LOVE X DESIRE X WAR Zeus gave a banquet to celebrate the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (Achilles' parents). However, Eris, goddess of discord was not invited, as she would have made the party unpleasant for everyone. Angered by this affront, Eris arrived at the party with a golden apple from the Garden of the Hesperides, which she threw on the table, on which was written καλλίστῃ (kallistēi, "to the fairest"). Three goddesses claimed the apple: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. They asked Zeus to judge which of them was more deserving, and eventually he, reluctant to favor either, declared that Paris, a mortal from Troy, would judge the case, as he had recently shown his exemplary loyalty in a contest in which Ares in bull form had defeated the prize bull himself, and Paris, the shepherd-prince, without hesitation, awarded the prize to the god. So it happened that, with Hermes as their guide, the three candidates bathed in the spring of Ida, and then went to see Paris on Mount Ida, at the moment of the climax that is the crux of the tale. As Paris inspected them, each used her powers to bribe him; Hera offered (bribed) him to make him king of Europe and Asia, Athena also offered (bribed) her wisdom and skill in war, and Aphrodite, who had the graces and the hours to improve her charms with flowers and music ( according to a fragment of Cypria cited by Athenagoras of Athens), he offered (as a bribe) the most beautiful woman in the world at the time (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, earning Helen as well as the enmity of the Greeks and especially Hera. The Greek expedition to recover Helen from Paris in Troy is the mythological basis of the Trojan War.