Judgement of Paris - Revision history

Irlandos: /* External links */

2012-01-25T21:32:36Z

External links

Irlandos: /* The story */

2006-12-19T12:25:21Z

The story

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2006-03-23T10:52:45Z

Reference

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Kallisti

Irlandos: /* Kallisti */

2006-03-23T10:51:13Z

Kallisti

Irlandos: /* The story */

2006-03-23T10:49:38Z

The story

Irlandos at 10:40, March 23, 2006

2006-03-23T10:40:27Z

New page

The '''Judgement of Paris''' is a story from [[Greek mythology]], in which the legendary roots of the [[Trojan War]] can be found. As with many mythological tales, details vary depending on the source. The story is casually referred to by [[Homer]] (''[[Iliad]]'', XXIV, 25–30) as a mythic element with which his hearers were well familiar, and it was elaborated in ''[[Kypria]]'', a lost work of the Trojan War cycle, of which only fragments remain. It is told in more detail by Ovid (''Heroides'' xvi.71ff, 149–152 and v.35f), Lucian (''Dialogues of the Gods'' 20), and Hyginus (''Fabulae'' 92), all of whom are late and have skeptical, ironic or popularizing agendas. But it appeared wordlessly on the ivory and gold votive chest of the 7th-century tyrant [[Kypselos]] at [[Olympia]], which was described by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] as showing
:"Hermes bringing to [[Paris]] the son of [[Priam]] the goddesses of whose beauty he is to judge, the inscription on them being: 'Here is Hermes, who is showing to Alexandros, that he may arbitrate concerning their beauty, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite." (''Description of Greece'', LXV.9.5).

The subject was favoured by painters of Red-figure pottery as early as the 6th century (e.g. Kerenyi, fig. 68).

==The story==
It is recounted that [[Zeus]] held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of [[Peleus]] and [[Thetis]]. However, [[Eris]], goddess of discord, was uninvited. Angered by this snub, Eris arrived at the celebration, where she threw a golden apple (the Apple of Discord) into the proceedings, upon which was the inscription ''καλλίστῃ'' ("for the fairest one").

Three goddesses claimed the apple: [[Hera]], [[Athena]] and [[Aphrodite]]. They asked Zeus to judge which of them was fairest, and eventually Zeus, reluctant to favor any claim himself, declared that [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]], a Phrygian mortal, would judge their cases, for he had recently shown his exemplary fairness in a contest in which [[Ares]] in bull form had bested Paris's own prize bull and the shepherd-prince had unhesitatingly awarded the prize to the god (see [[Paris]]).

Thus it happened that with [[Hermes]] as their guide all three of the candidates appeared to Paris on [[Mount Ida]], in the climactic moment that is the ''crux'' of the tale. After bathing in the copious spring of Ida, each attempted with her powers to bribe Paris; Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia, Athena offered wisdom and skill in war, and Aphrodite, who had the [[Charites]] and the [[Horai]] to enhance her charms with flowers and song (according to a fragment of ''Kypria'' quoted by [[Athenagoras]]), offered the love of the world's most beautiful woman ([[Euripides]], ''Andromache'', l.284, ''Helena'' l. 676). This was [[Helen]] of [[Sparta]], wife of the Greek king [[Menelaus]]. Paris accepted Aphrodite's gift and awarded the Apple to her, receiving Helen as well as the enmity of the Greeks and especially of Hera. The Greeks' expedition to retrieve Helen from Paris in [[Troy]] is the mythological basis of the [[Trojan War]]. (For a more complete history of Paris, see [[Paris]].)

The [[mytheme]] of the Judgment of Paris naturally offered artists the opportunity to portray three ideally lovely women in undress, as a sort of beauty contest, but the myth, at least since Euripides, rather concerns a choice among the ''gifts'' that each goddess embodies: a subtext of the ''bribery'' involved is ironic, and a late ingredient.

In each allusion to the Judgment of Paris or narrative account, an aspect of Paris' sojourn as a shepherd-exile that is never linked to the explication of the central moment is his connection with the nurturing nymph of Mount Ida, [[Oenone]].

==Kallisti==
'''''Kallisti''''' is the word from the [[Greek language]] inscribed on the Golden Apple of Discord by [[Eris]]. In Greek, the word is ''καλλίστῃ'' (the [[dative]] [[grammatical number|singular]] of the [[grammatical gender|feminine]] [[superlative]] of καλο&sigmaf;, [[beauty|beautiful]]). Its meaning comes out to be "for the fairest" or "to the prettiest".

===Use in Discordianism===
The word ''Kallisti'' written on a golden apple, has become a principal symbol of [[Discordianism]], a modern religion. In non-[[philology|philological]] texts (such as Discordian ones) the word is usually spelled as ''καλλιστι''. Most versions of ''[[Principia Discordia]]'' actually spell it as καλλιχτι, but this is definitely incorrect; in the afterword of the [[1979]] [[Loompanics]] edition of ''Principia'', [[Gregory Hill (writer)|Gregory Hill]] says that was because on the IBM typewriter he used, not all [[Greek alphabet|Greek letters]] coincided with [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] ones, and he didn't know enough of the letters to spot the mistake.

==External links==
*[http://www.theoi.com/Olympioi/JudgementParis.html The Judgement of Paris]
*[http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/b93/ Full-text of Bulfinch's Mythology]

==Reference==
*[[Karl Kerenyi|Kerenyi, Karl]], 1959. ''The Heroes of the Greeks'', vii: "The Prelude to the Trojan War"

[[Category:Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Trojan War]]

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 ==The story==
-It is recounted that [[Zeus]] held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of [[Peleus]] and [[Thetis]].  However, [[Eris]], goddess of discord, was uninvited.  Angered by this snub, Eris arrived at the celebration, where she threw a golden apple (the Apple of Discord) into the proceedings, upon which was the inscription ''&kappa;&alpha;&lambda;&lambda;&#943;&sigma;&tau;&#8131;'' ("for the fairest one").
+It is recounted that [[Zeus]] held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of [[Peleus]] and [[Thetis]].  However, [[Eris]], goddess of discord, was uninvited.  Angered by this snub, Eris arrived at the celebration, where she threw a golden apple (the Apple of Discord) into the proceedings, upon which was the inscription ''&kappa;&alpha;&lambda;&lambda;&#943;&sigma;&tau;η'' ("for the fairest one").
 Three goddesses claimed the apple: [[Hera]], [[Athena]] and [[Aphrodite]]. They asked Zeus to judge which of them was fairest, and eventually Zeus, reluctant to favor any claim himself, declared that [[Paris]], a Phrygian mortal, would judge their cases, for he had recently shown his exemplary fairness in a contest in which [[Ares]] in bull form had bested Paris's own prize bull and the shepherd-prince had unhesitatingly awarded the prize to the god (see [[Paris]]).

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 ==Kallisti==
-'''''Kallisti'''''  is the word from the [[Greek language]] inscribed on the Golden Apple of Discord by [[Eris]].  In Greek, the word is ''&kappa;&alpha;&lambda;&lambda;&#943;&sigma;&tauη;'' (the dative singular of the feminine superlative of &kappa;&alpha;&lambda;&omicron;&sigmaf;, [[beauty|beautiful]]).  Its meaning comes out to be "for the fairest" or "to the prettiest".
+'''''Kallisti'''''  is the word from the [[Greek language]] inscribed on the Golden Apple of Discord by [[Eris]].  In Greek, the word is ''΄καλλίστη;'' (the dative singular of the feminine superlative of &kappa;&alpha;&lambda;&omicron;&sigmaf;, beautiful).  Its meaning comes out to be "for the fairest" or "to the prettiest".
 ==External links==

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 ==Reference==
-*[[Karl Kerenyi|Kerenyi, Karl]], 1959. ''The Heroes of the Greeks'', vii: "The Prelude to the Trojan War"
+*Kerenyi, Karl, 1959. ''The Heroes of the Greeks'', vii: "The Prelude to the Trojan War"
 [[Category:Greek mythology]]
 [[Category:Trojan War]]

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 It is recounted that [[Zeus]] held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of [[Peleus]] and [[Thetis]].  However, [[Eris]], goddess of discord, was uninvited.  Angered by this snub, Eris arrived at the celebration, where she threw a golden apple (the Apple of Discord) into the proceedings, upon which was the inscription ''&kappa;&alpha;&lambda;&lambda;&#943;&sigma;&tau;&#8131;'' ("for the fairest one").
-Three goddesses claimed the apple: [[Hera]], [[Athena]] and [[Aphrodite]]. They asked Zeus to judge which of them was fairest, and eventually Zeus, reluctant to favor any claim himself, declared that [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]], a Phrygian mortal, would judge their cases, for he had recently shown his exemplary fairness in a contest in which [[Ares]] in bull form had bested Paris's own prize bull and the shepherd-prince had unhesitatingly awarded the prize to the god (see [[Paris]]).
+Three goddesses claimed the apple: [[Hera]], [[Athena]] and [[Aphrodite]]. They asked Zeus to judge which of them was fairest, and eventually Zeus, reluctant to favor any claim himself, declared that [[Paris]], a Phrygian mortal, would judge their cases, for he had recently shown his exemplary fairness in a contest in which [[Ares]] in bull form had bested Paris's own prize bull and the shepherd-prince had unhesitatingly awarded the prize to the god (see [[Paris]]).
 Thus it happened that with [[Hermes]] as their guide all three of the candidates appeared to Paris on [[Mount Ida]], in the climactic moment that is the ''crux'' of the tale. After bathing in the copious spring of Ida, each attempted with her powers to bribe Paris; Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia, Athena offered wisdom and skill in war, and Aphrodite, who had the [[Charites]] and the [[Horai]] to enhance her charms with flowers and song (according to a fragment of ''Kypria'' quoted by [[Athenagoras]]), offered the love of the world's most  beautiful woman ([[Euripides]], ''Andromache'', l.284, ''Helena'' l. 676). This was [[Helen]] of [[Sparta]], wife of the Greek king [[Menelaus]]. Paris accepted Aphrodite's gift and awarded the Apple to her, receiving Helen as well as the enmity of the Greeks and especially of Hera. The Greeks' expedition to retrieve Helen from Paris in [[Troy]] is the  mythological basis of the [[Trojan War]]. (For a more complete history of Paris, see [[Paris]].)
-The [[mytheme]] of the Judgment of Paris naturally offered artists the opportunity to portray three ideally lovely women in undress, as a sort of beauty contest, but the myth, at least since Euripides, rather concerns a choice among the ''gifts'' that each goddess embodies: a subtext of the ''bribery'' involved is ironic, and a late ingredient.
+The mytheme of the Judgment of Paris naturally offered artists the opportunity to portray three ideally lovely women in undress, as a sort of beauty contest, but the myth, at least since Euripides, rather concerns a choice among the ''gifts'' that each goddess embodies: a subtext of the ''bribery'' involved is ironic, and a late ingredient.
 In each allusion to the Judgment of Paris or narrative account, an aspect of Paris' sojourn as a shepherd-exile that is never linked to the explication of the central moment is his connection with the nurturing nymph of Mount Ida, [[Oenone]].