<P> Paris was a child of Priam and Hecuba ( see the list of King Priam 's children ) . Just before his birth , his mother dreamed that she gave birth to a flaming torch . This dream was interpreted by the seer Aesacus as a foretelling of the downfall of Troy , and he declared that the child would be the ruin of his homeland . On the day of Paris 's birth , it was further announced by Aesacus that the child born of a royal Trojan that day would have to be killed to spare the kingdom , being the child that would bring about the prophecy . Though Paris was indeed born before nightfall , he was spared by Priam ; Hecuba , too , was unable to kill the child , despite the urging of the priestess of Apollo , one Herophile . Instead , Paris 's father prevailed upon his chief herdsman , Agelaus , to remove the child and kill him . The herdsman , unable to use a weapon against the infant , left him exposed on Mount Ida , hoping he would perish there ( cf . Oedipus ) ; he was , however , suckled by a she - bear . Returning after nine days , Agelaus was astonished to find the child still alive and brought him home in a backpack ( Greek pḗra , hence by folk etymology Paris 's name ) to rear as his own . He returned to Priam bearing a dog 's tongue as evidence of the deed 's completion . </P>
who prophesied that paris would be the cause of the fall of troy
the seer Aesacus