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The Judgement of Paris
Dear seeker of stories,
Let us unfold the tale as it is known to us from ancient times.
It begins at the grandest of weddings, a divine celebration on the celestial mount of Olympus. The King of the Gods, Zeus, and his family were celebrating the marriage of the sea nymph Thetis to the mortal Peleus. Unfortunately, Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited due to her troublesome nature. Enraged by this, Eris cast into the midst of the divine gathering a golden apple inscribed with the words "To the Fairest".
Three mighty goddesses eyed the apple with a desire to claim it: Hera, the queen of the gods; Athena, goddess of wisdom and war; and Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. Each one claimed herself as the fairest, leading to a heated dispute. Seeking to keep peace, Zeus decided not to choose the fairest one himself, instead appointing a mortal to make the judgement.
The task fell upon Paris, a shepherd at that time, unbeknownst to him, a prince of the great city of Troy. Led by the swift and winged Hermes at Zeus' behest, the three goddesses descended upon the mortal realm. Paris was taken aback by their divine beauty and was further bewildered when he was asked to determine the fairest among them.
The goddesses, seeking to sway the decision in their favor, resorted to bribery. Hera promised him power and kingship over Asia, Athena offered him wisdom and military prowess, and Aphrodite pledged him the love of the world's most beautiful woman, Helen of Sparta. Paris, seduced by the prospect of possessing such beauty, awarded the golden apple to Aphrodite.
Unbeknownst to Paris, Helen was already the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta. His decision sparked a series of events that eventually led to the Trojan War, a catastrophic event lasting ten years that claimed countless lives, and ultimately, the destruction of Troy itself.
And thus, the Judgement of Paris stands as a potent tale about the perilous power of desire, and the discord that can arise from vanity and rivalry.
To whom might you grant the apple aurum, knowing full well the weight this decision carried in the annals of myth?