11　A Fairy-Tale War

The history of countries usually begins—and also ends—with war. The first great happening in the history of Greece was a war.It was called the Trojan War and was supposed to have taken place about twelve hundred years before Christ,or not long after the beginning of the Iron Age.But we are not only unsure of the date；we are not even sure that there ever was such a war,for a great deal of it,we know is simply fairy tale.This is the way the tale goes.

Once there was a wedding feast of the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus,when suddenly a goddess who had not been invited threw a golden apple on the table. On the apple were written these words：

To the fairest.

The goddess who had thrown the apple was the goddess of quarreling；and true to her name she did start a quarrel,for each of the goddesses,like vain human beings,thought she was the fairest and should have the apple. At last they called in a shepherd boy named Paris to decide who was the fairest.

Each goddess offered Paris a present if he would choose her.Hera,the queen of the gods,offered to make him a king；Athena,the goddess of wisdom,offered to make him