The Iliad
Origin Story Beauty contest between the female gods. Zeus didn't want to judge it. So Prince Paris of Troy was chosen. Prince Paris couldn't choose, so aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman on earth if he chose her. So he did and was given Helen of Troy, the mortal daughter of Zeus, Wife of King Menelaus of the Acheans. One interpretation of this origin story is that Helen of Troy ran away to Troy with Paris. In response to losing his wife, King Menelaus convinced the Acheans to protect his honor and get Helen back. So the Acheans waged a 9 year war with the Trojans. Story Picks Up Near the end of this war, the God Apollo sent a great plague against the Acheans by firing arrows at them. They asked a priest of Apollo why it was happening. The priest said that they were being punished because Agamemnon had stolen the daughter of a priest of Apollo as a wife. The priest advised to return her to her father to stop the plague. Apollo is the God of archery...