Paris was first nurtured by a she-wolf and then raised by shepherds. As a young man he was chosen by the goddesses Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera to be the judge of a contest between them. Paris had to decide who was the most beautiful of the three goddesses. He chose Aphrodite, who had promised him the love of the world’s most beautiful woman. When Paris returned to Troy in disguise, Cassandra recognized him and he was welcomed back by his father, Priam. It was not long, though, before Paris decided to sail to Greece and visit the various kingdoms there. Cassandra warned that her brother’s voyage would bring destruction on Troy, but no one believed her, and Paris set off on his travels. While in Sparta, a Greek kingdom, Paris seduced Helen, the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus, and persuaded her to return with him to Troy. This abduction angered the Greeks, who raised an army to set sail for Troy. So began a war that would last 10 years.
It was at the end of this period that Cassandra made one of her most famous prophecies. In a last, desperate attempt to breach the walls of Troy, the Greeks made a hollow wooden horse and left it outside the gates of the besieged city. Believing the Greeks to have fled and the wooden horse to be an offering to Athena, the Trojans opened the gates and brought it into the city. In fact the horse was full of Greek soldiers. The only Trojans to foresee the danger were Cassandra and the priest and seer Laocoon. As the horse approached the city, Cassandra began to scream, warning her fellow Trojans of the gift’s real nature. However, viewing her as a madwoman, they ignored her.
The following night the Greek soldiers climbed out of the horse and let the rest of the Greek army into Troy. They proceeded to sack the city, killing and raping its inhabitants. Cassandra fled to the temple of Athena, where she hid, clasping a wooden statue of the goddess of war and wisdom. There she was found by Ajax of Locris, who dragged her out of the temple. Accounts vary as to whether Cassandra was raped by Ajax or not. In any case she was then claimed as a prize by the Greek king Agamemnon.
World History
