Judgment of Paris

American  

noun

Classical Mythology.

1. the decision by Paris to award Aphrodite the golden apple of discord competed for by Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera.

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Judgment of Paris Cultural  

1. In classical mythology, the incident that ultimately brought on the Trojan War (see also Trojan War). When the goddess Discord threw the apple of discord, marked “For the Fairest,” among the gods, Zeus refused to judge which goddess was the most beautiful, but sent the three contestants — Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera — to the Trojan prince Paris for a decision. Each made offers to induce Paris to give her the apple. Athena and Hera offered military or political power, but Aphrodite said that he could have the most beautiful woman in the world. He gave the apple to Aphrodite, thereby making powerful enemies of Athena and Hera. Aphrodite led him to Helen, afterward known as Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world and wife of the king of Sparta in Greece. Paris carried her off to Troy while her husband was away. The Greeks then combined forces to make war on Troy and bring her back. Trojan civilization was destroyed in the process.

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Example Sentences

Ledbetter remembers when everything was on wine’s side: There was the so-called Judgment of Paris in 1976 when French oenophiles, in blind tasting, chose Napa as tops for both red and white wines.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2025

The Washington Post compared the vegan cheese's near-triumph to the 1976 Judgment of Paris — the blind taste test where California wines prevailed over French pours, shocking the wine world.

From Salon • Aug. 19, 2024

The Toast to Peace has not fixed itself in American wine lore as much as the Judgment of Paris four years later, when California wines bested the best of France in a blind tasting.

From Washington Post • Feb. 17, 2022

In part, this was a result of the Judgment of Paris – the famed Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, at which a Californian chardonnay had triumphed over its French counterpart in a blind taste test.

From The Guardian • Apr. 10, 2019

That was the Judgment of Paris, famed everywhere as the real reason why the Trojan War was fought.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton