3.379-382): He turned and made again for his man, determined to kill him with the bronze spear. But Aphrodite caught up Paris easily, since she was divine, and wrapped him in a thick mist and set him down again in his own perfumed bedchamber. So Aphrodite has whisked Paris back to safety.
Aphrodite's manipulative character is most apparent in the story of Helen, queen of Sparta, whom she offered as her bribe in the Judgment of Paris, inciting ten years of dreadful war at Troy. The Judgment was a popular subject in Pompeian wall painting, an example of which is shown here.
Menelaus breaks his sword over Paris's helmet. He then grabs Paris by the helmet and begins dragging him through the dirt, but Aphrodite, an ally of the Trojans, snaps the strap of the helmet so that it breaks off in Menelaus's hands.
In the Iliad, Paris escapes death at the hands of Menelaus; Aphrodite sweeps him off the battlefield back to Helen's bed inside the walls of Troy.
Aphrodite, on the other hand, seduced him with love, offering him the most beautiful female mortal in the world, Helen of Sparta, the wife of the King of Sparta Menelaus. Paris opted for Aphrodite and so Helen was taken from Sparta to become Helen of Troy. ...
During the war Paris seems to have had a secondary role: a good warrior but inferior to his brother Hector and to the Greek leaders whom he faced. Menelaus would have defeated Paris in single combat, but Aphrodite rescued him, and the war continued.
The three goddesses appearing before the shepherd prince, each offering him gifts for favour. He chose Aphrodite, swayed by her promise to bestow upon him Helene, the most beautiful woman, for wife.
During the war, Menelaus and Paris confront each other in a one-on-one fight. The Spartan king overwhelms Paris but the prince is saved by the goddess Aphrodite who whisks him from the scene in a magical cloud.
In Book 3, Menelaus challenges Paris to a duel for Helen's return. Menelaus soundly beats Paris, but before he can kill him and claim victory, Aphrodite spirits Paris away inside the walls of Troy.
Some variations also emphasize that Menelaus was a major jerk, who cheated on her all the time (not that anybody would've cared about that in ancient Greece).
Her fancies are whimsical, as the immortals tend to be, and she takes an interest in the human goings-on of the Trojan War. This is lucky for Paris since it's Aphrodite who swoops in and rescues Paris from Menelaus just as the killing blow was about to fall.
Aphrodite intervenes first to save Paris from death, and then later to save her own son, Aeneas. In the process of saving Aeneas, she is wounded by the Greek warrior Diomedes. Her last major appearance is when she gives Hera her girdle, a magical garment Hera uses to distract Zeus from the war.
POSTHOMERICA : RESCUE OF HELENE. Aphrodite rekindled Menelaos' love for Helene when he found her upon the fall of Troy, protecting her from his angry retribution.
Assisted by Aphrodite, Paris convinced Helen to leave her husband and took her back with him to Troy. Menelaus and Agamemnon went after them, and the war that resulted lasted for ten years. Finally, due to Odysseus' craftiness in devising the Trojan horse, the Trojans were defeated and Helen was returned to Menelaus.
Moral: Don't Underestimate Unattractive People. Aphrodite was the gorgeous god- dess of love and all men desired her. She herself had many crushes, always on very good looking but not very intelligent youths, and she usually spurned older, less handsome men.
In order to earn his favour, Aphrodite promised Paris the most beautiful woman in the world. Swayed by Aphrodite's offer, Paris chose her as the most beautiful of the goddesses, earning the wrath of Athena and Hera.
Aphrodite intervenes in the fight between Paris and Menelaus, saving Paris' life. Menelaus won this fight between them and would have killed Paris if Aphrodite did not help Paris. Aphrodite also intervenes when she forces Helen to go to Paris' room.
Aphrodite summons a reluctant Helen, who seems entirely burned out on love: "I'll never go back again. It would be wrong, / disgraceful to share that coward's bed once more" (3.474-475).
Helen announces that she will have nothing more to do with Paris, but when Aphrodite, who symbolizes Helen's carnal nature, threatens her, Helen immediately gives in and goes to bed with Paris.
One day, Helen was at her palace in Sparta with her husband Menelaus. Paris appeared. As was customary by the laws of hospitality in ancient Greece, they gave him lodging and entertained him with banquets and gifts. Paris and Helen fell madly in love from the moment they met.
According to a variant of the story, Helen, in widowhood, was driven out by her stepsons and fled to Rhodes, where she was hanged by the Rhodian queen Polyxo in revenge for the death of her husband, Tlepolemus, in the Trojan War.
In Homer's adaptation of the legend, The Iliad, it is alluded to that Helen willingly left her husband Menelaus to be with Paris, the king of Troy. Although there are several accounts where Helen is said to have been abducted, or stolen away, the movie sticks with the rendition of her leaving on her own accord.
While Paris was inspecting them, each one of them offered him a gift, trying to bribe him with their powers. First, Hera promised him to make him King of Europe and Asia. Then, Athena offered him wisdom and skill in war. Finally, Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman on Earth (hard choice, we know).
Just as Menelaus is on the point of killing Paris, his protector, the goddess Aphrodite, takes him safely out of the battle and back to his bedroom in Troy.
DIOMEDES A king or lord of Argos (southern Greece) whose wife betrayed him and with her lover drove him from his homeland upon returning from the Trojan War. A punishment inflicted by Aphrodite in revenge for wounding her during the Trojan War.