is it true that the apple that Athena Hera and Aphrodite fought over didn't say to the most beautiful but "to the best"?
Not exactly. To those who don't know, the apple wrote "τη καλλίστη".
Καλλίστη etymologically can come from καλός and the λ doubles in the adjective καλλίστη, which means "she who is the best". But καλλίστη is also the adjective from κάλλος = beauty, and then it means "she who is the prettiest". So, it has two meanings, both of them valid. For the ancient Greeks being good was very connected to being beautiful, that's why the two words are so connected.
But! Every explanation in Greek translates it "to the most beautiful" and I think it matches the context better. You can't exactly measure who is the "best" goddess, but it would make more sense if you compared them in terms of how impressive each one looks. Plus, a mortal was not to judge what goddess was the "best", because that wasn't the place of the mortals. Paris was only fit to judge who looked more impressive, and that's how we understand the dispute was about that.
