Peleus and Thetis

The famous hero Peleio was the son of the wise Aeacus, the son of Zeus and the daughter of the river god Asop, Aegina. The brother of Peleus was the hero Telamon, the friend of the greatest of heroes - Hercules. Peleus and Telamon had to flee from their homeland, as they killed their half-brother out of envy. Peleus retired to rich Phthia. There the hero Eurition received him and gave him a third of his possessions, and gave him his daughter as his wife Antigone. But Peleus did not stay long in Phthia. During the Calydonian hunt, he accidentally killed Eurytion. Saddened by this misfortune, Peleus Phthia left and went to Iolk. And in Iolka the misfortune of Peleus awaited. In Iolka, the king's wife Acasta was captivated by him and persuaded him to forget about his friendship with Acasta. Peleus rejected the wife of his friend, and she, taking revenge on him, slandered him before her husband. Akast believed his wife and decided to destroy Peleus. Once, while hunting on the wooded slopes of Pelion, when Peleus, tired of hunting, fell asleep, Akast hid the wonderful sword of Peleus, which the gods gave him. No one could resist Peleus when he fought with this sword. Acastus was sure that, having lost his wonderful sword, Peleus would die, torn to pieces by wild centaurs. But the wise centaur Chiron came to Peleus' aid. He helped the hero find a wonderful sword. Wild centaurs rushed at Peleus, ready to tear him to pieces, but he easily repulsed them with his wonderful sword. Saved Peleus from inevitable death. Peleus took revenge on the traitor Acastus. With the help of the Dioscuri, Kastor and Polidevka, he took rich Iolk and killed Akast and his wife.

When the titan Prometheus discovered the great secret that from the marriage of Zeus with the goddess Thetis a son should be born who will be more powerful than his father and overthrow him from the throne, he advised the gods to give Thetis as a wife to Peleus, since a great hero will be born from this marriage. So the gods decided to do; the gods set only one condition: Peleus had to defeat the goddess in single combat.

When the god Hephaestus told Peleus the will of the gods, Peleus went to the grotto in which Thetis often rested, swimming out of the depths of the sea. Peleus hid in the grotto and waited. Here Thetis rose from the sea and entered the grotto. Peleus rushed at her and grabbed her with his mighty arms. Thetis tried to escape. She took the form of a lioness, a snake, she turned into water, but Peleus did not let her out. Thetis was defeated, now she was to become the wife of Peleus.

In the common cave of the centaur Chiron, the gods celebrated the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. The wedding feast was luxurious. All the gods of Olympus participated in it. The golden cithara of Apollo sounded loudly, under its sounds the muses sang about the great glory that would be the lot of the son of Peleus and the goddess Thetis. The gods feasted. The Horas and Charites led a round dance to the singing of the Muses and the game of Apollo, and among them the warrior goddess Athena and the young goddess Artemis, but all the goddesses were surpassed in beauty by the eternally young goddess Aphrodite. The round dance was attended by the messenger of the gods, quick as a thought Hermes, and the frantic god of war Ares a>, forgetting about bloody battles. The gods bestowed richly on the newlyweds. Chiron gave Peleus his spear, the shaft of which was made of iron-hard ash, which grew on Mount Pelion; the ruler Poseyodon gave him horses, and the rest of the gods - wonderful armor.

The gods had fun. Only the goddess of discord Eris did not participate in the wedding feast. She wandered alone near the cave of Chiron, deep in her heart resentment that she was not invited to the feast. Finally, the goddess Eris came up with how to take revenge on the gods, how to stir up discord between them. She took a golden apple from the distant orchards of herespides; only one word was written on this apple - "the most beautiful." Eris quietly approached the banquet table, and invisible to everyone, threw a golden apple on the table. The gods saw the apple, raised it and read the inscription on it. But which of the goddesses is the most beautiful? Immediately a dispute arose between the three goddesses:noah of Zeus Hero, the warrior Athena and the golden goddess of love Aphrodite. Each of them wanted to get this apple, none of them wanted to give it to the other. They turned to the goddess Zeus, the king of gods and people, and demanded to resolve their dispute.

Zeus refused to be the judge. He took an apple, gave it to Hermes and ordered him to lead the goddesses in the vicinity of Troy, on the slopes of high Ida. The beautiful son of the king of Troy Priam, Paris, which of the goddesses should to belong to an apple, which of all is the most beautiful. Thus ended the wedding feast of Peleus with discord. This dispute of three goddesses was supposed to bring many troubles to people.