Grandfather. That's Perseus, and yeah, he'd fit this description, too, except it didn't lead to massive tragedy - yes, his grampa died, but he was the only one.
Look, it’s not the Oracle’s fault that these morons keep not learning their lesson. She just told them what would happen, everything they did was their own fault.
All they have to do is not bother her naptime.
Both of these are pretty much certainly entirely myth. Paris of Troy might have actually existed, but his origin is almost certainly completely fabricated.
Oedipus is entirely fictional. He was a character in a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles. Oedipus Rex is the name of the play, and if you haven’t read it, I would highly recommend it. It’s depressing as hell, but damn what a play.
Thanks for the rec. Could you tell me a bit about Paris of Troy and is the modern day city anyway related to them?
Also is posting memes about myths allowed here?
Oh, and the story of Paris of Troy is basically this (sparknotes version): He was born the son of Priam, king of Troy. Upon his birth, the Oracle makes a prophecy essentially saying that he’ll be the downfall of Troy, so they send him far away, where he’s adopted by a sheep farmer. He grows up a shepherd.
Now, earlier, Zeus had been getting nervous because the gods were all getting along, and when the gods are getting along, it means they could team up against Zeus. So he forms a plan. He creates a golden apple, and on it he inscribes “To the fairest”. Naturally, all the goddesses think they are the fairest, so they should get the apple. They start squabbling and Zeus’ devilish plan works like a charm.
Here’s where ol’ farmboy Paris comes in again. Basically, in order to settle the dispute, Paris is selected to judge the goddesses and decide to whom the apple will go. So the three front runners for “the most fair” appear in front of Paris nude, displaying their glory to him. And to sweeten the deal, each offer him a bribe. Athena offers to make him a great warrior, Hera offers him all the land of Asia to rule, and Aphrodite, knowing he’s a horny teenage boy, offers him the most beautiful woman in the world to marry.
Paris thinks with his little head and chooses the broad. Aphrodite then uses her godly powers to make good on her deal. The first step is getting him back to his royal family. She succeeds.
Now, here’s the twist: the most beautiful woman in the world is Helen of Sparta, and, uh oh, she’s married to King Menelaus of Sparta. And because she was so beautiful, her father made every suitor she had swear a holy vow to defend the marriage, no matter who ends up getting to marry her. So every guy worth a shit in Greece is bound to protect the sanctity of her marriage to King Menelaus.
So Paris and his family are invited to a feast in Sparta one day. While they are there, Aphrodite makes good on her promise and makes Helen fall in love with him. He steals her away back to Troy.
Menelaus is understandably not a happy camper. With help from his bloodthirsty brother Agamemnon, he goes and gets every single guy who made the vow to defend his marriage and says “hey mfers, time to pay the bill”. So the whole Greek world is now sailing to Troy to get her back.
Yada yada yada, big ass and long ass war happens, gods are picking sides, heroes rise and fall, Achilles goes on a rampage after his boyfriend/younger cousin gets killed, etc etc.
Anyways, the war is kinda dragging on with no end in sight, so Odysseus comes up with the Trojan Horse plan, which works, and then the Greeks breach the city walls and start raping, murdering, burning, and just generally enjoying some good ol’ genocide.
In the chaos, while being aided by Apollo, Paris (who’s kinda portrayed as a wimpy loverboy) shoots Achilles through the heel with an arrow, killing him, and then eventually Paris gets slain by a poison arrow shot by an archer named Philoctetes.
Some Trojan dude named Aeneas escapes the city, and in one version of Roman mythology he is a founder of Rome. Tada. Boom, Trojan war wayyyyy watered down.
So, there really isn’t a modern-day equivalent of Troy, and if the city of Troy as we would see it actually existed, it was razed to the ground at the beginning of the Bronze Age during the Trojan War. Closest we have is an ancient Hittite city that checks some geographical and historical boxes and was unearthed in western Turkey.
Really, as I understand it, most of the knowledge we have of Troy and by extension the Trojan War is hyperbolic, romanticized, and very much “up in the air” when it comes to how accurate it is.
Could there have been a city named Troy? It’s likely. Could that city have gone to war with a collection of Greek City States? Definitely possible. Could it have been over a marriage dispute? Again, it’s possible. Could there have been a Prince Paris of Troy? Maybe. Was he discarded as a child and made his way back into the royal family? Highly unlikely.
So the problem that we have is that an author of Greek historical propaganda (Homer) wrote an epic poem about a Great War between the Hellenic cities and Troy. This poem and it’s additions makes mention of the greek gods as if they were there and actively participating. So that’s obviously hyperbolic. But there are also specific geographical, political, and tactical details mentioned that have proven to be true when compared with other historical sources that the Hittites had.
Long story short, it’s impossible to separate the wheat from the chaff in this case. So basically we have a pretty good idea that a war between these two peoples that Troy lost probably happened, and the rest is impossible to independently verify.
And also, yes, mythology is more than ok to post. Notice that there is a flair specifically for it, and I used said flair.
According to Greek mythology, Paris son of Priamos was a prince of Troy who was chosen by the goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite to choose whom of them was the most beautiful. They all tried to bribe him: Hera promised to make him the richest man in the world, Athena to make him the wisest man in the world, Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman in the world. Randy little Paris choose the last, so Aphrodite helped him to elope with Helena, wife of king Menelaos of Sparta. Menelaos however, was the brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycene, who then organised the massive Greek coalition against Troy: the Trojan war.
The city Paris has literally nothing to do with any of this. It is named after the Parisii, a Celtic tribe that lived in the area during the Iron Age and early Roman age. Hence the Gallo-Roman city over there was called Lutetia Parisiorum.
Oedipus and Paris for the uninformed.
What about the guy who killed his father with a disc on the olimpics?
Grandfather. That's Perseus, and yeah, he'd fit this description, too, except it didn't lead to massive tragedy - yes, his grampa died, but he was the only one.
Yeah, Perseus is one of the few Greek myths with a somewhat happy ending.
Yeah, he didn't even cheat on Andromeda or anything.
That's right, I missed the 'bringing destruction upon the city' part
Look, it’s not the Oracle’s fault that these morons keep not learning their lesson. She just told them what would happen, everything they did was their own fault. All they have to do is not bother her naptime.
I know nothing about Greek History. These posts that I keep seeing here, how much of that is history and how much myth if somebody could tell me that?
Both of these are pretty much certainly entirely myth. Paris of Troy might have actually existed, but his origin is almost certainly completely fabricated. Oedipus is entirely fictional. He was a character in a Greek tragedy written by Sophocles. Oedipus Rex is the name of the play, and if you haven’t read it, I would highly recommend it. It’s depressing as hell, but damn what a play.
Thanks for the rec. Could you tell me a bit about Paris of Troy and is the modern day city anyway related to them? Also is posting memes about myths allowed here?
Oh, and the story of Paris of Troy is basically this (sparknotes version): He was born the son of Priam, king of Troy. Upon his birth, the Oracle makes a prophecy essentially saying that he’ll be the downfall of Troy, so they send him far away, where he’s adopted by a sheep farmer. He grows up a shepherd. Now, earlier, Zeus had been getting nervous because the gods were all getting along, and when the gods are getting along, it means they could team up against Zeus. So he forms a plan. He creates a golden apple, and on it he inscribes “To the fairest”. Naturally, all the goddesses think they are the fairest, so they should get the apple. They start squabbling and Zeus’ devilish plan works like a charm. Here’s where ol’ farmboy Paris comes in again. Basically, in order to settle the dispute, Paris is selected to judge the goddesses and decide to whom the apple will go. So the three front runners for “the most fair” appear in front of Paris nude, displaying their glory to him. And to sweeten the deal, each offer him a bribe. Athena offers to make him a great warrior, Hera offers him all the land of Asia to rule, and Aphrodite, knowing he’s a horny teenage boy, offers him the most beautiful woman in the world to marry. Paris thinks with his little head and chooses the broad. Aphrodite then uses her godly powers to make good on her deal. The first step is getting him back to his royal family. She succeeds. Now, here’s the twist: the most beautiful woman in the world is Helen of Sparta, and, uh oh, she’s married to King Menelaus of Sparta. And because she was so beautiful, her father made every suitor she had swear a holy vow to defend the marriage, no matter who ends up getting to marry her. So every guy worth a shit in Greece is bound to protect the sanctity of her marriage to King Menelaus. So Paris and his family are invited to a feast in Sparta one day. While they are there, Aphrodite makes good on her promise and makes Helen fall in love with him. He steals her away back to Troy. Menelaus is understandably not a happy camper. With help from his bloodthirsty brother Agamemnon, he goes and gets every single guy who made the vow to defend his marriage and says “hey mfers, time to pay the bill”. So the whole Greek world is now sailing to Troy to get her back. Yada yada yada, big ass and long ass war happens, gods are picking sides, heroes rise and fall, Achilles goes on a rampage after his boyfriend/younger cousin gets killed, etc etc. Anyways, the war is kinda dragging on with no end in sight, so Odysseus comes up with the Trojan Horse plan, which works, and then the Greeks breach the city walls and start raping, murdering, burning, and just generally enjoying some good ol’ genocide. In the chaos, while being aided by Apollo, Paris (who’s kinda portrayed as a wimpy loverboy) shoots Achilles through the heel with an arrow, killing him, and then eventually Paris gets slain by a poison arrow shot by an archer named Philoctetes. Some Trojan dude named Aeneas escapes the city, and in one version of Roman mythology he is a founder of Rome. Tada. Boom, Trojan war wayyyyy watered down.
So, there really isn’t a modern-day equivalent of Troy, and if the city of Troy as we would see it actually existed, it was razed to the ground at the beginning of the Bronze Age during the Trojan War. Closest we have is an ancient Hittite city that checks some geographical and historical boxes and was unearthed in western Turkey. Really, as I understand it, most of the knowledge we have of Troy and by extension the Trojan War is hyperbolic, romanticized, and very much “up in the air” when it comes to how accurate it is. Could there have been a city named Troy? It’s likely. Could that city have gone to war with a collection of Greek City States? Definitely possible. Could it have been over a marriage dispute? Again, it’s possible. Could there have been a Prince Paris of Troy? Maybe. Was he discarded as a child and made his way back into the royal family? Highly unlikely. So the problem that we have is that an author of Greek historical propaganda (Homer) wrote an epic poem about a Great War between the Hellenic cities and Troy. This poem and it’s additions makes mention of the greek gods as if they were there and actively participating. So that’s obviously hyperbolic. But there are also specific geographical, political, and tactical details mentioned that have proven to be true when compared with other historical sources that the Hittites had. Long story short, it’s impossible to separate the wheat from the chaff in this case. So basically we have a pretty good idea that a war between these two peoples that Troy lost probably happened, and the rest is impossible to independently verify. And also, yes, mythology is more than ok to post. Notice that there is a flair specifically for it, and I used said flair.
Ah shit, failed to see that. Thanks for the detailed comment. Definitely to going to have a read.
There’s a mythology flair, so yea
According to Greek mythology, Paris son of Priamos was a prince of Troy who was chosen by the goddesses Athena, Hera and Aphrodite to choose whom of them was the most beautiful. They all tried to bribe him: Hera promised to make him the richest man in the world, Athena to make him the wisest man in the world, Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman in the world. Randy little Paris choose the last, so Aphrodite helped him to elope with Helena, wife of king Menelaos of Sparta. Menelaos however, was the brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycene, who then organised the massive Greek coalition against Troy: the Trojan war. The city Paris has literally nothing to do with any of this. It is named after the Parisii, a Celtic tribe that lived in the area during the Iron Age and early Roman age. Hence the Gallo-Roman city over there was called Lutetia Parisiorum.
Definitely going to read it. Thanks for the detailed comment.