Everything about Paris Mythology totally explained
See
List of King Priam's children
Paris (
Greek: Πάρις; also known as
Alexander or
Alexandros, c.f.
Alaksandu of Wilusa), the son of
Priam, king of
Troy, appears in a number of
Greek legends. Probably the best-known was his elopement with
Helen, queen of
Sparta, this being one of the immediate causes of the
Trojan War. Later in the war, he fatally wounds
Achilles in the heel with an arrow, as foretold by Achilles's mother,
Thetis.
Paris's childhood
In Greek mythology Paris was the child of
Priam and
Hecuba; 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, too, was 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'd 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 (
πήρα, hence Paris's name, which means "backpack") to rear as his own. He returned to Priam bearing a dog's tongue as evidence of the deed's completion.
Paris's noble birth was betrayed by his outstanding beauty and intelligence; while still a child he routed a gang of cattle-thieves and restored the animals they'd stolen to the herd, thereby earning the surname Alexander ("protector of men")
(External Link
). It was at this time that
Oenone became Paris's first lover. She was a
nymph from Mount Ida in
Phrygia. Her father was
Cebren, a
river-god (other sources declare her to be the daughter of
Oeneus). She was skilled in the arts of
prophecy and
medicine, which she'd been taught by
Rhea and
Apollo respectively. When Paris later left her for
Helen she told him that if ever he was wounded, he should come to her for she could heal any injury, even the most serious wounds.
Paris's chief distraction at this time was to pit Agelaus's
bulls against one another. One bull began to win these bouts consistently, and Paris began to set it against rival herdsmen's own prize bulls; 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 judgment that prompted the gods of
Olympus to have Paris arbitrate the divine contest between
Hera,
Aphrodite and
Athena.
The Judgment of Paris
Main article: Judgment of Paris
In celebration of the marriage of
Peleus and
Thetis, Lord
Zeus, father 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 the word "
Kallisti" — "For the most beautiful one" — 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. However, he couldn't decide and thought a mortal should, thus, Paris was appointed by Zeus to select the most beautiful. Escorted by
Hermes, the three goddesses approached Paris as he herded his cattle on Mount Garagarus. They immediately 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; and Aphrodite offered
Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman on Earth. Paris chose Aphrodite—and Helen.
Helen was already married to King
Menelaus of Sparta, so Paris had to raid Menelaus's house to steal Helen from him. (According to some accounts, she fell in love with Paris and left willingly.) The Greeks' 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 she disappeared to Troy, Menelaus invoked this oath. Helen's other suitors—who between them represented the lion's share of Achaea's strength, wealth and military prowess—were obligated to help bring her back. Thus, the whole of Greece moved against Troy in force. The
Trojan War had begun.
Paris and the Trojan War
In Homer's
Iliad, Paris is portrayed as fairly unskilled and not incredibly brave. His brother
Hector frequently criticizes him for this, though Paris readily admits his shortcomings in battle. The fact that he prefers to use a bow and arrow emphasizes this, since he doesn't follow the code of honor of the other heroes, and it's speculated that in order to hit
Achilles, he hit him from behind.
Early in the epic, Paris and Menelaus duel in an attempt to end the war without further bloodshed. Menelaus easily defeats Paris, though
Aphrodite spirits him away before Menelaus can finish the duel. Paris is returned to his bedchambers where Aphrodite forces Helen to be with him.
Paris's second attempt at combat is equally faced; rather than engage the Greek hero
Diomedes in melee combat, Paris wounds Diomedes with an arrow through the foot.
Tradition holds that Paris killed
Achilles later in the war. Many accounts attribute it to an arrow guided by Apollo.
When Paris was mortally wounded late on in the war by
Philoctetes, Helen made her way to Mount Ida where she begged Paris's former lover Oenone to heal him. She refused and returned to Troy, where he died later the same day. Sources state that her refusal was based on Paris's betrayal of her and saw his death as a just punishment. She felt betrayed in two ways in that Paris left her first, to reclaim his rightful place in Troy and then second, fell in love and took Helen as his wife and didn't bother about her. But, regardless of both reasons, Oenone still loved him, so when she heard of his funeral, she ran onto his funeral pyre and threw herself in its fire.
After Paris's death, his brother
Deiphobus married
Helen until he was killed mercilessly by
Menelaus when he invaded Troy to take back Helen.
Later treatments
- In the 1956 film Helen of Troy, Paris, as the main character, is portrayed as a heroic character who at first worships peace and love but is later forced to take up arms against the treacherous Greeks.
- In the 2004 Hollywood film Troy, the character Paris was played by actor Orlando Bloom. He isn't killed by Philoctetes in this version, but leaves the falling city of Troy together with Helen and survives. Paris is portrayed as an irresponsible prince who put his romance before his family and country.
- In prose he appears as the main character in Rudolf Hagelstange's book Spielball der Götter (Game of Gods).
- The Judgment of Paris and its aftermath are the subject of Michael Tippett's 1962 opera King Priam.
- The song "The Third Temptation of Paris" by Alesana tells the story of Helen and Paris from the viewpoint of Paris.
- The story was also made into a musical, Paris Prince of Troy, written by Jon English and David Mackay. Barry Humphries stared in the original performance as Sinon.(External Link)
Notes and References
Further Information
Get more info on 'Paris Mythology'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://paris__mythology.totallyexplained.com">Paris (mythology) Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
