Book Club (The Golden Apple)
By Elena Black
Hello dear Slytherins!
This month, in honor of celebration of our ancestors, I've decided to take a different approach. For this month's Book Club, I'm not going to focus solely on one book. There are a few reasons for this; it was an easier said than done thing to find. Two, more importantly, none would have been from the right era, per se.
In my opinion, the best ancestors - particularly in regards to stories and books - are people who used to reside in any of the 'ancient' civilizations; Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Romans, Egyptians, and that's just a small list.
So, this month, I'm going to relay a myth to you all.
Just remember; there is some truth in each myth. So maybe these legends aren't as fake as we all are taught to believe, hmm?
The Greeks were the first and are perhaps some of the most-well known people so I'll start there. The Trojan War was no secret. The woman behind the cause, the 'face that launched a thousand ships', in fact, is usually relatively well known. Her name was Helen of Troy. Of course, it makes sense that an already wed woman suddenly falling in love with another man is taboo.
That isn't the shocking part of the story.
The most forgotten part, I find, is no one seems to remember why she just upped and left her husband so she could be with Paris.
The reason for her change of heart was all due to the Golden Apple, which Eris purposely left behind out of jealousy for being left out of a major wedding. In the apple, it had the words "For The Fairest Of Them All" carved into it. Remember that? Alllow me to give you a refresher; Paris was originally sought out by Zeus himself to judge between three goddesses; Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. The trio had approached the King of the Gods one day and abruptly demanded to know whom was the fairest among them.
Feeling trapped, particularly as his wife was one of the three women, Zeus refused to immediately give an answer and sought out someone else whom would be the judge, a person whom had never interacted nor directly knew any of the women, let alone deities.
Lo and behold, this is where Paris comes in. He had been hunting on the foothills of Mount Ida. Within mere moment, Mercury arrived, soon followed by the goddesses. The messenger barely managed to explain why he was there; poor Paris was so awe-struck that even before passing judgement, he was staring among the three women. How was a mortal supposed to choose only one goddess?
Thankfully, they all seemed to think about this. Each approached and offered him a gift. From Hera, she swore to give him power; Athena vowed to give wisdom to Paris, and finally, Aphrodite promised she would give him the love and heart of the most beautiful mortal woman.
It was with Aphrodite's gift that he knew exactly whom to choose. The Golden Apple was handed quickly over to her and soon, Paris sailed to Troy, where he managed to seduce Helen and convinced her to elope with him.
How many of you knew all of that ahead of time, though? From Eris being left out of a wedding to it being her that left the apple and anything in between?
Congrats to those who can honestly say yes without using any Muggle means.
If not ... that's exactly my point.
As great as the various myths and legends from various civilizations are, they tend to be forgotten completely or partially. Either way, it's a sad, unfortunate truth.
Until next time,
Elena Black