Paris

Before his birth, the oracle Cassandra predicted that Paris would one day be the cause of the fall of all Troy. She therefore recommended that he be killed immediately after birth. But his parents did not heed her advice and left the infant in the woods to his fate. Little Paris survived only thanks to the bear (who nursed him), the nymph Oinone, and the shepherd Agelá who raised him.

The key moment in Paris' life was the wedding of the goddess Thetis to King Peleus. All the gods were invited to this wedding, except the goddess of strife, Eris. She took revenge on everyone by plucking a golden apple from the garden of the Hesperides and, with the inscription "To the fairest", threw it between the goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite. Each of the goddesses thought the apple rightfully belonged to her. No one could settle this whole dispute, not even Zeus. He decided to absolve himself of responsibility by leaving it up to a young man who had never met a woman - and that was Paris.

So the goddesses began to compete to see who would offer Paris the best reward if he awarded the apple to her. Hera offered him rule over Asia, Athena offered him glory and victory, and Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world as his wife. Paris decided to give the apple to Aphrodite. In return, she gave him the love of the beautiful Helen, wife of Menelaus, who was to be the new king of Sparta.

To get to Helen, Aphrodite hatched a plan to get Paris to Troy, where his origins were revealed by the oracle Cassandra. The joy of finding her son was surpassed, however, by the reiteration of the prediction of the destruction of Troy. Subsequently, Paris received from Aphrodite the desire to go to Sparta, which is famous for its beautiful women. Here he was graciously received by King Menelaus, but then had to leave and ordered his wife Helen to attend to the guests. Here Aphrodite arranged for a love to arise between her and Paridus so strong that they travelled together to Troy. Paris took the treasury of Menelaus with him.

Upon his return, Meneláos logically became angry and decided to summon all the rulers of Greece and set out against Troy. First, however, he went to his brother Agamemnon, with whom they agreed that Agamemnon and Odysseus would go first and negotiate for Helen's return, threatening war if they were not successful. The negotiations were not successful, Paris and King Priamos were only willing to return the treasury. And so war was declared.

Agamemnon became the commander-in-chief of the Greek armies, with Menelaus at his side. The whole war lasted ten long years. Paris took only a minimal part in the war, spending most of his time tending to Helen and himself. This inactivity was a thorn in the side of all the Trojans. It was not until the tenth year of the war that he showed courage, when the prevailing opinion among the combatants was that neither army was capable of winning, and so, let the rulers themselves settle their differences. Paris challenged Menelaus to a duel. But as soon as Meneláos raised his spear, Paris cowardly fled. Hector forced him to fight, but Paris succumbed to Meneláos. Had it not been for Aphrodite, he would have died here. Despite his defeat and the agreed peace, Paris refused to hand over Helen.

Subsequently, the war flared up again and culminated in the assembly of the so-called Trojan Horse, with the help of which the Greeks secretly entered Troy and eventually destroyed the entire city. All the Trojans, including Paris, were killed in the battle. He managed one heroic act when he killed the hero Achilles. He fired an arrow from the walls at him, hitting him in the only vulnerable spot on his body, his heel. The shot was so accurate because it was guided by the god Apollo himself as he sought revenge on Achilles for his insult.

Shortly after this heroic act, however, the archer Philoctetes struck Paris with a poisoned arrow that caused an incurable wound. Wounded to death, Paris fled to where he had grown up and died there. Not even Helen came to his funeral, but only a few of his companions.