In Greek mythology, Paris (also Alexander) was a Trojan prince, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba and younger brother of Hector. His elopement with Helen of Sparta after the Judgment of Paris sparked the Trojan War. Homer's Iliad casts him as a handsome but often reluctant fighter who prefers the bow; later tradition holds that he fatally wounded Achilles with Apollo's help and was himself killed by Philoctetes.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Paris (mythology)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Birth and recognition
Before Paris's birth Hecuba dreamed she bore a flaming torch; the seer Aesacus warned that the child would destroy Troy. Ordered exposed on Mount Ida, the infant was suckled by a she-bear and raised by the herdsman Agelaus as his own. His beauty and intelligence marked him; after routing cattle-thieves he earned the surname Alexander. His first lover was the nymph Oenone of Mount Ida, skilled in prophecy and medicine, who foresaw that he would leave her.
When Priam held funeral games for the son presumed dead, Paris competed for his favourite bull, defeated the nobles, and was nearly killed by Deiphobus until Cassandra revealed his identity. Welcomed as a prince, he soon sailed to Sparta.
II.Judgment of Paris and Helen
At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, Eris cast among the gods a golden apple inscribed "for the most beautiful." Hera, Athena and Aphrodite claimed it; Zeus, unwilling to judge, sent them to Paris on Ida. Each goddess offered a bribe: Hera dominion over Europe and Asia, Athena skill in war and wisdom, Aphrodite the love of the world's most beautiful woman — Helen of Sparta. Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite.
Helen was already married to Menelaus. While Menelaus was away in Crete, Paris seduced or abducted her (accounts differ) and took her to Troy with treasure. The suitors bound by the Oath of Tyndareus then gathered under Agamemnon to recover her, beginning the Trojan War.
III.In the Trojan War
Homer often portrays Paris as less steadfast than Hector, who scolds him for shirking battle; Paris admits his failings yet also kills named Greeks and wounds Machaon and Diomedes with arrows. Early in the Iliad he duels Menelaus for Helen and is defeated, but Aphrodite spirals him to safety and to Helen's bedchamber.
In the Epic Cycle, after Achilles has slain Hector and others, Paris — with Apollo's aid — kills Achilles with an arrow (Hyginus has Apollo disguised as Paris). Paris later dies of a wound from Philoctetes' bow. In post-Homeric versions he seeks healing from the spurned Oenone, who refuses; she then kills herself on his funeral pyre when she learns of his death. After Paris, Helen was remarried to Deiphobus, later slain by Menelaus at the sack.
IV.Reception
Paris appears with Helen among the lustful in Dante's Inferno and as a lead figure in Offenbach's La belle Hélène, Tippett's King Priam, and many films, including Orlando Bloom's portrayal in Troy (2004), which lets the couple escape the city's fall. Ancient art frequently depicts the Judgment and the abduction of Helen.