Paphos (paf´os).—A town in Cyprus; the chief seat of the worship of Venus.
Parcæ (par´sē).—The Fates; called by the Greeks Moiræ (moy´rē).—They were three in number; and their names were:
(i) Clotho (klō´tho), the spinner of the thread of life.
(ii) Lachesis (lak´e-sis), the disposer of lots in life.
(iii) Atropos (at´ro-pos)—lit. “the inflexible”—the fate that cannot be avoided. To these mighty goddesses both gods and men must submit. Sometimes Atropos is represented as cutting the thread of life spun by Clotho.
Paris, usually called Alexander (lit. “defending men”) in the Iliad. The second son of Priam, king of Troy, and Hecuba. He was brought up on Mount Ida by a shepherd, who gave him the name Paris. He was afterwards called Alexander on account of the bravery he displayed in defending the flocks and shepherds. He married Œnone (ē-nō´nē), the daughter of the river-god Cebren. He soon deserted her, however, in the following manner: At the marriage of Peleus and the Nereid Thetis all the gods, with the single exception of the goddess of Discord, were invited. Annoyed at being thus passed over, she threw among the guests a golden apple—usually called the Apple of Discord—with the inscription, “To the fairest.” Three were claimants for it—Juno, Venus and Minerva. Jupiter ordered Mercury to take the three goddesses to Mount Ida, and submit the matter to the judgment of the shepherd Paris, hence giving rise to the celebrated “Judgment of Paris,” which has formed the subject of so many masterpieces of art. In order to influence him in their favor severally, Juno promised him the sovereignty of Asia, Minerva renown in war, and Venus the most beautiful woman in the world for his wife. Paris decided in favor of Venus, and awarded her the golden apple. He then, under the guidance of Venus, sailed for Greece, to the court of Menelaus, king of Sparta, whose wife, Helen, was the most beautiful of women. He succeeded in carrying Helen off, and so gave rise to the famous Trojan war, as all the chiefs in Greece joined with Menelaus in an expedition to fetch her back from Troy (see “[Helena]”). Paris fought with Menelaus before the walls of Troy, and would have been slain by him, had not Venus interposed and carried him off in a cloud. He was killed by the celebrated archer Philoctetes, who shot him with one of the poisoned arrows of Hercules. When wounded he returned to his long-neglected wife Œnone, and requested her to heal the wound; but she refused, and he died in consequence. Œnone soon repented, however, and put an end to her own life. During the Trojan war Paris killed [Achilles] (q.v.).
Parnassus (par-nas´sus).—A high mountain in Phocis (Greece), with two peaks, sacred to Apollo and the Muses. Near it was the town of Delphi; and on the mountain was the famous Castalian spring, also sacred to Apollo and the Muses, in which the Pythia, the priestess, at Delphi, used to bathe.
Parthenopæus (par´then-o-pē´us).—Son of Meleager and Atalanta, and one of the “Seven against Thebes.”
Parthenope (par-then´o-pē).—One of the [Sirens] (q.v.), and the name of an ancient city forming the site of the present city of Naples (Neapolis).
Pasiphae (pā-sif´a-ē).—Daughter of the Sun and Perseis, wife of Minos and mother of Androgeos, Ariadne and Phædra; also of the Minotaur (see “[Minos]”).