The Judgment of Paris

The Judgment of Paris is a famous tale from Greek mythology that involves a beauty contest and copious amounts of wine. It is said that Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to a wedding among the gods and decided to cause some mischief. She tossed a golden apple into the crowd with the words “for the fairest” inscribed upon it.

Of course, this sparked a heated debate among the goddesses over who was the fairest of them all. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all laid claim to the title, leading to a bit of a catfight.

But it was decided that the mortal Paris, a handsome prince from Troy, would serve as a neutral judge to settle the matter. The goddesses then proceeded to bribe him with promises of power, wisdom, and love in exchange for the apple.

Paris, being a man of simple tastes, chose Aphrodite as the fairest. This angered Hera and Athena, who proceeded to declare war on Troy, leading to the infamous Trojan War.

But let’s get back to the real question at hand: what was Paris thinking? Giving the apple to Aphrodite may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it’s safe to say she didn’t hold up her end of the deal very well. Paris was promised the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, who just so happened to be Helen, the wife of King Menelaus. This led to even more trouble for Paris and Troy, as Menelaus was none too pleased to find his wife kidnapped by the handsome prince.

In retrospect, Paris probably should have just taken the apple for himself and run off into the sunset. But then we wouldn’t have the epic tale of the Trojan War, and we wouldn’t have learned that sometimes, judgments made under the influence of copious amounts of wine might not be the best decisions.