The Beginning

Blog: Day 1

Hello Everyone!
My name is Paris, or sometimes known as Alexander, but we will get to that later. The day I was born was supposed to be the last day of my life. Ironic, wouldn't you say? During my mother's  pregnancy, she had a dream that she gave birth to a flaming torch, which was interpreted as the impending downfall of Troy. To top that off, it was predicted that I would destroy our homeland. On the day of my birth, it was announced that I needed to be killed to spare the kingdom. My parents (Priam and Hecuba) were unable to kill me, so my father gave me to his chief herdsman to remove me from the kingdom and kill me. The herdsman took me to Mount Ida and left me for dead. He came back nine days later to find me still alive (I fed off a she-bear). He took me home in a backpack, which is what my name means, and he raised me as his son. He took a dogs tongue to my father as evidence of my "death". When I was still a child I drove off some cattle thieves and restored the stolen animals to the herd, and was given the name Alexander, which means protector of men. Around this time is when I met the lovely Oenone, who is skilled in the arts of prophesy and medicine.

Apparently, there was a marriage on Mount Olympus and everyone was invited, except Eris. During the party, for revenge, Eris threw the "Apple of Discord" engraved with the word "Kallisti"(for the fairest) into the party. This caused a fight over whom the apple was for. The goddesses thought to be the most beautiful were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite and each one claimed the apple. Because they couldn't come to a conclusion, they asked Zeus to choose one of them. Knowing that choosing any of them would bring unneeded issues, he did not want to take part in the decision. He apparently appointed me to select the most beautiful, because I am the most beautiful mortal. The three goddesses approached me as I herded some cattle. They were all equally beautiful, so I could not possibly decide, so they started bribing me. Hera offered me ownership of all of Europe and Asia; Athena offered me skill in battle, wisdom and the abilities of the greatest warriors; and Aphrodite offered the love of the most beautiful woman on Earth, Helen of Sparta. I chose Aphrodite's offer, because I feel as if beautiful people are meant to be together. Helen was already married to King Menelaus of Sparta (a fact Aphrodite neglected to mention), so I had to raid Menelaus and Helen's home. Helen came with me willingly, although some think I stole her against her will. This triggered the war because Helen was famous for her beauty throughout Greece. So I guess I am the one responsible for the war....

Until next time...
-Paris

 More views on the judgment of Paris: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3556480?seq=3