Information AboutEris |
Eris is also a Genus of Jumping Spider s. See Eris (genus) . Eris ( Greek '''Ἒρις''', "Strife") is the Goddess personifying that quality, her name being translated into Latin as '''Discordia'''. Her Greek opposite is Harmonia , whose Latin counterpart is Concordia . 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, ''Malchai'' ('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 Achaean s in Book 11 of the same work. The most famous tale of Eris ('Strife') 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 '', wife of Menelaus of Sparta . Paris was a red-blooded young man, and while the length of time he meditated on this problem is not recorded, he did eventually award the apple to Aphrodite. 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. DISCORDIAN MYTHOLOGY Eris has been adopted as the matron deity of the modern Discordian religion, which was begun in the late 1950s by Malaclypse the Younger and Lord Omar Khayam Ravenhurst. In the process, however, she has lightened up considerably 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." {Link without Title} 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 . ERIS IN POPULAR CULTURE Eris appears on the Cartoon Network show "'' The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy ''" as a rival of Mandy, Grim, and Billy, voiced by Rachael MacFarlane . In one such episode, she causes chaos to grip Grim, Billy, and Mandy by giving them "The Golden Apple of Chaos and Discord," a more elaborate title for the mythological Apple Of Discord . See List Of Characters In The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy for more information on the TV version. She is drawn to somewhat resemble pop star Madonna . She also appears as the ''. The classic Fairy Tale '' Sleeping Beauty '' is partly inspired by Eris's role in the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Like Eris, a malevolent Fairy curses a princess after failing to be invited to the princess's Christening . DISCORDIA IN POPULAR CULTURE Discordia is frequently referenced in the latter volumes of Stephen King's '' The Dark Tower '' series, appearing in the story primarily as an abstract ideal rather than being personified as an actual character. She also appeared on the television series "''''", under the name Discord. Strife also appears in the show as a totally separate, albeit male entity, often in the company of Ares , though technically strife and discord are one and the same. SEE ALSO Discordianism Principia Discordia Apocrypha Discordia EXTERNAL LINKS |