Case File: Hera vs. Athena vs. Aphrodite
Police Reports
Case Description: We're not sure who the complainants were and who the defendants were in this case. Everybody was kind of accusing everybody. Basically, when Peleus and Thetis got married, all the gods and goddesses of Olympus were invited except Eris, the goddess of strife. As payback, Eris tossed a golden apple into the middle of the wedding with "To the fairest" written on it. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all started arguing over who was the most beautiful goddess. They asked Zeus to decide, but he was like, "No way am I getting involved in this." The king of the gods dodged making a decision and instead appointed Paris, who was a shepherd at the time, to decide who was the fairest of them all.
Case Status: Case closed. Paris thought all three goddess were totally pretty, and he couldn't decide who should get the golden apple. So the goddesses all resorted to bribery. Hera promised Paris a ton of power, saying that he could rule all of Europe and Asia. Athena swore to make Paris super wise and an awesome warrior. These both sounded pretty good to Paris, but Aphrodite won the day by promising Paris the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, who just happened to be Helen, Queen of Sparta.