David19
February 19th, 2007, 10:42 AM
This is something that i'm curious about, I was just on Theoi.com, and was browsing around when I found this article of Eris (http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Eris.html), where there's a quote that says:
"It was never true that there was only one Eris. There have always been two on earth. There is one you could like when you understand her. The other is hateful. The two Erites have separate natures. There is one Eris who builds up evil war, and slaughter. She is harsh; no man loves her, but under compulsion and by will of the immortals, men promote this rough Eris (Strife). But the other one was born the elder daughter of black Nyx. The son of Kronos, who sits on high and dwells in the bright air set her in the roots of the earth and among men; she is far kinder. She pushes the shiftless man to work, for all his laziness. A man looks at his neighbour, who is rich: then he too wants work; for the rich man presses on with his ploughing and planting and ordering of his estate. So the neighbour envies the neighbour who presses on toward wealth. Such Eris (Strife) is a good friend to mortals." - Hesiod, Works and Days
This seems to indicate there are 2 Eris's, one who causes war and delights in suffering, and the other one is an Eris who promotes competition, and inspires people to fight and push themselves.
I had never heard of this before, but then I don't know too much (I've been reading 'Greek Religion' by Walter Burkert as well as Theoi.com, and I'm really understanding there's much, much more to Greek mythology than I first thought and even more gods than just the 12 Olympians).
Personally, Eris kind of interests me, she seems like a cool deity, and an interesting one, and a thought just occured to me, that maybe reading this description of Eris was what I needed to hear/read (for reasons that I've said in a thread in the Just Talk forum i started) (just thought i'd add in a bit of spookiness!).
Anyway, just wanted to get some opinions if there are 2 Eris's or what.
"It was never true that there was only one Eris. There have always been two on earth. There is one you could like when you understand her. The other is hateful. The two Erites have separate natures. There is one Eris who builds up evil war, and slaughter. She is harsh; no man loves her, but under compulsion and by will of the immortals, men promote this rough Eris (Strife). But the other one was born the elder daughter of black Nyx. The son of Kronos, who sits on high and dwells in the bright air set her in the roots of the earth and among men; she is far kinder. She pushes the shiftless man to work, for all his laziness. A man looks at his neighbour, who is rich: then he too wants work; for the rich man presses on with his ploughing and planting and ordering of his estate. So the neighbour envies the neighbour who presses on toward wealth. Such Eris (Strife) is a good friend to mortals." - Hesiod, Works and Days
This seems to indicate there are 2 Eris's, one who causes war and delights in suffering, and the other one is an Eris who promotes competition, and inspires people to fight and push themselves.
I had never heard of this before, but then I don't know too much (I've been reading 'Greek Religion' by Walter Burkert as well as Theoi.com, and I'm really understanding there's much, much more to Greek mythology than I first thought and even more gods than just the 12 Olympians).
Personally, Eris kind of interests me, she seems like a cool deity, and an interesting one, and a thought just occured to me, that maybe reading this description of Eris was what I needed to hear/read (for reasons that I've said in a thread in the Just Talk forum i started) (just thought i'd add in a bit of spookiness!).
Anyway, just wanted to get some opinions if there are 2 Eris's or what.