Black Ships Before Troy

“They fell to arguing among themselves; the argument became a quarrel, and the quarrel grew more and more bitter, and each called upon the assembled guests to judge between them. But the other guests refused, for they knew well enough that, whichever goddess they chose to receive the golden apple, they would make enemies of the other two.”

The goddesses’ argument sets the stage for the rest of the novel. The gods and goddesses of Greek mythology, though divine, immortal, and immensely powerful, are neither sage nor perfect. They reflect humanity’s propensity for petty fights—except conflict between the gods often plays out as discord among mortals.

“Lastly, Aphrodite drew near, her eyes as blue as deep-sea water, her hair like spun gold wreathed around her head, and, smiling honey-sweet, whispered that she would give him a wife as fair as herself if he tossed the apple to her.”

Aphrodite’s beauty is unparalleled; still, unsure that she will win the golden apple, she lures Paris’s vote by correctly guessing that the vain young man would be swayed by promises of the world’s fairest woman over those of honor or wisdom.

“If you go forth now with the fighting men, you will make for yourself a name that shall last while men tell stories round the fire, even to the end of the world. But you will not live to see the first gray hair in your beard, and you will come home no more to your father’s hall.”

One of the story’s prophecies is about Achilles’s destiny: He can choose early glorious death or obscure old age. By committing to Agamemnon’s war, Achilles seals his fate.