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"Paris was pretty stupid" "Why?", I ask. "If he had just cut the golden apple into thirds, and given a third to each goddess he could have had riches, prowess in battle, a pretty wife and he would have prevented the Trojan War". Very odd kid.
Posts: 1021 | Registered: Sep 2004
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If Paris was smart he would've had two more apples made (or found if they weren't made of gold) and then made a speeh about how each one was the most beautiful and yadda yadda yadda...
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I can't stand Paris. He is a weeny. But I went and I found out what happened to him after the Iliad, and this is what did:
A man called Philoctetes came to the battle and he had Hercules' poisoned arrows, and he shot Paris with one of them. And Paris cried because he had been shot, and he went to the nymph Oenone, whom he had dumped for Helen, and asked her nicely to heal him, and she said NO and he died.
That would make you happy. I swear, you and Anna are so alike it's SCARY.
Although I do agree, Paris was a wuss.
And your son, Romany, is a genius, so don't worry too much about him. It sounds like he has the potential to be a great 'Racker.
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I agree, I hated Paris. They needed to make him a lot more pathetic in the movie. That would've made a really cynical point about international politics, I think, if a huge war was fought over that weenie minus divine intervention.
[ October 22, 2004, 01:15 AM: Message edited by: Book ]
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Weird, I just turned directly from preparing for an Iliad discussion group tomorrow to Hatrack.
That actually does sound like a Greek-type solution. They do have pairs of legends in which wise/cunning and strong types each face similar challenges, and deal with them differently. Hercules and Sisyphos each had to deal seperately with the same (or a very similar) supernatural thief. Sisyphos came up with a clever technological solution to foil him peacefully. Hercules invited him up to a tall tower and pushed him off.
In the Iliad, Paris's response to charges of weeniness is that the Gods made him pretty, as they made others strong or valorous. Even Helen is somewhat contemptuous of that idea, though.
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quote:Hercules and Sisyphos each had to deal seperately with the same (or a very similar) supernatural thief. Sisyphos came up with a clever technological solution to foil him peacefully. Hercules invited him up to a tall tower and pushed him off.
And yet Sisyphos is the one pushing the boulder up a mountain for eternity, while Heracles is sitting on Olympos. Funny ole' world.
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What were the prizes the other two godesses offered? I thought he chose Aprhodite because she offered Helen.
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quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I agree, I hated Paris. They needed to make him a lot more pathetic in the movie.
Having him played by that poncy elf wasn't pathetic enough?
Pooka- Hera offered him wealth, and Athena offered him prowess in battle.
I did try to explain to him that that equitable solution probably wouldn't work, and his child's eye view was "So, no matter how equally Paris cut the apple, each goddess would have said another goddess got the biggest piece?" Greek mythology he mostly gets, but not women. It's very cool to have such a weird kid.
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It sounds like he gets women just fine. (Bad Dagonee! Bad!)
It always amazed me that apparantly the godesses didn't care if they were really the most beautiful, as long as some easily-bribed idiot declared them to be the most beautiful.
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Didn't Sisy do something else to warrant his pushing a boulder? Something about being too clever and chopping up his family to serve the gods for a meal?
As for the vanity of Goddesses - well, yeah. How many women just want a man to proclaim them the most beautiful, wonder and glorious thing he has ever seen? Mind you, it's the shallow flattery they want, not the legal definitions and legitimate comparisons.
I think Homer summed up women pretty accurately, all in all. (fleeing now)
-Trevor
Edit: Romany, I think your child gets women just fine. I don't predict wonders for his dating life, but he understands the concept.