This image was taken from the book Greek Mythology, by Paul Hamlyn.
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This image was taken from the book Greek Mythology, by Paul Hamlyn. |
Athene was vital in the Trojan War. She was one of the Greeks' three greatest supporters among the immortals, with Hera and Poseidon. She was involved in the causes of the Trojan War, its course, and its conclusion. However, the War sprang from a seemingly trivial disagreement - or so it would seem among mortals.
The war's roots began at the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. Zeus, having learned from Prometheus that the son of Thetis would be greater than his father, rapidly married her off to a mortal. Peleus won Thetis by force. He found her and grabbed her. She transformed into all sorts of shapes, but he held on. He was frightened, however, when she turned into a lion. He tried again, and succeeded this time - although Thetis knew that a God had helped him.
The marriage was celebrated, and all the gods attended - with the single exception of Eris, the goddess of strife. She was unpopular (unsurprisingly enough), and this insult enraged her. She planned to make trouble in retaliation, and she succeeded. She threw a golden apple in amongst the crowd of deities, marked "For the Fairest". All the goddesses wanted the apple - but, eventually, the choice was narrowed down to Hera, Athene and Aphrodite. Some say that the apple rolled in among those three goddesses, and that they were the only ones who competed.
The goddesses asked Zeus to decide, but he would have nothing to do with the matter. He referred them to Paris, the son of Priamos and Hekabe. Before his birth, Hekabe dreamed either that she gave birth to a firebrand, which destroyed the city, or that she bore a faggot, from which wriggled innumerable fiery serpents. Priamos learned of the dream from Hekabe, and asked his son, Aisakos (who could interpret dreams), what it meant. Aisakos predicted that Hekabe's child would ruin the country, and urged that he be exposed when he was born. He was exposed on Mount Ida by Priamos' servant, namely Agelaos, but a she-bear suckled him. Agelaos thereupon brought him to live as his son, naming him Paris. This was why he was on Mount Gargarus when the goddesses came to Paris with Hermes.
When they arrived, Hermes explained the errand. A disconcerted Paris tried to get out of it, and eventually had to make do with the promise that the losing goddesses would just assume that he had defective eyesight. According to one story, they were judged together. Another story says that they all disrobed completely, and Paris asked them to come up individually - first Hera, then Athene, and then Aphrodite.
Hera promised to make Paris overlord of all Asia. Athene promised to make him win every battle he ever fought (and, according to some, to make him the wisest of men). Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful women in the world - Helene of Sparta. Paris immediately gave the apple to Aphrodite. He was eventually reunited with his family, and went to abduct Helene - despite his family's pleas.
When Paris arrived in Sparta, Menelaos welcomed him. He then went to Crete. Paris took advantage of his absence, and took Helene to Troy. Most say that Aphrodite made sure that Helene fell in love with Paris, and that she was not at all unwilling to leave. However, there was a later tradition, which stated that Paris only abducted a phantom, while the real Helene was whisked off to Egypt. This was because Hera wished to prevent Paris from gaining the real prize. And so, Menelaos persuaded Agamemnon to raise the thousand ships, and set sail for Troy - after the tragic sacrifice, or near-sacrifice, of Iphigenia.
To be continued . . .