This painting by Frederic Leighton shows Helen of Troy attended by her handmaidens. In Greek legend, Paris was a Trojan prince, the son of Priam and Hecuba. When Eris, the Greek goddess of discord, was not invited to the marriage of the Greek leader Achilles, she threw a golden apple into the festivities, with the words "for the fairest" written on it. The goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena each claimed the apple, and Zeus, the king of the gods, had Paris choose which one should get it. Hermes, the messenger god, acts as a guide, arranging the meeting between the goddesses and Paris. Aphrod


This painting by Frederic Leighton shows Helen of Troy attended by her handmaidens. In Greek legend, Paris was a Trojan prince, the son of Priam and Hecuba. When Eris, the Greek goddess of discord, was not invited to the marriage of the Greek leader Achilles, she threw a golden apple into the festivities, with the words "for the fairest" written on it. The goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena each claimed the apple, and Zeus, the king of the gods, had Paris choose which one should get it. Hermes, the messenger god, acts as a guide, arranging the meeting between the goddesses and Paris. Aphrodite promised Paris Helen, queen of Sparta, if he picked her, and so he did. The result was the Trojan War as the Greeks fought to Helen to Menelaus, the ruler of Sparta. Frederic Leighton (1830-1896) was a British painter, draughtsman and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subject matter in an academic style.


Size: 3558px × 5196px
Photo credit: © Ivy Close Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: achilles, ancient, epic, frederic, greece, greek, hecuba, helen, heroes, homer, iliad, lady, legend, leighton, lord, menelaus, myth, mythology, odysseus, odyssey, paris, poem, priam, queen, sparta, trojan, troy, walls, war, world