| Paris (Myth) | |
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Other Names |
Alexander |
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First Appearance |
Greek Myth |
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Created by |
Unknown |
Origin[]
Paris, also known as Alexander, is a mythological figure in the story of the Trojan War. He appears in numerous Greek legends and works of Ancient Greek literature such as the Iliad. In myth, he is prince of Troy, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, and younger brother of Prince Hector. His elopement with Helen of Troy sparks the Trojan War, during which he fatally wounds Achilles.
In celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, 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 "For the most beautiful" 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. Knowing that choosing any of them would bring him the hatred of the other two, Zeus did not want to take part in the decision. He thus appointed Paris to select the most beautiful.
Escorted by Hermes, the three goddesses bathed in the spring of Mount Ida and approached Paris as he herded his cattle. Paris was frightened at the appearance of the deities, but Hermes assured him it was the will of Zeus. Some artistic depictions have the goddesses appear unclad before the mortal. Still, Paris could not decide, as all three were ideally beautiful, so the goddesses 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. Aphrodite offered the love of the most beautiful woman on Earth: Helen of Sparta. Paris chose Helen and thereby Aphrodite.
However, Helen was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta (a fact Aphrodite neglected to mention). When Menelaus was away from home, Paris seduced Helen into running away with him. In the Iliad, Helen notes how she had followed Paris to Troy, and Apollodorus describes the pair taking valuables together. Some sources claim Paris had to raid Menelaus's house to steal Helen from him, but others say he was first welcomed in.
The Spartans' 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 Paris took her to Troy, Menelaus invoked this oath. Helen's other suitors, who between them represented most of Achaea's strength, wealth, and military prowess, were obliged to help bring her back. Thus, the whole of Greece moved against Troy in force and the Trojan War began.
Homer's Iliad casts Paris as unskilled and cowardly. Although Paris readily admits his shortcomings in battle, his brother Hector scolds and belittles him after he runs away from a duel with Menelaus that was to determine the end of the war. His preference for bow and arrow emphasizes this, since he does not follow the code of honor shared by the other heroes.
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 fated: rather than engage the Greek hero Diomedes in hand-to-hand combat, Paris wounds Diomedes with an arrow through the foot.
Later, after slaying Hector and other heroes, Achilles dies by an arrow of Paris with Apollo's help. According to Hyginus (Fabulae, 107) Apollo disguised himself as Paris.
Later in the war, after Philoctetes mortally wounds Paris, Helen makes her way to Mount Ida where she begs Paris's first wife, the nymph Oenone, to heal him. Still bitter that Paris had spurned her for his birthright in the city and then forgotten her for Helen, Oenone refuses. Helen returns alone to Troy, where Paris dies later the same day. In another version, Paris himself, in great pain, visits Oenone to plead for healing but is refused and dies on the mountainside. When Oenone hears of his funeral, she runs to his funeral pyre and throws herself in its fire.
After Paris's death, his brother Deiphobus married Helen and was then killed by Menelaus in the sack of Troy.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Paris from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Iliad
- The Cypria Fragments
- The Library
- Strabo, Geography
- Description of Greece
- New History
- The Rape of Helen
- Fabulae
- Heroides
- Achilleid
- The Golden Ass
- Myriobiblon
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Jumbo Comics #43