Editing Judgement of Paris (section)

==Mythic narrative==
[[File:Golden Apple of Discord by Jacob Jordaens.jpg|thumb|left|''Golden Apple of Discord'' by [[Jacob Jordaens]]]]
It is recounted<ref>A synthesized account drawn from several cited sources is offered by Kerenyi, "Chapter VII, The Prelude to the Trojan War", especially pp. 312&ndash;314.</ref> that [[Zeus]] held a banquet in celebration of the [[wedding|marriage]] of [[Peleus]] and [[Thetis]] (parents of [[Achilles]]). However, [[Eris (mythology)|Eris]], goddess of discord, was not invited, for it was believed she would have made the party unpleasant for everyone. Angered by this snub, Eris arrived at the celebration with a [[Apple of Discord|golden apple]] from the [[Garden of the Hesperides]], which she threw into the proceedings as a prize of beauty.<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0548.tlg002.perseus-eng1:e.3.2 E.3.2]</ref> According to some later versions, upon the apple was the inscription ''καλλίστῃ'' (''kallistēi'', "To/for the fairest one").<ref>{{cite web| first=Aaron | last=Atsma |title=THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS|url=http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/JudgementParis.html| publisher=Theoi Project |access-date=13 December 2019}}</ref>

Three goddesses claimed the apple: [[Hera]], [[Athena]] and [[Aphrodite]]. They asked Zeus to judge which of them was fairest, and eventually he, reluctant to favour any claim himself, declared that [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]], a Trojan mortal, would judge their cases, for he had recently shown his exemplary fairness in a contest in which [[Ares]] in bull form had bested Paris's own prize bull, and the shepherd-prince had unhesitatingly awarded the prize to the god.<ref>[[Rawlinson Excidium Troie]]</ref>

[[File:The Judgement of Paris.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Judgement of Paris'' (1599) by [[Hendrick van Balen the Elder]]. [[Gemäldegalerie, Berlin]]]]
With [[Hermes]] as their guide, the three candidates bathed in the spring of Ida, then met Paris on [[Mount Ida]]. While Paris inspected them, each attempted with her powers to bribe him; Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia, Athena offered wisdom and skill in war, and Aphrodite, who had the [[Charites]] and the [[Horae|Horai]] to enhance her charms with flowers and song (according to a fragment of the ''Cypria'' quoted by [[Athenagoras of Athens]]), offered the world's most beautiful woman ([[Euripides]], ''Andromache'', l.284, ''Helena'' l. 676). This was [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] of [[Sparta]], wife of the Greek king [[Menelaus]]. Paris accepted Aphrodite's bribe and awarded the apple to her, receiving Helen as well as the enmity of the Greeks and especially of Hera. The Greeks' expedition to retrieve Helen from Paris in [[Troy]] is the mythological basis of the [[War of Troy|Trojan War]]. According to some stories, [[Helen of Troy]] was kidnapped by Paris and a group of Trojans; in others, she simply followed Paris willingly because she felt affection for him, too.

The story of the Judgement of Paris naturally offered artists the opportunity to depict a sort of beauty contest between three beautiful female nudes, but the myth, at least since Euripides, rather concerns a choice among the bribes that each goddess embodies. The bribery involved is [[Irony|ironic]] and a late ingredient.<ref>{{cite web| first=Jeff | last=Wright |title=Episode 4 "THE JUDGEMENT OF PARIS"| date=2 September 2016 |url=https://trojanwarpodcast.com/episode-4-the-judgement-of-paris | publisher=Trojan War: The Podcast. |access-date=13 December 2019}}</ref>

[[File:Joachim Wtewael - The Judgment of Paris (1615).jpg|thumb|left|[[Joachim Wtewael]], c. 1615, with the wedding [[Feast of the Gods (art)|feast of the gods]] in the background]]

According to a tradition suggested by Alfred J. Van Windekens,<ref>Van Windekens, in ''Glotta'' '''36''' (1958), pp. 309–11.</ref> "cow-eyed" Hera was indeed the most beautiful, before Aphrodite showed up. However, Hera was the goddess of the marital order and of cuckolded wives, amongst other things. She was often portrayed as the shrewish, jealous wife of Zeus, who himself often escaped from her controlling ways by cheating on her with other women, mortal and immortal. She had fidelity and chastity in mind and was careful to be modest when Paris was inspecting her. Aphrodite was the goddess of [[Human female sexuality|sexuality]], and was effortlessly more sexual and charming than any goddess. Thus, she was able to sway Paris into judging her as the fairest. Athena's beauty is rarely commented on in the myths, perhaps because Greeks held her up as an asexual being, able to "overcome" her "womanly weaknesses" to become both wise and talented in war (both considered male domains by the Greeks). Her rage at losing makes her join the Greeks in the battle against Paris's Trojans, a key event in the turning point of the war.