bust of Prince Paris