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Background: Iliad and Odyssey
The Judgment of Paris
The causes of the Trojan War actually began before the Greek hero Achilles was
born.
The two powerful gods, Zeus and Poseidon try to force sea-goddess Thetis to lay
with them. Prometheus warned the gods that any son Thetis borne would become greater
than his father, and in Zeus' case, would probably one day rule Olympus. That really
dampened both gods' amorous pursuit of the goddess. Zeus decided to quickly marrying
Thetis off to a mortal.
Zeus chose the hero Peleus, son of Aeacus, as the most worthy of mortals. All the
gods and goddesses attended her wedding except Eris, goddess of discord. Furious of this
slight, Eris threw a golden apple, inscribed "For the fairest", in the midst of the guests.
The wedding was marred, when three powerful goddesses wished to claim the prize as
the fairest: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite.
The three goddesses asked Zeus to be their judge. Wishing to have nothing to
with the contest, Zeus directed Hermes to refer the arbitration to Paris, a Trojan prince,
the young son of Priam and Hecuba.
Each goddess offered to reward him if he chose her. Athena offered to make him
become a great hero or general; Hera offered to make him ruler of the richest and
powerful kingdom; while Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world
in marriage: Helen of Sparta. Paris foolishly decided in Aphrodite's favor and awarded
her the golden apple as the fairest of them all. Troy was to suffer the enmity of the two
most powerful goddesses.
But Helen had many powerful Greek suitors wooing her in Sparta. So powerful in
fact that her father Tyndareüs (her real father was Zeus), king of Sparta, was afraid that
anyone she chose, would offend the other suitors.
This problem was solved when the prudent Odysseus, king of Ithaca, advised the
Spartan king, that each suitor must swear an oath, that they will defend the interests of
whoever Helen chooses to marry. Any who refused to swear this oath, would not be
eligible. All the suitors agreed and swore the oaths to accept whoever became Helen's
husband.
According to the Catalogues of Women, Hesiod wrote what some of the leaders
had offered to Helen – rich bridal gifts, such as bowls, cauldrons or tripods made of gold.
Helen chose Menelaüs as her husband. Menelaüs was the son of Atreus, and brother of
Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae. Menelaüs married Helen and Tyndareüs abdicated
from the throne, leaving Menelaüs to become the king of Sparta.
(Odysseus knew that Helen would never choose him, but Tyndareüs helped the
hero to win Tyndareüs' niece – Penelope, the daughter of Icarius and cousin of Helen.
Odysseus defeated other suitors of Penelope in a foot-race and married the Spartan
princess.)
At that time, Paris was living in Mount Ida with his wife, Oenone, a mountain
nymph, but he abandoned her for Helen. Oenone told Paris if he was ever wounded that
he should come to her, so she could heal him. Oenone had hoped that her husband would
return to her.
Despite been warned by his brother and sister, Helenus and Cassandra, who were
gifted in divination that his journey would cause the destruction of Troy, Paris sailed to
Greece with his cousin Aeneas.
At Sparta, Paris became guest of Menelaüs and Helen. Aphrodite made Helen fall
in love with the Trojan prince. When Menelaüs went to attend his grandfather's funeral in
Crete, Helen ran off to Troy with Paris with most of the treasures in Sparta, but leaving
her daughter, named Hermione, behind.
Conscriptions
With Helen gone, Menelaüs called upon Helen's former suitors to fulfill their
obligations and aid him in bringing her back. All of the former suitors answered
Menelaüs' call to arms, bringing contingents of men and ships with them. Menelaüs'
brother, Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, had brought 100 ships with him. Agamemnon
became commander-in-chief of the Greek forces.
Agamemnon and Menelaüs learned from the Greek seer Calchas that Troy could
not fall without two warriors, Achilles and Odysseus.
Odysseus was the son of Laertes, king of Ithaca, and of Anticleia, the daughter of the
master thief Autolycus. Odysseus was renowned for his wisdom, eloquence, cunning and
resourcefulness.
Odysseus wanted to avoid being recruited into the Greek army, because he had
learned that though the war would last only ten years, he would not return home to Ithaca,
until twenty years later. Beside that, Odysseus had only recently married Penelope, the
daughter of Icarius and cousin to Helen of Sparta. They had an infant son, named
Telemachus.
When Menelaüs, Nestor and Palemedes arrived to conscript Odysseus, the hero
feigned madness. Odysseus would plough the field with a horse and an ox, wearing a
madman cap. Odysseus sowed the field with salts.
Palemedes, the son of Nauplius, was the just as shrewd and cunning as the wily
Ithacan king. Palemedes suspected Odysseus' ploy, snatched the infant from Penelope's
breast, and place the baby in front of the approaching plough. Odysseus had to steer the
plough-team aside, to avoid trampling his son. Palemedes had exposed Odysseus' feigned
madness.
Odysseus had no choice but to join the army. Odysseus gathered his warriors,
taking only twelve ships from the islands of Ithaca and Cephallenia.
However, Odysseus never forgave Palemedes for exposing and conscripting him
into the army. When they reached Troy, Odysseus was to exact revenge upon Palemedes.
Joe, Jimmy. “Timeless Myths: Trojan War.” Classical Mythology. 19 April 1999. 5
December 2008 <http://www.timelessmyths.com/classical/trojanwar.html>.