The Judgment of Paris began an important chain of events that led to the Trojan War. At a feast on Mount Olympus, Eris tossed a golden apple meant for the "fairest," sparking a dispute between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. They asked Paris to judge, and each goddess offered him a bribe. Aphrodite promised Paris the most beautiful woman, Helen, so he awarded her the apple. Paris later traveled to Sparta and seduced Helen away from her husband Menelaus. In retaliation, Menelaus rallied the Greeks to launch an attack on Troy to retrieve Helen, beginning the famed Trojan War that lasted 10 years.

1. The Trojan War
English I

2. Judgment of Paris
An important feast was taking place at the
home of the gods and goddesses, Mount
Olympus. The evil goddess of Discord,
Eris, was angry that she was not invited,
so she decided to make trouble. She
threw a golden apple into the crowd. On
the apple were the words “For the
Fairest.”

4. Of course, all of the goddesses wanted the
apple because each believed that she was
the fairest. The choices were narrowed
down to three: Aphrodite, Hera, and
Pallas Athena. The three goddesses asked
Zeus to decide which one of them should
get the apple, but he refused to have
anything to do with the matter.

6. Zeus told the three goddesses to go to
Mount Ida, near Troy, where they would
find the young prince Paris. Zeus said
that he was an excellent judge of beauty.
Paris was a prince, but was doing
shepherd’s work outside of Troy because
his father, King Priam was warned that
Paris would one day be the ruin of his
country.

7. Paris was surprise when he saw the three
goddesses. The goddesses each offered
Paris a bribe to convince him that they
deserved the apple. Hera promised to
make Paris Lord of Europe and Asia.
Athena promised he would lead the
Trojans to victory against the Greeks.
Aphrodite promised Paris that the fairest
woman in all the world would be his.
Paris gave the golden apple to Aphrodite.

9. The fairest woman in the
world was Helen.
Every young prince in
Greece wanted to
marry her. However,
Helen was already
married to Menelaus,
brother of
Agamemnon.

10. Paris traveled to Sparta and was greeted
graciously by Helen and Menelaus.
Trusting Paris completely, Menelaus left
Paris in his home and traveled alone to
Crete. When Menelaus returned from
Crete, his wife was gone. Menelaus called
upon all the men of Greece to help him
get Helen back.

12. Odysseus did not want to leave his home to
join the Army and retrieve Helen. He
pretended that he had gone mad; when a
messenger arrived, he was plowing a field
and sewing it with salt instead of seed.
The messenger put Odysseus’ son in the
direct path of the plow. When Odysseus
stopped the plow, it was proven that
Odysseus was not crazy, and he was
forced to join the Army.

13. A thousand ships carried the Greek Army to
Troy. The war went on for ten years.
Neither side was able to win victory over
the other. Both sides lost many great
warriors. The Greeks knew that they
could not defeat the Trojans by force;
they would have to find a way to take
Troy by surprise.

15. Odysseus came up with a plan to build a
giant wooden horse which was hallow and
so big that it could hold a number of men.
Several of the Greek warriors, including
Odysseus hid inside the giant horse. The
Trojans were afraid to destroy the horse
because they thought the gods would
punish them for destroying a gift, so they
pulled the horse into the city.

17. In the middle of the
night, the Greeks
snuck out of the
horse and into the
city streets of Troy.
They burned the
city’s buildings to the
ground and killed the
men as they left their
burning homes. The
Greeks had won.

19. The Greeks went mad with victory the night
they defeated the Trojans. They forgot
what was due to the gods, and on their
voyage home, they were terribly punished.
The Odyssey is the story of one soldier--
Odysseus, a smart Greek--and his return
home from war, a journey that lasts more
than twenty years.