Greek goddess of discord
Eris
Eris is the Greek goddess of discord, strife and rivalry, the personification of the conflict that sets gods and men against one another. Her most famous episode, the apple of discord, set off the Judgement of Paris and, with it, the Trojan War.
The myth
According to Hesiod, Eris was born of Nyx, Night, without a partner, and she was the last of Nyx's children. Hyginus, by contrast, makes her the daughter of Nox and Erebus. Homer barely sketches her: he calls her the sister of Ares, which would make her a daughter of Zeus and Hera, but he gives her no personality of her own. In the Theogony, Hesiod credits her with a long brood of grim abstractions, such as Ponos (Toil), Ate (Delusion) and Algea (Pains). The same poet also describes a second, beneficial Eris, whom Zeus created to encourage healthy competition among men.
In the Iliad, Eris moves across the battlefield urging the armies to fight. She takes no side and delights in the slaughter. She is also depicted on Achilles' shield and on Athena's aegis, alongside other personifications of war.
Her best-known story is the wedding of Thetis and Peleus. Eris was not invited, so she tossed a golden apple into the banquet inscribed 'for the fairest'. Hera, Athena and Aphrodite each claimed it, and Zeus sent the Trojan prince Paris to decide. Paris chose Aphrodite, who had promised him Helen as a wife, and that judgement led to Helen's abduction and the Trojan War. The full version comes mainly from later sources such as Hyginus and Lucian; Homer alludes to the judgement without mentioning Eris.
Legacy
In the Renaissance, Boccaccio reinterpreted her as Litigio, a son of Demogorgon born of Chaos, a symbol of the conflict needed for order to emerge. In film, she is the main antagonist of the animated feature Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003), voiced by Michelle Pfeiffer. The fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty is partly inspired by the wedding of Thetis and Peleus and by Eris being left out. In 1957 Discordianism was founded, a satirical religion that honours her as a mischievous but creative force.
Ancient sources: Hesiod (Theogony and Works and Days), Homer (Iliad), the Cypria, Hyginus (Fabulae), Lucian, Nonnus of Panopolis (Dionysiaca) and Quintus of Smyrna.
In art
Literature and theatre
- Iliad · Homer