The Apple of Discord
Both the gods, Zeus and Poseidon, desired the sea-nymph Thetis, but a prophecy made by Prometheus revealed that Thetis' son would be greater than his father. For this reason, both gods resisted Thetis and betrothed her to a mortal king, Peleus, so that her offspring would be no more than human. To Peleus and Thetis a son was born, named Achilles. Hoping to protect him, when he was an infant his mother dipped him in the river Styx, making him invincible everywhere except the heel (the legendary Achilles' heel) by which she held him. Achilles would grow up to be the greatest of all mortal warriors.
At the wedding of King Peleus and Thetis, the gods and goddesses were very happy. All the “who’s who” of the gods were there; it was like the red carpet to the Academy Awards! They were dancing and celebrating, when suddenly Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, angry because she had not been invited, threw a golden apple into their midst. Being the goddess of discord, she had a sour demeanor and thus, was not included on the wedding V.I.P. guest list. The apple she threw bore a tag with the word, “kallisti” upon it, meaning, “the fairest.” Of course, Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena each thought herself the prettiest, so each of the three goddesses ran to pick the apple up, sure it was for her and her alone. When they saw that all three of them wanted it, they became angry and started a big argument. The wedding broke up angry and confused, and the gods and goddesses went back to Mount Olympus.
The goddesses were still fighting, and Zeus decided that someone must be the judge of the three, to end the quarrel. Zeus did not want to anger any of the goddesses—surely the myths make it clear what can happen when those ladies are mad! Zeus looked down on Earth, and he saw Paris, the son of King Priam, the King of Troy. Paris was very handsome, and Zeus thought he would make a good judge. Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena went to Paris, and each one tried to bribe him to give her the apple. Hera said she would give Paris power and wealth. Athena said she would give him wisdom and victory in battle. Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful maiden there was, Helen of Sparta, daughter of Zeus and Leda (a mortal). At the time, Helen was married to Menelaus, King of Sparta, but Aphrodite said she would simply make Helen fall in love with Paris. So, Paris ended up giving Aphrodite the apple—he decided having the hottest girl in the world was the best prize. Aphrodite then sent Eros, her little son, down to shoot Helen with one of his love arrows, to make her fall in love with Paris. Paris came and got her, and they ran away to Troy—leaving Menelaus behind. Menelaus allied with his brother King Agaememnon and King Odysseus of Ithaca. They set sail for Troy to fight for Sparta’s honor and retrieve Helen, the rightful Queen of Sparta. And thus began the Trojan War, one of the most famous wars in ancient myth.
The great war lasted ten years and cost the two sides thousands upon thousands of lives. The Trojans had never lost a war before and they were one of the wealthiest and most prominent city-states that ever existed. (This is one of the reasons Agaememnon joined his brother; he wanted to take out the powerful Troy and claim glory for the Greeks.) Of course, the gods took sides and this is one of the main reasons why the ware lasted so long. Given the apple story, it is easy to guess which goddesses picked what side. The Greeks were a sea-faring people, so Poseidon sided with them. Zeus, wanting to be a fair leader, did not choose a side, and rained down his thunderbolts to keep things even when he saw one side becoming more powerful than the other. Achilles, the greatest Greek warrior, and Hector, the greatest Trojan warrior, died in battle; it seemed the war would never end. Odysseus longed for his wife and had missed the childhood of his young son. Telemachus. Telemachus was a baby when Odysseus left. Odysseus devised a plan to get home: the famed Trojan horse. The Greeks sent word to the Trojans that they intended to surrender and offered the Trojans a giant horse as a gift (in honor of Poseidon). Paris and a soothsayer (a fortune teller) warned King Priam not to take the horse, concerned it was a trick. However, King Priam, worried refusing the gift would anger Poseidon, took the horse through the impenetrable walls of Troy in a victory parade. The Trojans celebrated, partying all night. When they slept after their night of revelry, there was a ‘surprise’ in that horse. Odysseus had the Greeks make the horse hollow, and he and his many soldiers hid within the horse and waited while the Trojans partied. They snuck out of the horse while the Trojans slept and attacked the city, killing everyone in their surprise assault. And thus the Trojan War ended and Helen returned home to Sparta, taking her rightful place beside Menelaus as Queen of Sparta. This was only the beginning of Odysseus’ journey, for it took him ten MORE years to just get home, for a total absence of twenty years!