Source Verification: Eris
Every claim below is either what a named ancient source attests, in its own line or section, or a point where the sources themselves disagree.
What the Sources Attest
What is Eris the goddess of?
Eris is the goddess of strife, meaning fighting and quarrelling between people. In the Iliad she is the companion of Ares and the force that makes an army want to fight. In the Theogony her children are the troubles that follow a quarrel, from Lying Words and Battles to Ruin. Hesiod's Works and Days adds that strife can also mean rivalry that makes people work.
Source: Homer, Iliad 11.3-14
What does Eris mean?
In Greek, eris means strife. It is both the goddess's name and an ordinary word. Hesiod opens the Works and Days by saying there is not one kind of strife alone but two, and there he uses the word for the quality itself. English translators render the goddess as Strife or as Discord, so the same figure appears under either name.
Source: Hesiod, Works and Days 11-12
Is Eris a child of Nyx?
Yes, in Hesiod. The Theogony names Strife among the children of Night, and Works and Days calls the kinder Strife the elder daughter of dark Night. Homer does not name her parents. He calls her only the sister of Ares, and Hesiod makes Ares a son of Hera, so the two poets do not give her one shared family.
Source: Hesiod, Theogony 211-225
Is Eris a good or bad goddess?
Hesiod says she is both, because there are two Strifes. One fosters evil war and battle, and no one loves her, though men honor her because the gods require it. The other is the elder daughter of Night, set by Zeus in the roots of the earth. She rouses even the idle to work, as neighbour competes with neighbour, and Hesiod calls her wholesome for men.
Source: Hesiod, Works and Days 11-26
Who were the children of Eris?
Hesiod lists them in the Theogony: Toil, Forgetfulness, Famine, Sorrows, Fightings, Battles, Murders, Manslaughters, Quarrels, Lying Words, Disputes, Lawlessness, Ruin and Oath. Oath is the last and is said to trouble men most when one swears a false oath willingly. None of them has a story of their own in the sources checked here.
Source: Hesiod, Theogony 226-232
Where Accounts Differ
- whether Eris is the sister of Ares or a child of Night
- whether there is one Strife or two
- the apple of Strife in Apollodorus but not in the Iliad passages checked
- Homer calls Strife the sister and companion of Ares (Iliad 4.439-445). Hesiod makes her a child of Night and makes Ares a son of Hera (Theogony 211-225; 921-923). The sources checked here do not reconcile the two families, so the page reports both.
- Hesiod's Theogony knows one hard-hearted Strife (Theogony 211-225). The Works and Days says there are two, one harmful and one kind, and calls the kind one the elder daughter of Night (Works and Days 11-26). The page reports both accounts and does not fold them into one.
- The apple of Strife is told in Apollodorus (Epitome 3.2). The Iliad passages cited here (4.439-445, 11.3-14, 18.107-110) do not mention it, and the one Iliad allusion to the judgement does not name the apple (Iliad 24.25-30).
Sources
- Hesiod, Theogony 211-225
- Hesiod, Theogony 226-232
- Hesiod, Theogony 921-923
- Hesiod, Works and Days 11-12
- Hesiod, Works and Days 11-26
- Homer, Iliad 4.439-445
- Homer, Iliad 11.3-14
- Homer, Iliad 18.107-110
- Homer, Iliad 24.25-30
- Apollodorus, Epitome 3.2