![]() Tutored by Chiron, he became an incredibly swift and fearsome warrior. Achilles was practically invulnerable as a fighter, for his mother, the nymph Thetis, had dipped him in the River Styx at birth, rendering him immortal everywhere but in his heel, where she had held him. Since Troy could not be taken without the help of Achilles, the Greeks went to Scyros to fetch him. Palamedes exposed the ruse, and Odysseus had to go. An oracle told Odysseus that he would be twenty years from home if he went, so he feigned madness when the Greek leaders came for him. Most of the warriors were glad to go, eager to burn and sack Troy. The Greek chieftains assembled at Aulis under the leadership of Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaus. Thus Paris precipitated the Trojan War, which would fulfill the prophetic dream his mother had of giving birth to a firebrand that would destroy Troy. These leaders were pledged to aid Menelaus, for as they had courted Helen too they had taken an oath to avenge any dishonor that fell upon her future husband because of her. When Menelaus returned to Sparta and found his wife Helen gone, he summoned the Greek leaders to go with him to conquer Troy and recover Helen. Thinking Cassandra mad, Priam had his daughter locked in a palace cell. When Paris returned with Helen and stood before Priam to get his father's acceptance Cassandra came into the room, visualized all that would occur because of Paris and his lust, gave shrieks of despair, and railed at her immoral brother. In anger Apollo turned his gift into a curse by making it so that no one would believe her. Apollo gave her the gift of prophecy while trying to make love to her, but she had taken a vow of chastity and resisted him. Meanwhile Paris' sister Cassandra was faced with trouble. Then he sailed for Sparta, where he seduced Helen during her husband's absence and took her back to Troy with him. He now had no further use for Oenone and abandoned her. On learning that he would possess Helen, Paris first went to Troy and established himself as a true prince, the legitimate son of Priam and Hecuba. His choice was imprudent to say the least, since he made implacable enemies of Hera and Athena, both of whom vowed to destroy him and Troy. ![]() But Aphrodite won the apple by promising Paris the most beautiful woman in the world - the spectacular Helen. Athena offered to give him wisdom and an invincible valor in warfare. Hera promised to make him a king who would rule Asia and have great wealth. The goddesses approached Paris and each offered Paris a bribe for selecting her. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all claimed the apple and asked Zeus to judge between them, but he wisely refused, directing the three goddesses to a shepherd on Mount Ida who could decide the loveliest. Paris took the nymph Oenone as a lover.Īt the wedding of Peleus and Thetis the gods were enjoying themselves when Eris, or Strife, threw a golden apple into their midst with the words, "For the fairest," attached. When the infant was born it was exposed on Mount Ida, but a she-bear nursed it and it survived, growing up as a shepherd called Alexander, or Paris. The seers interpreted this to mean that her unborn child would destroy Troy and its inhabitants. However, his wife, Hecuba, had a nightmare in which she gave birth to a deadly firebrand. He was not only prosperous, but he had fifty or more children, and it seemed as if good fortune would bless him and his children for a long time to come. King Priam ruled in the wealthy, fortified city of Troy. Merlin, King Arthur, Gawain, Launcelot, Geraint, Tristram, Percivale, the Grail Quest, and the Passing of Arthur's Realm.Summary and Analysis: Arthurian Legends.The Norse Gods - Odin, Thor, Balder, Frey, Freya, and Loki.Love Tales - Pyramus and Thisbe, Baucis and Philemon, Pygmalion, Vertumnus and Pomona, Hero and Leander, Cupid and Psyche.Patriotic Legends - Aeneas and Romulus and Remus.The Trojan War - The Preliminaries, The Course of the War, The Fall of Troy, and The Returns.The Tragic Dynasties - Athens: The House of Erichthonius.The Tragic Dynasties - Thebes: The House of Cadmus.The Tragic Dynasties - Mycenae: The House Of Atreus.The Tragic Dynasties - Crete: The House Of Minos.The Heroes - Perseus, Bellerophon, and Heracles.The Beginnings - Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hermes, Demeter, and Dionysus.The Beginnings - Prometheus and Man, and The Five Ages of Man and the Flood.Summary and Analysis: Babylonian Mythology. ![]() ![]() Summary and Analysis: Egyptian Mythology.
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