Paris (mythology) - Paris and The Trojan War

Paris and The Trojan War

Homer's Iliad casts Paris as unskilled and cowardly. His brother Hector scolds and belittles him, though Paris readily admits his shortcomings in battle. His preference for bow and arrow emphasizes this, since he does not follow the code of honor shared by the other heroes. After slaying Hector and other heroes, Achilles dies by an arrow. By some accounts, the archer is Paris with Apollo's help; by others it is Apollo disguised as Paris.

Early in the epic, Paris and Menelaus duel in an attempt to end the war without further bloodshed. Menelaus easily defeats Paris, though Aphrodite spirits him away before Menelaus can finish the duel. Paris is returned to his bedchambers where Aphrodite forces Helen to be with him.

Paris's second attempt at combat is equally faced: rather than engage the Greek hero Diomedes in melee combat, Paris wounds Diomedes with an arrow through the foot.

Later in the war, after Philoctetes mortally wounds Paris, Helen makes her way to Mount Ida where she begs Paris's first wife, the nymph Oenone, to heal him. Still bitter that Paris had spurned her for his birthright in the city and then forgotten her for Helen, Oenone refuses. Helen returns alone to Troy, where Paris dies later the same day. In another version, Paris himself, in great pain, visits Oenone to plead for healing but is refused and dies on the mountainside. When Oenone hears of his funeral, she runs to his funeral pyre and throws herself in its fire.

After Paris's death, his brother Deiphobus married Helen and was then murdered by Menelaus in the sack of Troy.