Also called Discordia (Roman), Strife.
Their story
Hesiod says there are two Strifes: one cruel, who breeds war, and one good, who makes the idle neighbour work hard to keep up with the rich one. In the Iliad Eris is small at first and then grows until her head touches heaven. Left out of the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, she threw a golden apple marked for the fairest, which led to the judgement of Paris and the Trojan War.
Best times to give to them
- When a quarrel starts to grow
- Before a friendly competition
What they like being given
- An apple set aside rather than thrown into company
- A written list of grievances, then torn up
How to honour them
- Notice when a small grievance is being fed and choose not to feed it.
- Turn envy into effort, as Hesiod advises: the good Eris spurs people to work.
- Keep an apple on the altar as a reminder to keep peace.
How they can help you
- Recognising destructive conflict
- Healthy rivalry
- Motivation
Symbols
- golden apple
- wings
- torch
The golden apple story is told in later summaries; the modern Discordian movement is a twentieth-century invention.
Sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 225-232
- Hesiod, Works and Days 11-26
- Homer, Iliad 4.440-445
- Apollodorus, Epitome 3.2
More Greek goddesses
- Hera Queen of heaven and guardian of marriage
- Athena Grey-eyed goddess of wisdom and craft
- Artemis Lady of wild things and the hunt
- Aphrodite Foam-born goddess of love and beauty
- Hestia Goddess of the hearth and the home fire
- Demeter Mother of the grain and the harvest
- Persephone Queen of the underworld and the returning spring
- Hecate Keeper of crossroads and keys