InGreek mythology,Eris (Ancient Greek:Ἔρις,romanized: Eris,lit. 'Strife') is the goddess and personification of strife and discord, particularly in war, and in theIliad (where she is the "sister" ofAres the god of war). According toHesiod she was the daughter of primordialNyx (Night), and the mother of a long list of undesirable personified abstractions, such asPonos (Toil),Limos (Famine), Algea (Pains) andAte (Delusion). Eris initiated a quarrel betweenHera,Athena andAphrodite, which led to theJudgement of Paris and ultimately theTrojan War. Eris's Roman equivalent isDiscordia. According to Hesiod, there was another Eris, separate and distinct from Eris the daughter of Nyx, who was beneficial to men.[1]
The name derives from the nouneris, withstemerid-, which means "strife, discord" and is of uncertain etymology; connections with the verbὀρίνεινorínein "to raise, stir, excite" and the proper nameἘρινύεςErinyes have been suggested.R. S. P. Beekes sees no strong evidence for this relation and excludes the derivation fromἐρείδωereídō "to prop, to support" due to the name's originalι- stem.[2] Watkins suggested origin from aProto-Indo-European rootere- meaning "to separate, to adjoin".[3] The name gave several derivatives inAncient Greek, includingἐρίζωerízō "to fight" andἔρισμαérisma "object of a quarrel".[2]
InHomer'sIliad, Eris is described as the "sister and comrade" ofAres,[4] though according toGeoffrey Kirk she is "not fully personified" here, and this genealogy is a "purelyad hoc description".[5] Some scholars interpret this passage as indicating she is the daughter ofZeus andHera, Ares' parents.[6] However, according toHesiod'sTheogony, Eris is the daughter ofNyx (Night), being among the many children Nyx produced without a partner. These siblings of Eris include personifications—like Eris—of several "loathsome" (στυγερός) things, such asMoros ("Doom"),Thanatos ("Death"), theMoirai ("Fates"),Nemesis ("Indignation"),Apate ("Deceit"), andGeras ("Old Age").[7]
Like her mother Nyx, Hesiod has Eris as the mother—with no father mentioned—of many children (the only child of Nyx with offspring) who are also personifications representing various misfortunes and harmful things which, in Eris' case, might be thought to result from discord and strife.[8] All of Eris' children are little more than allegorizations of the meanings of their names, with virtually no other identity.[9] The following table lists the children of Eris, as given by Hesiod:[10]
Called by Hesiod "painful Ponos" (Πόνον ἀλγινόεντα).[15]Cicero has the equivalent personification of the Latin wordlabor as the offspring ofErebus andNight (Erebo et Nocte).[16]
Eris plays a crucial role in one important myth. She was the initiator of the quarrel between the three Greek goddesses,Hera,Athena, andAphrodite, resolved by theJudgement of Paris, which led toParis' abduction ofHelen of Troy and the outbreak of theTrojan War.[69] As the story came to be told, all the gods were invited to the wedding ofPeleus andThetis except Eris. She came anyway but was refused admission. In anger, she threw a golden apple among the wedding guests inscribed with "For the fairest", which the three goddesses each claimed.[70]
Homer alludes to the Judgement of Paris, but with no mention of Eris.[71] An account of the story, was told in theCypria, one of the poems in theEpic Cycle, which told the entire story of the Trojan War. TheCypria which is the first poem in the Cycle, describes events preceding those that occur in theIliad, the second poem in the Cycle. According to a prose summary of the now lostCypria, Eris, acting according to the plans of Zeus andThemis to bring about the Trojan War, instigates anekios ('feud') between the three goddesses over "beauty" (presumably over who of the three was the most beautiful), while they were attending the wedding feast of Peleus and Thetis (who would become the parents ofAchilles). To settle the dispute, Zeus orders the three goddesses to go toMount Ida to be judged by Paris. Paris, having been offered Helen by Aphrodite in return for Paris choosing her, does so.[72]
The fifth-century BC playwrightEuripides, describes the Judgement of Paris several times with no mention of either Eris, or an apple.[73] Later accounts include details, such as the goldenApple of Discord, which may or may not have come from theCypria. According to theFabulae of Hyginus, composed somewhere between the first century BC and the late second century AD, all the gods had been invited to the wedding except Eris. Nevertheless, she came to the wedding feast, and when refused entrance, she threw an apple through the doorway, saying that it was for the "fairest", which started the quarrel.[74] ThesatiristLucian (fl. 2nd century AD) tells us that Eris's apple was "solid gold" and that it was inscribed: "For the queen of Beauty" (ἡ καλὴ λαβέτω).[75]
Eris personifies strife, particularly the strife associated with war.[76] In Homer'sIliad, Eris is described as being depicted on bothAthena's battleaegis, andAchilles' shield, where she appears alongside other war-related personifications:Phobos ("Rout"),Alke ("Valor"), andIoke ("Assault"), on the aegis, andKydoimos ("Tumult"), andKer ("Fate"), on the shield.[77] Similarly, theHesiodicShield of Heracles has Eris depicted on Heracles' shield, also with Phobos, Kydoimos and Ker, as well as other war-related personifications:Proioxis ("Pursuit"),Palioxis ("Rally"),Homados ("Tumult "), Phonos ("Murder"), and Androktasia ("Slaughter").[78] Here Eris is described as flying over the head of Phobos ("Fear"):
In the middle was Fear, made of adamant, unspeakable, glaring backward with eyes shining like fire. His mouth was full of white teeth, terrible, dreadful; and over his grim forehead flew terrible Strife, preparing for the battle-rout of men—cruel one, she took away the mind and sense of any men who waged open war against Zeus’ son [Heracles].
Eris also appears in several battle scenes in theIliad.[79] However, unlike Apollo, Athena and several other of the Olympians, Eris does not participate in active combat, nor take sides in the war.[80] Her role in theIliad is that of "the rouser of armies",[81] urging both armies to fight each other. In Book 4, she is one of the divinities (along with Ares, Athena,Deimos ("Terror"), and Phobos ("Rout") urging the armies to battle, with head lowered at first, but soon raised up to the heavens:[82]
And the Trojans were urged on by Ares, and the Achaeans by flashing-eyed Athene, and Terror, and Rout, and Strife who rages incessantly, sister and comrade of man-slaying Ares; she first rears her crest only a little, but then her head is fixed in the heavens while her feet tread on earth. She it was who now cast evil strife into their midst as she went through the throng, making the groanings of men to increase.
— Homer,Iliad4.439–445; translation by A. T. Murray, revised by William F. Wyatt
She also appears in this "rouser of armies" role in Book 5,[83] and again in Book 11, where Zeus sends Eris to rouse the Greek army by shouting:[84]
Zeus sent Strife to the swift ships of the Achaeans, gruesome Strife, holding in her hands a portent of war. And she stood by Odysseus’ black ship, huge of hull, that was in the middle so that a shout could reach to either end, both to the huts of Aias, son of Telamon, and to those of Achilles; for these had drawn up their shapely ships at the furthermost ends, trusting in their valor and the strength of their hands. There the goddess stood and uttered a great and terrible shout, a shrill cry of war, and in the heart of each man of the Achaeans she roused strength to war and to battle without ceasing. And to them at once war became sweeter than to return in their hollow ships to their dear native land.
— Homer,Iliad11.3–14; translation by A. T. Murray, revised by William F. Wyatt
Her lust for bloodshed is insatiable. Later in Book 11, she is the last of the gods to leave the battlefield, rejoicing as she watches the fighting she has roused.[85] While in Book 5, she is described as raging unceasingly.[86]
Hesiod also associates Eris with war. In hisWorks and Days, he says that she "fosters evil war and conflict".[87] And in hisTheogony, has theHysminai (Battles) and theMachai (Wars) as her children.[88]
In addition to the Eris who was the daughter ofNyx (Night), Hesiod, in hisWorks and Days, mentions another Eris. He contrasts the two: the former being "blameworthy" who "fosters evil war and conflict", the latter worthy of "praise", have been created by Zeus to foster beneficial competition:[89]
So there was not just one birth of Strifes after all, but upon the earth there are two Strifes. One of these a man would praise once he got to know it, but the other is blameworthy; and they have thoroughly opposed spirits. For the one fosters evil war and conflict—cruel one, no mortal loves that one, but it is by necessity that they honor the oppressive Strife, by the plans of the immortals. But the other one gloomy Night bore first; and Cronus’ high-throned son, who dwells in the aether, set it in the roots of the earth, and it is much better for men. It rouses even the helpless man to work. For a man who is not working but who looks at some other man, a rich one who is hastening to plow and plant and set his house in order, he envies him, one neighbor envying his neighbor who is hastening toward wealth: and this Strife is good for mortals.
Antoninus Liberalis, in hisMetamorphoses, involves Eris in the story ofPolytechnus andAëdon, who claimed to love each other more than Hera and Zeus. This angered Hera, so she sent Eris to wreak discord upon them.[90] Eris is mentioned many times inQuintus Smyrnaeus'Posthomerica, which covers the period between the end of theIliad and the beginning of hisOdyssey.[91] Just as in theIliad, thePosthomerica Eris is the instigator of conflict,[92] does not take sides,[93] shouts,[94] and delights in the carnage of battle.[95] Eris is also mentioned in theDionysiaca ofNonnus. At the start of the epic confrontation between Zeus andTyphon, Nonnus hasNike (Victory) lead Zeus into battle, and Eris leadTyphon, and in another passage has Eris, with the war-goddessEnyo, bring "Tumult" to both sides of a battle.[96]
There are few certain representations of Eris in art.[97] Her earliest appearances (mid-sixth-century BC) are found on theChest of Cypselus and in the tondo of ablack-figure cup (Berlin F1775).[98] The geographerPausanias describes seeing Eris depicted on the Chest, as a "most repulsive" [aischistê] woman standing betweenAjax andHector fighting.[99] On the cup she is depicted as a normal woman in appearance apart from having wings and winged-sandals.[100]
From the later part of fifth-century BC, the upper section of ared-figure calyx krater depicts Eris with Themis facing each other, apparently in animated discussion, while the lower section depicts theJudgement of Paris, confirming Eris' role in the events as told in theCypria.[101]
Eris is the principal figure of worship in the modernDiscordian religion invented as an "absurdist joke" in 1957 by two school friendsGregory Hill andKerry Wendell Thornley. As mythologized in the religion's satirical textPrincipia Discordia, written by Hill with Thornely and others, Eris (apparently) spoke to Hill and Thornley in an all-night bowling alley, in the form of a chimpanzee.[104]
Eris, the "Goddess of Discord and Chaos", is a recurring antagonist in the animated television seriesThe Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, wherein she is depicted as a spoiled and wealthy woman that wields the "Apple of Discord".
Similarly, Eris, the malevolent "Goddess of Discord and Chaos", is the main antagonist in the DreamWorks 2003 animated movieSinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas againstSinbad and his allies.
The dwarf planetEris was named after this Greek goddess in 2006.[105]
In 2019, the New Zealand moth speciesIchneutica eris was named in honour of Eris.[106]
^Kirk, pp. 380–381. On the use of'sister' (κασιγνήτη) and'comrade' (ἑτάρη) alongside one another in this passage, see Coray, Krieter-Spiro, and Visser, pp. 197–198, and on the textual difficulties with this and adjacent passages, see Kirk, pp. 381–382. Nünlist,s.v. Eris, characterises this genealogy as "allegorical", and Gantz, p. 9 cites the passage as an example of Eris being "just a personification of her name".
^Caldwell, p. 40 on 212–232. In ancient Greek the wordponos which meant 'hard work' could also mean 'hardship, 'suffering', 'distress' or 'trouble', seeThe Cambridge Greek Lexicon, s.v. πόνος 1, 3; compareLSJ,s.v. πόνος. For the ancient Greeks' negative associations regardingponos, see Millett,s.v. labour; Cartledge,s.v. industry, Greek and Roman.
^Homer,Iliad20.47—48: "But when the Olympians had come into the midst of the throng of men, then up leapt mighty Strife, the rouser of armies".
^According to Leaf, on440, in this passage (and elsewhere), Eris "must not be regarded as siding with either party, but as arousing alikeτοὺς μέν andτοὺς δέ", nor as being a combatant.
^Blue, Jennifer (September 14, 2006)."2003 UB 313 named Eris".USGS Astrogeology Research Program. Archived fromthe original on October 18, 2006. RetrievedJanuary 3, 2007.
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