The Russian language is incredibly rich and eloquent. The use of idiomatic revolutions gives it a special charm. Through accurate phrases, you can very accurately express your idea. In addition, phraseological units, of course, adorn not only colloquial, but also written, artistic speech. In fairness, it is worth noting that many idioms belong not only to the Russian people, but also have analogues in other countries and owe their origin to other nations. Let's talk about one of them. "Apple of discord". This phraseologism originates in ancient Greek mythology. By the way, myths of different nations are one of the largest sources of the origin of winged expressions.
We owe the famous legend about the dispute of the three goddesses with the idiom “apple of discord”. This myth tells of the events that caused the Trojan War. The great Zeus wanted to marry the beautiful Thetis, daughter of a titan. However, Prometheus predicted to him that her son born would overthrow his own father from the throne. And so he gave it to the Thessalian prince Peleus. All the gods of Olympus were invited to the wedding . And only one Eris, the goddess of discord, was not called, remembering her bad character. But the goddess harbored an insult, wandered not far from the cave of Chiron, where a cheerful feast roared. She thought of how to avenge her insult. She took a golden apple and wrote on it one single word: "The most beautiful." And after threw it on the banquet table. It was this fruit that later received the name "apple of discord."
And the thing is that the three golden
goddesses saw the golden apple and the inscription on it
: Hera, Aphrodite and Athena. Goddesses are also women and they, like all the ladies, also tend to consider themselves the most beautiful. Each of them claimed that the apple was intended for her. The Thunder Goddess was asked to judge them. However, Zeus decided to cheat. After all, Hera is his wife, Athena is a daughter, and Aphrodite was truly beautiful. Then he ordered Hermes to give the apple to Paris, the son of the king of Troy. The young man did not know that he was a prince, because he was raised by shepherds. It was in Paris that Zeus laid the responsibility to call one of the goddesses the most beautiful. Each tried to attract a young man to his side. Hera promised him power and power, control over Asia, Athena offered him military victories and wisdom. And only Aphrodite guessed the secret desire of Paris. She said that she would help him get the love of the beautiful Elena, the
daughter of Zeus and Leda, the wife of Atreus Menelaus, Queen of Sparta. It was Aphrodite who gave Paris an apple.
Hera and Athena hated him and swore lime. Aphrodite fulfilled her promise and helped him steal Elena. This was the reason for the outbreak of war. Menelaus decided to punish the Trojans and return his wife. And as a result, Troy was destroyed.
This is a myth, and the phrase "apple of discord" became winged by the Roman historian Justin, who lived in the II century. He used it for the first time in the meaning of the cause of disputes, hostility, something small, which leads to major strife. The apple of discord is also called the apple of Eris or Paris. In our speech, we often use this idiom. So, they very often say: “An apple of discord swept between them,” if we are talking about people who were once friends, but now warring over trifles.