On the pages of the books of ancient Greek mythology, Eris, the goddess of discord and chaos, is found quite often. Legends say that she had a rather hot-tempered temperament, loved to have fun, provoking mankind and the gods into conflicts, was curious, strong and always kept her word.
The Origin of Eris
According to fairy tales and textbooks on mythology, Eris appeared from the connection of two gods: Erebus (Darkness) and Nyukta (Night). Her grandfather is Chaos itself. 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 became close friends with the god of war, Ores, and often traveled with him for entertainment, provoking quarrels and wars between states.
Eris and the bone of contention
In the ancient Greek legends described in mythology, Eris provoked a conflict betweenAthena, Aphrodite and Hero. (Athena is the goddess of wisdom, patronizing wars and conflicts, in which the participants wish to achieve the triumph of justice, Aphrodite is the goddess personifying beauty and love, Hera is the goddess of marriage, guarding marital unions, the wife of the supreme Olympic god Zeus).
Legend says that the quarrel of the goddesses took place at the wedding of the sea nymph Thetis and the Thessalian king of the Myrmidons Peleus. All the gods except Eris were invited to the marriage ceremony. The goddess was offended, secretly entered the celebration and threw a golden apple into the crowd of girls. The inscription was carved on the fruit - "the most beautiful".
There were a lot of girls in the hall, and each defended exactly her right to an apple, as she considered herself the most worthy of all. The dispute was long, but in the end only three goddesses remained: Athena, Aphrodite and Hera. The supreme god Zeus did not dare to personally judge the disputants, because there was a clearly expressed conflict of interest in the situation: 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 favor for an apple:
- Hera promised to help the prince conquer Asia;
- Athena offered her patronage to gain glory in military affairs;
- wise Aphrodite assured Paris that with her help he would win the heart of his beloved Elena. Helena was a princess of Sparta. Her mother, Queen of Sparta Leda, conceived a child from Zeus. Mixture of militancy and divinitygave birth to a beautiful child, whose appearance even goddesses envied. 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 the insult.
Trojan War
Aphrodite and Paris immediately went from the wedding to ask for Elena's hand. But the girl had already been married to the Greek king of Sparta, Menelaus. Paris stole Helen from her husband and fled with her to Troy. Offended and madly in love, the husband rushed after his wife.
The Trojans kept the siege for 10 years. But the Greeks, realizing that it would not be possible to take Troy by starvation, came up with a cunning plan to send a wooden horse to the walls of the castle, in which the Spartans hid. The Trojans saw the horse and drove it through the gates of the castle to understand what it was and why they were given such a gift. Then the Spartans were released from the building. Some of them opened the gate for help, the other was already at war with opponents.
According to mythology, Eris regretted her act and during the Trojan War in every possible way supported the Trojans, and more than once defended and saved Aeneas, who was the son of Aphrodite, in military battles. So the goddess Eris in mythology, throwing the apple of discord, provoked the Trojan War.
Two Persons of Eris
Inhabitants of Ancient Greece often associated the goddess with famine, wars, murders, lawlessness. But there is another view of the tricks of the goddess. ancient greekthe poet Hesiod, who lived in the 7th century BC, uttered philosophical thoughts about her gift. He believed that thanks to Eris, labor arose. Indeed, it is precisely because of the desire to get ahead of the enemy, to win in rivalry, people have learned to try, make efforts, and have achieved a lot in their development.
Besides, it was Eris who played the role of a muse in such competitions. She did not let the fire of rivalry go out, constantly kindled it, fueled the excitement, interest, anger, perseverance, thirst for victory.
