In the poem The Iliad, Aphrodite helps Paris kidnap Helen by offering Helen's hand to Paris, during his judgment. Although the Judgment of Paris occurs before the Iliad, there is no mention of Aphrodite in the film Troy. Excluding the Goddess of Love from the film takes away the intensity of the love bond between Paris and Helen. Stephen Scully (in Winkler, p. 120) cites "the absence of divine machinery is one reason (along with the film's banal dialogue) why Troy fails to achieve epic greatness." This union was created by a Goddess, making it supernatural, they loved each other so much that the young lovers began a