On the pages of books of ancient Greek mythology, Eris, the goddess of discord and chaos, is found quite often. Legends say that she possessed a rather hot-tempered temperament, she liked to have fun, provoking humanity and the gods to conflicts, she was curious, strong and always kept her word.
The origin of Eris
According to tales and textbooks on mythology, Eris appeared from the connection of two gods: Erebus (Darkness) and Nyukta (Nights). Her grandfather is Chaos himself. Her sister is Nemesis (the goddess of retribution), and her brothers are the twins Thanatos (the god of death) and Hypnos (the god of sleep). It is known that Eris gave birth to the goddess of hunger - the cruel daughter of Limes. The girl made strong friends with the god of war Ores and often traveled with him for fun, provoking quarrels and wars between states.
Eris and the apple of contention
In ancient Greek legends described in mythology, Eris provoked a conflict between Athena, Aphrodite and Hero. (Athena is the goddess of wisdom, patronizing wars and conflicts, in which participants wish to achieve the triumph of justice, Aphrodite is the goddess who embodies beauty and love, Hera is the goddess of marriage, guarding marital unions, the wife of the Supreme Olympic god Zeus).
Legend has it that the quarrel of the goddesses occurred at the wedding of the sea nymph Thetis and the Thessalian king Myrmidony Peleus. All the gods were invited to the wedding ceremony except Eris. The goddess was offended, secretly entered the celebration and threw a golden apple into the crowd of girls. The inscription “beautiful” was carved on the fruit.
There were a lot of girls in the hall, and each defended precisely her right to an apple, as she considered herself the most worthy of all. The argument was long, but in the end there were only three goddesses left: Athena, Aphrodite and Hera. The supreme god Zeus did not dare to personally judge the disputes, because in the situation there was a clearly expressed conflict of interest: Hera was his wife. So in mythology, Eris sowed the "apple of discord."
Zeus appointed Paris, Prince of Troy, to act as judge. Each girl offered her service for an apple:
- Hera promised to help the prince take over Asia;
- Athena offered her patronage to gain glory in military affairs;
- the wise Aphrodite assured Paris that with her help he would win the heart of his beloved Elena. Elena was the princess of Sparta. Her mother, the queen of Sparta Leda, conceived a child from Zeus. The mixture of militancy and divinity gave rise to a beautiful child, whose appearances were envied even by the goddess. All men fell in love with her, and Paris was no exception.
After listening to all the suggestions, the prince chose love and handed the apple to Aphrodite. But the other two goddesses considered his decision unfair and promised to avenge his insult.
Trojan war
Aphrodite and Paris immediately went from the wedding to ask for Elena's hands. But the girl was already married to the Greek king Sparta Menelaus. Paris stole Elena from her husband and fled with her to Troy. Offended and madly in love, the husband rushed after his wife.
The Trojans held a siege of 10 years. But the Greeks, realizing that Troy could not be taken by starvation, came up with a cunning plan to send a wooden horse to the castle walls, in which the Spartans hid. The Trojans saw the horse and drove it through the castle gates to understand what it was and why they had made such a gift. Then the Spartans freed themselves from the structure. Some of them opened the gates for help, while others already fought with opponents.
According to mythology, Eris regretted her act and during the Trojan War supported the Trojans in every possible way, and more than once defended and saved Aeneas, the son of Aphrodite, in military battles. So the goddess Eris in mythology, having thrown the apple of discord, provoked the Trojan War.
Two Hypostases of Eris
The inhabitants of ancient Greece often associated the goddess with hunger, wars, murders, lawlessness. But there is another view of the tricks of the goddess. The ancient Greek poet Hesiod, who lived in the 7th century BC, uttered philosophical thoughts about her gift. He believed that thanks to Eris, labor arose. Indeed, precisely because of the desire to get ahead of the enemy, to win in rivalry, people learned to try, make efforts, and achieved a lot in their development.
In addition, it was Eris who played the role of the muse in such competitions. She did not let the rivalry fire go out, constantly kindled it, fueled excitement, interest, anger, perseverance, and a thirst for victory.