Paris and Hector

[playmofire]

Now we're going to see pastifi's customs of the two sons of King Priam of Troy who feature in the siege of Troy.

First up is Paris.  The siege of Troy can be traced back to him with his seduction of Helen, wife of King Menelaus, but the story really goes back to before this.  Paris was a good looking lad, probably too good looking for his own (and Troy's) good, and when the three senior Greek goddesses Here (wife of Zeus, king of the gods), Athene (goddess of wisdom) and Aphrodite (goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture) were arguing amongst themselves as to who was most beautiful, they decided to ask Paris to be the judge.  The prize for the winner was a golden apple, and Paris gave this to Aphrodite.  However, this was because Aphrodite had had a word with him before the judging and offered him Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, if he judged Aphrodite the most beautiful of the goddesses.  As a result, during the siege of Troy Aphrodite was on the Trojan's side and Athene and Here were on the side of the Greeks.

Overall, Paris was more talk than action, not being a great warrior (having challenged Menelaus to a duel he tried to back out and only Hector's goading made him fight) with his interests being more in music and women.  When Menelaus had got the better of Paris, Aphrodite spirited him away from the battlefield and into his bedroom where he was joined by Helen who was very pleased to see him safely home.) 

In most of the fighting, Paris uses the bow, a weapon regarded as less heroic than fighting hand to hand with sword and spear.

Despite the trouble he causes Troy, his cowardice and his refusal to hand Helen back to her husband as a way of saving Troy, Paris is one of those people who gets away with things.  He retains the support of his father (King Priam) and the Trojans and eventually kills Achilles by shooting him in the heel with an arrow.

Anyway, enough of words, here are the pictures.  First, pastifi's custom, then a shot from the film.

[playmofire]

Now, Hector, Paris's older brother. 

Paris was a trial to Hector because of his poor fighting spirit, the way he put his love for Helen before the safety of Troy and because Paris was clearly favourite with King Priam over Hector.  Hector was the responsible one; Paris the one who didn't really care and usually got away with it.

Hector is the great hero of Troy, the mainstay of their resistance, always in the thick of the battle.  He also has a life away from the battlefield, with scenes of him with his family and his parents - in the book, he is more three-dimensional than the other characters.  And he abides by the heroic code to the end, unlike Achilles, who after killing Hector keeps his body and mutilates it day after day until the gods intervene and tell him he must return Hector's body to the Trojans for burial.

So here's Hector.

[playmofire]

Lastly, another pic of Paris, this time with the Trojan army, and a pic of some Trojan soldiers with the horse emblem (the sacred animal of Troy) on their shields.  (You can see this emblem in the background of the film shot of Paris in the first post.)

[cachalote]

great story, great customs.
hector's helmet is superbe.