Paris, in Greek mythology, was a son of Priam, king of Troy. Paris’ mother, Hecuba, dreamed that her unborn son was a torch that set the country on fire. A soothsayer said the dream meant the child would cause the destruction of Troy. Priam gave Paris to a slave and ordered him to kill the child. The slave left him to die, but a shepherd saved him and raised him as his own son. Paris married the nymph Oenone.
One day messengers came from Priam to take a bull as a prize for a wrestling contest. They took Paris’ favorite bull, so he entered the contest and won it back. His sister Cassandra recognized him, and Priam accepted him, disregarding Hecuba’s dream.
Zeus, the king of the gods, had Paris judge a contest among three goddesses–Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera–over the Apple of Discord. This apple bore the words “To the fairest.” Aphrodite promised Paris the most beautiful woman in the world, and so he chose her over the other goddesses. Hera and Athena hated him and Troy after that.
Paris fell in love with Helen, the beautiful wife of Menelaus, and took her to Troy. Menelaus was the king of Sparta, in Greece. Agamemnon, Menelaus’ brother, led the Greeks in the Trojan War to get Helen back. Late in the war, Paris killed the Greek hero Achilles with a bow and arrow, but was himself later killed by the Greek archer Philoctetes.
