![]() ![]() The king thought well of the plan, so he gave Paris money, and sent him to travel with several young men like himself. But he grew tired of home and friends.”Father,” he said to Priam, “let me go abroad and see something of the world.” His clothes were very fine and set off his handsome face and figure. He lived in the city instead of on the mountain, and had nothing to do but amuse himself. Paris as a prince was not so happy as he had been when a shepherd. ![]() He welcomed the youth to his royal home and gave him every right of a king’s son. They all went to the palace, and Priam was glad to see again his child whom he had sent away to die. She cried out that this was not a shepherd, but the king’s son that his name was not Alexander, but Paris and that Hector was his brother. Cassandra, his sister, was a prophetess in that temple. Nobody would dare to harm him in that holy place. When Paris reached the temple of Zeus he went in and was safe. The younger man was afraid of this great hero, so he dropped his sword and ran for his life. When this was told the king said, “Let the bold shepherd come.” Paris went to Troy, and in the games conquered everybody except Hector, the king’s oldest son. ![]() Paris replied, “He is not for sale.” When the officers urged him he said, “You can not have the bull unless I may enter the games and have a chance to win the prize.” The officers answered, “To be the prize of the royal games. “Shepherd,” they said, “the king has need of this beast.” Officers looking for such an animal found it in the herd of Paris. He intended to have a contest among the young princes, his neighbors, and the prize was to be the finest bull on Mount Ida. Who is so beautiful as the queen of heaven?” But Athena stretched out her hand and said, “No, it is for me. Who can equal me in the beauty of wisdom?” Then Aphrodite rose up and said, “It is for me.” The goddess of Discord, Eris, angry that all the gods but her were invited to the wedding and loving to see mortals argue, flew in anyway and threw on the table a golden apple, marked, “For the most beautiful.” Hera said, “That is for me. At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, an uninvited guest arrived. Years later, after learning that a child of Thetis, an immortal nymph, and a god would come to overthrow the king of Olympus, the gods Zeus and Poseidon, who both loved her very much, decided she must marry a mortal. He always gave just decisions, and even the gods knew that he was fair and honest. They called him Alexander, which means, “Defender of men.” When everybody was afraid to race or fight with him, he was made the referee of their games. He was strong and bold and liked to fight, to wrestle, and to run with the other young shepherds. Some shepherds found the boy and brought him up as their son. Priam ordered that the child should be taken to Mount Ida, on the eastern side of the kingdom, and left there to die. The king asked an oracle what that dream meant. He was only a few days old when his mother dreamed that he found and took a blazing torch and ran through the city, setting it on fire. One of the sons, named Paris, had a strange history. Priam, king of Troy, lived in a prosperous city called Ilion, with many sons and daughters around him. The Trojan War Part 1: The Apple of DiscordĪdapted from Stories of the Ancient Greeks by Charles D. ![]()
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