Characteristics in Greek mythology
In
Hesiod's ''
Works and Days'' 11–24, two different goddesses named Eris "Strife" are distinguished:
:So, after all, there was not one kind of Strife alone, but all over the earth there are two. As for the one, a man would praise her when he came to understand her; but the other is blameworthy: and they are wholly different in nature.
:For one fosters evil war and battle, being cruel: her no man loves; but perforce, through the will of the deathless gods, men pay harsh Strife her honour due.
:But the other is the elder daughter of dark Night (
Nyx), and the son of
Cronus who sits above and dwells in the
aether, set her in the roots of the earth: and she is far kinder to men. She stirs up even the shiftless to toil; for a man grows eager to work when he considers his neighbour, a rich man who hastens to plough and plant and put his house in good order; and neighbour vies with his neighbour as he hurries after wealth. This Strife is wholesome for men. And potter is angry with potter, and craftsman with craftsman, and beggar is jealous of beggar, and minstrel of minstrel.
In Hesiod's ''
Theogony'' (226–232) Strife the daughter of Night is less kindly spoken of as she brings forth other personifications as her children:
:But abhorred ''Eris'' ('Strife') bare painful ''Ponos'' ('Toil/Labor'), ''
Lethe'' ('Forgetfulness') and ''Limos'' ('Famine') and tearful ''Algea'' (''Pains/Sorrows''), ''Hysminai'' ('Fightings/Combats') also, ''
Makhai'' ('Battles'), ''Phonoi'' ('Murders/Slaughterings'), ''Androctasiai'' ('Manslaughters'), ''Neikea'' ('Quarrels'), ''Pseudea'' ('Lies/Falsehoods'), ''Amphillogiai'' ('Disputes'), ''
Dysnomia'' ('Lawlessness') and ''
Ate'' ('Ruin/Folly'), all of one nature, and ''Horkos'' ('Oath') who most troubles men upon earth when anyone wilfully swears a false oath.
The other Strife is presumably she who appears in
Homer's ''
Iliad'' Book 4 as sister of
Ares and so presumably daughter of
Zeus and
Hera:
:Strife whose wrath is relentless, she is the sister and companion of murderous Ares, she who is only a little thing at the first, but thereafter grows until she strides on the earth with her head striking heaven. She then hurled down bitterness equally between both sides as she walked through the onslaught making men's pain heavier. She also has a son whom she named Strife.
Zeus sends her to rouse the
Achaeans in Book 11 of the same work.
The most famous tale of Eris recounts her initiating the
Trojan War. The goddesses
Hera,
Athena and
Aphrodite had been invited along with the rest of
Olympus to the forced wedding of
Peleus and
Thetis, who would become the parents of
Achilles, but Eris had been snubbed because of her troublemaking inclinations.
She therefore (in a fragment from the ''
Kypria'' as part of a plan hatched by Zeus and
Themis) tossed into the party the
Apple of Discord, a golden
apple inscribed ''
Kallisti'' – "For the most beautiful one", or "To the Fairest One" – provoking the goddesses to begin quarreling about the appropriate recipient. The hapless
Paris, Prince of
Troy, was appointed to
select the most beautiful by
Zeus. Each of the three goddesses immediately attempted to bribe Paris to choose her.
Hera offered political power;
Athena promised skill in battle; and
Aphrodite tempted him with the most beautiful woman in the world:
Helen, wife of
Menelaus of
Sparta. While Greek culture placed a greater emphasis on prowess and power,
Paris chose to award the apple to Aphrodite, thereby dooming his city, which was destroyed in the war that ensued.
In
Nonnus' ''Dionysiaca'', 2.356, when
Typhon prepares to battle with Zeus:
:Eris ('Strife') was Typhon's escort in the melée,
Nike ('Victory') led Zeus to battle.
Another story of Eris includes Hera, and the love of
Polytekhnos and
Aedon. They claimed to love each other more than Hera and Zeus were in love. This angered Hera, so she sent Eris to rack discord upon them. Polytekhnos was finishing off a chariot board, and Aedon a web she had been weaving. Eris said to them, "Whosoever finishes thine task last shall have to present the other with a female servant!"
Aedon won. But Polytekhnos was not happy by his defeat, so he came to Khelidon, Aedon's sister, and raped her.
He then disguised her as a slave, presenting her to Aedon. When Aedon discovered this was indeed her sister, she chopped up Polytekhnos' son and fed him to him. The gods were not pleased, so they turned them all into birds.
Eris in Discordianism
Eris has been adopted as the matron deity of the modern
Discordian religion, which was begun in the late 1950s by
Gregory Hill and
Kerry Thornley also known as "
Malaclypse the Younger" and "Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst". The Discordian version of Eris is considerably lighter in comparison to the rather malevolent Graeco-Roman original. A quote from the ''
Principia Discordia'', the first holy book of Discordianism, attempts to clear this up:
:One day Mal-2 consulted his
Pineal Gland and asked Eris if She really created all of those terrible things. She told him that She had always liked the Old Greeks, but that they cannot be trusted with historic matters. "They were," She added, "victims of indigestion, you know."
[http://www.ology.org/principia/]
The story of Eris being snubbed and indirectly starting the Trojan War is recorded in the ''Principia'', and is referred to as the
Original Snub. The ''Principia Discordia'' states that her parents may be as described in Greek legend, or that she may be the daughter of Void. She is the Goddess of Disorder and Being, whereas her sister
Aneris (called the equivalent of
Harmonia by the Mythics of Harmonia) is the goddess of Order and Non-Being. Their brother is
Spirituality.
[http://www.principiadiscordia.com/book/64.php]