This is the only representation of the story by a major artist in which the females are clothed ……

Zeus held a wedding banquet for Peleus and Thetis (parents of Achilles). Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited (for fear she might spoil the party). Offended by this snub, Eris showed up and threw in a golden apple inscribed with the words "To the fairest one"

Three goddesses tried to claim the prize: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite. They asked Zeus to judge which of them was the most beautiful, but Zeus passed the burden to Paris, a Trojan mortal known for his exemplary fairness

The candidates were guided by Hermes to meet Paris on Mount Ida. Each goddess tried to bribe the judge: Hera offered to make Paris the king of Europe and Asia, Athena offered wisdom and military skills, and Aphrodite offered the world's most beautiful woman: Helen of Sparta, the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta

In the end Paris chose not power nor wisdom, and so Aphrodite prevailed and was awarded the apple

This painting by Botticelli depicts a seaside pastoral landscape. Paris the Trojan prince-shepherd is marked by his thyrsus; a herd is seen behind him

The female receiving the golden apple here should be Aphrodite, the slightly more mature woman in green Hera, and the younger-looking figure Athena, whose blue-grey clothes and red cape suggest the armour of the Goddess of War

While Helen was destined to fall in love with Paris by the edict of Aphrodite and eloped with him to Troy, her husband Menelaus launched an expedition to retrieve his wife which triggered the Trojan War. Athena’s rage from losing the beauty contest made her side with the Greeks in the battle against Paris's Trojans, a key event and turning point in the war