Editing Trojan War (section)

====Judgement of Paris====
{{Main|Judgement of Paris}}

[[File:The Judgement of Paris.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''The Judgement of Paris'' (1599) by [[Hendrick van Balen the Elder]]. [[Gemäldegalerie, Berlin]]]]

Zeus came to learn from either [[Themis]]<ref>Apollonius Rhodius 4.757.</ref> or [[Prometheus]], after [[Heracles]] had released him from the [[Caucasus]],<ref>Aeschylus, ''Prometheus Bound'' 767.</ref> that, like his father Cronus, he would be overthrown by one of his sons. Another prophecy stated that a son of the sea-nymph Thetis, with whom Zeus fell in love after gazing upon her in the oceans off the Greek coast, would become greater than his father.<ref>Scholiast on Homer's ''Iliad''; Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 54; Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 11.217.</ref> For one or both of these reasons,<ref>Apollodorus, ''Library'' 3.168.</ref> either upon Zeus' orders<ref>Pindar, ''Nemean'' 5 ep2; Pindar, ''Isthmian'' 8 str3–str5.</ref> or because she wished to please Hera, who had raised her, Thetis was betrothed to an elderly human king, Peleus, son of [[Aeacus]].<ref>Hesiod, ''Catalogue of Women'' fr. 57; ''Cypria'' fr. 4.</ref>

All of the gods were invited to Peleus and Thetis' wedding and brought many gifts,<ref>Photius, ''Myrobiblion'' 190.</ref> except Eris (the goddess of discord), who was stopped at the door by [[Hermes]], on Zeus' order.<ref>P.Oxy. 56, 3829 (L. Koppel, 1989)</ref> Insulted, she threw from the door a gift of her own:<ref name="Hyginus, Fabulae 92">Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 92.</ref> a golden apple ({{langx|grc|το μήλον της έριδος}}) on which was inscribed the word {{lang|grc|καλλίστῃ}} {{lang|grc-Latn|Kallistē}} ("To the fairest").<ref>Apollodorus ''Epitome'' E.3.2</ref> The apple was claimed by Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. They quarrelled bitterly over it, and none of the other gods would venture an opinion favouring one, for fear of earning the enmity of the other two. Eventually, Zeus ordered Hermes to lead the three goddesses to Paris, a prince of Troy, who, unaware of his ancestry, was being raised as a shepherd on [[Mount Ida]],<ref>Pausanias, 15.9.5.</ref> because of a prophecy that he would be the downfall of Troy.<ref>Euripides ''Andromache'' 298; Div. i. 21; Apollodorus, ''Library'' 3.12.5.</ref> After bathing in the spring of Ida, the goddesses appeared to him naked, either for the sake of winning or at Paris' request. Paris was unable to decide among them, so the goddesses resorted to bribes. Athena offered Paris wisdom, skill in battle, and the abilities of the greatest warriors; Hera offered him political power and control of all of [[Asia Minor|Asia]]; and Aphrodite offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta. Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite, and, after several adventures, returned to Troy, where he was recognised by his royal family.

[[File:Hydria Achilles weapons Louvre E869 2216x1216x300 color corrected.png|thumb|right|Thetis gives her son Achilles weapons forged by Hephaestus (detail of Attic [[Black-figure pottery|black-figure]] [[hydria]], 575–550 BC)]]
[[File:Musicians Troy Museum 9994.jpg|thumb|right|Musician figures from clay in Troy Museum]]
Peleus and Thetis bore a son, whom they named Achilles. It was foretold that he would either die of old age after an uneventful life, or die young in a battlefield and gain immortality through poetry.<ref>Homer Iliad I.410</ref> Furthermore, when Achilles was nine years old, [[Calchas]] had prophesied that Troy could not again fall without his help.<ref name="Apollodorus, Library 3.13.8">Apollodorus, ''Library'' 3.13.8.</ref> A number of sources credit Thetis with attempting to make Achilles immortal when he was an infant. Some of these state that she held him over fire every night to burn away his mortal parts and rubbed him with [[ambrosia]] during the day, but Peleus discovered her actions and stopped her.<ref>Apollonius Rhodius [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/argo/argo49.htm#4.865-884 4.869–879] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118223041/http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/argo/argo49.htm#4.865-884 |date=18 January 2008 }}; Apollodorus, ''Library'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Apollod.+3.13.6 3.13.6] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080321145542/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Apollod.+3.13.6 |date=21 March 2008 }}.</ref>

According to some versions of this story, Thetis had already killed several sons in this manner, and Peleus' action therefore saved his son's life.<ref>Frazer on Apollodorus, ''Library'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Apollod.+3.13.6 3.13.6] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080321145542/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Apollod.+3.13.6 |date=21 March 2008 }}.</ref> Other sources state that Thetis bathed Achilles in the [[Styx (mythology)|Styx]], the river that runs to the [[Greek underworld|underworld]], making him invulnerable wherever he was touched by the water.<ref>Alluded to in Statius, ''Achilleid'' [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/statius/achilleid1.shtml 1.269–270] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015121225/http://thelatinlibrary.com/statius/achilleid1.shtml |date=15 October 2007 }}.</ref> Because she had held him by the heel, it was not entirely immersed during the bathing and thus the heel remained mortal and vulnerable to injury (hence the expression "[[Achilles' heel]]" for an isolated weakness). He grew up to be the greatest of all mortal warriors. After Calchas' prophecy, Thetis hid Achilles in [[Skyros]] at the court of King [[Lycomedes]], where he was disguised as a girl.<ref>Hyginus, ''Fabulae'' 96.</ref> At a crucial point in the war, she assists her son by providing weapons divinely forged by [[Hephaestus]] (see [[Trojan War#The Iliad|below]]).