Gardner, Percy: The principles of Greek art (London, 1924)

xviii

THE ART HISTORY OF A MYTH

303

'The Judgment," in which Paris is made to decide between
Aphrodite and Athena, Hera being eliminated. Possibly the
reason for this elimination may be only technical, as more than
three actors could not hold the stage at once. Or the omission
may have been purposeful. In any case it would somewhat

Fig. 104. —Kylix at Berlin.

alter the character of the incident, giving it a moral not unlike
that of the tale told by Prodicus of the choice of Heracles be-
tween Pleasure and Virtue.

The Judgment is mentioned in no less than five plays of Eurip-
ides. In the Iphigeneia in Aulis (1. 1289) the chorus speaks
of the coming of the three goddesses, under the leading of
Hermes, to Paris in Mount Ida, and each of the three is spoken
of as relying not on a bribe, but on her exalted function — Hera
on her queenly position, Pallas on her warlike power, Aphrodite
on her mastery of love. In the Helena, Helen (I. 18) speaks of
the goddesses as vying in beauty. But in the Troades (1. 920)
Euripides adopts a version of the myth, which represents each
goddess as trying to win the judge with gifts. Pallas promises
that at the head of his Phrygians he shall conquer Greece;
Hera, that he shall have a wide kingdom in Asia and Europe;
while Aphrodite promises the person of Helen. In a fourth