1. The Trojan War How it all began …

2. The Wedding The wedding of Peleus, the mortal hero, to Thetis, the Goddess of water, was a time of great celebration ◦Peleus and Thetis are Achilles’ parents

3. Drama, Drama, Drama Eris (the Goddess of chaos and strife), who was known for causing mischief and mayhem, was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis

4. “For the Fairest” Furious for not being invited to the party, Eris decided to make trouble She inscribed the words “for the fairest” on a golden apple and threw the apple into the banquet hall at Peleus and Thetis’ wedding For the Fairest

5. Who is the Fairest? The golden apple caused chaos among the goddesses, who all wanted to claim the apple as theirs Eventually, the choice for the “fairest” was between the three most beautiful and powerful goddesses: Hera, Aphrodite & Athena

6. Who Will Choose? The three feuding goddesses then asked Zeus to decide who should have the apple, and thus decide who of the three goddesses was the most supremely “fair” and beautiful But Zeus wisely refused to choose between the three powerful women

7. A Mortal Must Choose The gods decided that a mortal – a human – must make the choice as to who should receive the apple Paris was living as a Shepherd on Mount Ida, tending his flock of sheep after his father, King Priam, sent Paris away because of a prophecy that said Paris would one day bring doom and gloom to the city of Troy Zeus suggests that Hera, Aphrodite and Athena go to Mount Ida, to find a handsome young lad named Paris, who was said to be an excellent judge of beauty

8. The Bribes Each of the three goddesses – Hera, Athena & Aphrodite – offered Paris a special prize if he chose them as the most “fair” and beautiful Hera promised to make Paris the Lord of all of Europe and Asia Athena promised to make Paris a great warrior and leader who would have the power to destroy Greece

9. The Bribes (Continued) T he third goddess – Aphrodite – promised Paris the most beautiful woman in the world to be his wife Paris was more interested in women than in fame and glory for his name, so he chose Aphrodite to win the apple

10. The Gods Take Sides Of course, Hera and Athena were extremely offended by Paris’ choice, and thus became deadly enemies of both Paris and the city of Troy

11. Paris Wins a Wife As promised, Aphrodite gave Paris a bride – the most beautiful woman in the world – Helen There was just one problem … Helen was already married to Menelaus

12. Aphrodite’s Spell However, Aphrodite did not value marriage and faithfulness, and so brought Paris to Sparta to meet the beautiful Helen Under the supernatural influence of Aphrodite, Helen fell madly in love with Paris …

13. Another Wedding causes drama When Menelaus realized that Paris had stolen his wife, he called upon the greatest of the Greek warriors to help him fight in war against Troy and in his personal mission of vengeance to kill Paris Paris and Helen eloped, and fled Greece for the city of Troy

14. The Trojan War And thus, the Trojan war began The purpose of the war was to recover the most beautiful woman in the world, hence the saying, “Helen was the face that launched a thousand ships.”