The great Trojan War started with a few envious Gods and an apple... During the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, the goddess of discord, Eris, was not invited for apparent reasons. Eris felt offended and, arriving at the wedding, tossed in the middle of the feast of the gods a golden apple, saying "to the fairest". The apple was claimed by Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, sparking a vanity-fueled dispute among the three. The goddesses asked Zeus who the apple belonged to (in other words, who is the fairest of them all) and Zeus said that Paris, a mortal man and the rightful Prince of Troy, should choose.
Paris at the time was living as a shepherd on Mount Ida and was not aware of his royal descent. He had been abandoned as a baby, because of an oracle that said he would cause the destruction of his city. The three goddesses appeared before the shepherd Paris and asked him to choose who is the fairest of them all. Because Paris at first was unable to choose one, each of the goddesses offered him a gift: Hera offered him wealth and kingly power, Athena wisdom and glory among men, and Aphrodite offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world. Without hesitation, Paris gave the golden apple to Aphrodite. From that day on, Aphrodite was offering council to Paris. She was the one that informed him of his royal blood and led him back to Troy. The rest is history...
