Judgement of Paris

For other uses, see Judgement of Paris (disambiguation).

The Judgment of Paris, Peter Paul Rubens, ca 1636 (National Gallery, London)

The Judgment of Paris is a story from Greek mythology, which was one of the events that led up to the Trojan War and (in slightly later versions of the story) to the foundation of Rome.

Sources of the episode

As with many mythological tales, details vary depending on the source. The brief allusion to the Judgment in the Iliad (24.25–30) shows that the episode initiating all the subsequent action was already familiar to its audience; a fuller version was told in the Cypria, a lost work of the Epic Cycle, of which only fragments (and a reliable summary) remain. The later writers Ovid (Heroides 16.71ff, 149–152 and 5.35f), Lucian (Dialogues of the Gods 20), Apollodorus (Epitome E.3.2) and Hyginus (Fabulae 92), retell the story with skeptical, ironic or popularizing agendas. But it appeared wordlessly on the ivory and gold votive chest of the 7th-century tyrant Cypselus at Olympia, which was described by Pausanias as showing:

Hermes bringing to Paris the son of Priam the goddesses of whose beauty he is to judge, the inscription on them being: 'Here is Hermes, who is showing to Paris, that he may arbitrate concerning their beauty, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. (Description of Greece, LXV.9.5).

The subject was favoured by painters of Red-figure pottery as early as the sixth century BC, and remained popular in Greek and Roman art, before enjoying a significant revival, as an opportunity to show three female nudes, in the Renaissance.

Mythic narrative

Das Urteil des Paris by Anton Raphael Mengs, ca. 1757

It is recounted that Zeus held a banquet in celebration of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (parents of Achilles). However, Eris, goddess of discord was not invited, for she would have made the party unpleasant for everyone. Angered by this snub, Eris arrived at the celebration with a golden apple from the Garden of the Hesperides, which she threw into the proceedings, upon which was the inscription καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, "for the fairest one").

Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. They asked Zeus to judge which of them was fairest, and eventually he, reluctant to favour any claim himself, declared that Paris, a Trojan mortal, would judge their cases, for he had recently shown his exemplary fairness in a contest in which Ares in bull form had bested Paris's own prize bull, and the shepherd-prince had unhesitatingly awarded the prize to the god.

Thus it happened that, with Hermes as their guide, the three candidates bathed in the spring of Ida, then confronted Paris on Mount Ida in the climactic moment that is the crux of the tale. The goddesses presented themselves to Paris naked, and while Paris inspected them, each attempted with her powers to bribe him; Hera offered to make him king of Europe and Asia, Athena offered wisdom and skill in war, and Aphrodite, who had the Charites and the Horai to enhance her charms with flowers and song (according to a fragment of the Cypria quoted by Athenagoras), offered the world's most beautiful woman (Euripides, Andromache, l.284, Helena l. 676). This was Helen of Sparta, wife of the Greek king Menelaus. Paris accepted Aphrodite's gift and awarded the apple to her, receiving Helen as well as the enmity of the Greeks and especially of Hera. The Greeks' expedition to retrieve Helen from Paris in Troy is the mythological basis of the Trojan War.

The mytheme of the Judgement of Paris naturally offered artists the opportunity to portray three ideally beautiful women nude, engaged in a sort of beauty contest, but the myth, at least since Euripides, rather concerns a choice among the gifts that each goddess embodies. The bribery involved is ironic, and a late ingredient, so originally, the myth may have actually been centered on the goddesses' beauty and sex appeal, and not the reward they may have given.

Like many myths, there are variations of the Judgment of Paris. Perhaps the most varied element is the nudity of the goddesses. There is one variation that states that all three goddesses remained fully clothed, but it is mostly agreed that at least one goddess undressed, but the particular goddess(es) varies. According to one variation, Zeus had given Paris permission to set any conditions he saw fit, so he required that all three goddesses undress and allow him to see them naked. Another, equally popular version states that the goddesses themselves chose to remove their clothing, in order to display their sexuality to Paris. According to the ancient Greek poets Apuleius and Collothus, it was only Aphrodite who undressed (and in the case of Collothus, she merely "bares her breast"). This is a section from The Golden Ass by Apuleius, depicting a religious play of the Judgement:

The Judgement of Paris, Capodimonte porcelain, Capitoline Museums, Rome

"Next appeared a worthy-looking girl, similar in appearance to the goddess [Hera], for her hair was ordered with a white diadem, and she carried a sceptre. A second girl then burst in, whom you would have recognized as [Athena]. Her head was covered with a gleaming helmet which was itself crowned with an olive-wreath; she bore a shield and brandished a spear, simulating the goddess' fighting role. After them a third girl entered, her beauty visibly unsurpassed. Her charming, ambrosia-like complexion intimated that she represented the earlier [Aphrodite] when that goddess was still a maiden. She vaunted her unblemished beauty by appearing naked and unclothed except for a thin silken garment veiling her entrancing lower parts. An inquisitive gust of air would at one moment with quite lubricious affection blow this garment aside, so that when wafted away it revealed her virgin bloom; at another moment it would wantonly breathe directly upon it, clinging tightly and vividly outlining the pleasurable prospect of her lower limbs. The goddess' appearance offered contrasting colours to the eye, for her body was dazzling white, intimating her descent from heaven and her robe was dark blue, denoting her emergence from the sea...But now [Aphrodite] becomingly took the centre of the stage to the great acclamation of the theatre, and smiled sweetly...[She] still more affectingly began to gently stir herself; with gradual, lingering steps, restrained swaying of the hips, and slow inclination of the head she began to advance, her refined movements matching the soft wounds of the flutes. Occasionally her eyes alone would dance, as at one moment she gently lowered her lids, and at another imperiously signalled with threatening glances. At the moment when she met the gaze of the judge, the beckoning of her arms seemed to hold the promise that if he preferred her over the other goddesses, she would present Paris with a bride of unmatched beauty, one like herself. There and then the Phrygian youth spontaneously awarded the girl the golden apple in his hand, which signalled the vote for victory . . . Once Paris had completed that judgement of his, [Hera] and [Athena] retired from the stage, downcast and apparently resentful, indicating by gestures their anger at being rejected. [Aphrodite] on the other hand was elated and smiling, and registered her joy by dancing in company with the entire chorus."

El Juicio de Paris by Enrique Simonet, ca.1904. In this work, Hera (second from the left) is fully clothed, but Aphrodite stands completely naked, allowing herself to be viewed completely. Athena (first from the right) is also nude, but she, unlike Aphrodite, displays some modesty by covering her genitals. The painting is very accurate to Van Windekens' version of the myth, albeit having been completed many years before his version was proposed.

Details of the nudity of the individual goddesses, though much less described, is also an element that varies. Almost all works of art depict the three goddesses nude and bare-breasted, but covering their genitals, but some bolder artists show them completely naked. Most literary depictions merely describe the goddesses as "nude," "naked," or else the matter is not addressed at all. In the above excerpt, at first, the actress playing Aphrodite appears naked except for a cloth she is holding over her genitals. A personified wind mischievously pulls the garment aside, displaying her naked vulva to the appreciative audience. Her nudity is not addressed throughout the rest of the play, so it is assumed that she remained fully nude for the rest of the play, including when she presents herself before Paris.

According to a tradition suggested by Alfred J. Van Windekens, "cow-eyed" Hera was indeed the most objectively beautiful, not Aphrodite. However, Hera was the goddess of the marital order and of cuckolded wives, amongst other things. She was often portrayed as the shrewish, jealous wife of Zeus, who himself often escaped from her controlling ways by cheating on her with other women, mortal and immortal. Her appearance was compromised by her commitment to marital fidelity and chastity; she was careful to be modest when Paris was inspecting her, which is why Paris was not very appealed. Aphrodite, though not as objectively beautiful as Hera, was the goddess of sexuality, and was not concerned about modesty or chastity. She was effortlessly more sexual and charming and eagerly undressed for Paris, and she did not mind displaying her breasts and vulva for him to see. Thus, she was able to sway Paris into judging her the fairest. Athena's beauty is rarely commented in in the myths, perhaps because Greeks held her up as an asexual being, being able to "overcome" her "womanly weaknesses" in order to become both wise and talented in war (both considered male domains by the Greeks). Her rage at losing makes her join the Greeks in the battle against Paris's Trojans, a key event in the turning point of the war.

There is also a less popular variation in which Artemis is the third goddess, instead of Hera.

In post-Classical art

Das Urteil des Paris, Renoir (Phillips Collection), ca. 1910

Marcantonio after Raphael, ca. 1515-1516

The subject became popular in art from the late Middle Ages onwards. All three goddesses were usually shown nude. In ancient art however, only Aphrodite is ever shown naked, and that is not always. The opportunity for three female nudes was a large part of the attraction of the subject. It appeared in illuminated manuscripts and was popular in decorative art, including 15th century Italian inkstands and other works in maiolica, and cassoni. As a subject for easel paintings, it was more common in Northern Europe, although Marcantonio Raimondi's engraving of ca. 1515, probably based on a drawing by Raphael, and using a composition derived from a Roman sarcophagus, was a highly influential treatment, which made Paris's Phrygian cap an attribute in most later versions. The subject was painted many times by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Rubens painted several compositions of the subject at different points in his career. Later artists painting the subject include Renoir and Salvador Dalí.

Gallery

Paintings

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  Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1606

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  Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1625

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  Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1638-1639

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  Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1528

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  Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. 1530

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  Lucas Cranach the Elder, ca. between 1512-1514

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  Das Urteil des Paris, Joseph Hauber, ca. 1819

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  El Juicio de Paris, Joan de Joanes, ca. approx. 1523-1579

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  Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem, ca. 1628

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  Hans von Aachen, ca. 1588

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  Antoine Watteau, ca. 1720

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  Carel van Savoyen, ca. 1650-1660

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  Claude Lorrain, ca. 1645-1646

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  Max Klinger, ca. 1886-1887

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  Michele Rocca, ca. between 1710-1720

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  Niklaus Manuel, ca. 1520

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  Henri-Pierre Picou, ca. between 1824-1895

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  Hendrick van Balen the Elder, ca. 1599

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  Luca Giordano, ca. between 1681-1683

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  Joachim Wtewael, ca. 1605

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  Joachim Wtewael, ca. 1615

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  Frans Floris, ca. 1548

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  Frans Floris, ca. 1550s

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  Jean-Baptiste Regnault, ca. 1820

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  Eduard Lebiedzki, ca. by 1906

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  Adriaen van der Werff, ca. 1712

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  Adriaen van der Werff, ca. 1712

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  Sandro Botticelli, ca. 1485-1488. This is one of the few works in which no goddess is shown nude.

Sculptures and Engravings

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  An Etruscan bronze mirrorback, 4th-3rd century BCE (Louvre)

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  Willem Isaacsz van Swanenburg, ca. 1609

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  Dorman Hering, ca. 1529

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Kallistēi

Kallistēi is the word of the Ancient Greek language inscribed on the Golden Apple of Discord by Eris. In Greek, the word is καλλίστῃ (the dative singular of the feminine superlative of καλος, beautiful). Its meaning can be rendered "to the fairest one".

Calliste (Καλλίστη; Mod. Gk. Kallisti) is also an ancient name for the isle of Thera.

Use in Discordianism

Main article: Apple of Discord

The word Kallisti (Modern Greek) written on a golden apple, has become a principal symbol of Discordianism, a post-modernist religion. In non-philological texts (such as Discordian ones) the word is usually spelled as καλλιστι. Most versions of Principia Discordia actually spell it as καλλιχτι, but this is definitely incorrect; in the afterword of the 1979 Loompanics edition of Principia, Gregory Hill says that was because on the IBM typewriter he used, not all Greek letters coincided with Latin ones, and he didn't know enough of the letters to spot the mistake. Zeus' failure to invite Eris is referred to as The Original Snub in Discordian mythology.

Dramatizations

The story is the basis of an opera, The Judgment of Paris, with a libretto by William Congreve, that was set to music by four composers in London, 1700-1701. Thomas Arne composed a highly successful score to the same libretto in 1742. The opera Le Cinesi (The Chinese Women) by Christoph Willibald Gluck (1754) concludes with a ballet, The Judgment of Paris, sung as a vocal quartet. Francesco Cilea's 1902 opera Adriana Lecouvreur also includes a Judgment of Paris ballet sequence.

Novelist Gore Vidal named his 1952 book, The Judgment of Paris, after this story.

The Judgment of Paris was burlesqued in the 1954 musical The Golden Apple. In it, the three goddesses have been reduced to three town biddies in smalltown Washington state. They ask Paris, a traveling salesman, to judge the cakes they have made for the church social. Each woman (the mayor's wife, the schoolmarm, and the matchmaker) makes appeals to Paris, who chooses the matchmaker. The matchmaker, in turn, sets him up with Helen, the town floozy, who runs off with him.

The Judgment of Paris is featured in the 2003 TV miniseries Helen of Troy. The event is rather short, and only Hera and Aphrodite offer bribes. All three goddesses are fully clothed. Aphrodite gives Paris a vision of Helen riding a horse, while Helen has a vision of Paris.

In the Hercules: the Legendary Journeys series, the contest is altered somewhat with Aphrodite and Athena entering but Artemis is the third goddess contestant instead of Hera (offering the one who chooses her the chance to be renowned as a great warrior). The Golden Apple appears as a gift from Aphrodite with the ability to make any mortal woman fall in love with the man holding it and to make a mortal man and woman soul mates if they simultaneously touch it. The other major differences beside the presence of Artemis and the role of the apple are the fact that it is Iolaus who is the judge and the godesses appear in swimsuits and not nude.

See also

• Trojan War

References

• Malcolm Bull, The Mirror of the Gods, How Renaissance Artists Rediscovered the Pagan Gods, Oxford UP, 2005, ISBN 100195219236
• Kerenyi, Karl, 1959. The Heroes of the Greeks, vii: "The Prelude to the Trojan War", pp 308ff.
• Tuesday Morning Quarterback - Gregg Easterbrook - Oct.19, 2010 www.espn.com

External links

• The Judgment of Paris
• Full-text of Bulfinch's Mythology