PARIS, also called ALEXANDER, was. according to Homer, the second son of Priam and Hecabe, sovereigns of Troy. His mother dreamed during her pregnancy that she gave birth to a lire-brand, which set the whole city on tire, a dream interpreted by Asa cus or Cassandra to signify that Paris should originate a war which should end in the destruction of his native city. To prevent its realization Priam caused the infant to he exposed upon mount Ida by a shepherd named Agetaus, who found' him, five days after, alive and well, a she-bear having given him suck. Agelaus brought him up as his own Son, and he became a shepherd on mount Ida, distinguishing himself by his valor in protecting the other shepherds from their enemies—whence his name, Alexander, " the defender of men." An accident having revealed his parentage, old Priam became recon ciled to his son, who married (Enoue, daughter of the river-god Cebren. But his mother's dream was to come true for all that. lie was appealed to, as umpire, iu a strife which had arisen among the three goddesses, Hera (Juno), Athene (Minerva), and Aphrodite (Venus), as to which of them was the most beautiful, the goddess Eris (strife) having revenge fully flung among them, at a feast to which she had not been invited, a golden apple (of discord) inscribed To the Most fhautiful. Each of the three endeavored to bribe him.
Hera promised him dominion over Asia and wealth; Athene, military renown and wis dom; Aphrodite, the fairest of women for his wife—to wit. Helen, the wife of the Lacedwumulay king, Menelaus. Paris decided in favor of Aphrodite, ani mosity which the other two goddesses displayed against the Trojans in the war that followed. Paris now proceeded to seek Helen, whom he carricd away from Lacedw mon in her husband's absence. The rape of Helen" is the legendary cause of the Trojan war, on account of which Paris incurred the hatred of his countrymen. He deceitfully slew Achilles in the temple of Apollo. He was himself wounded by a poi soned arrow, and went to mount Ida to be cured by (Enone, who possessed great powers of healing; but she avenged herself for his unfaithfulness to her by refusing to assist him, and he returned to Troy and died. He was often represented in ancient works of art, generally as a beardless youth, of somewhat effeminate beauty.