Eris personifies strife in Greek myth, but Greek poetry does not give one simple account of her character. Hesiod distinguishes a destructive Strife from another that can drive people to work and compete. Later war poetry emphasizes the terror of conflict.
Two kinds of strife
At the opening of Works and Days, Hesiod says there are two Strifes. One promotes cruel war and quarrels. The other makes a person notice a prosperous neighbor and work harder, producing rivalry among farmers, craftspeople, and poets. The passage does not turn all conflict into a good force. It separates productive competition from ruinous hostility.
In the Theogony, Eris is a daughter of Night and mother of hardships such as toil, battles, lies, disputes, and lawlessness. Homer can show her moving through armies and magnifying combat. Genealogy and emphasis change with the poem.
The apple and the Trojan War
The famous golden apple belongs to the later story of the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Excluded from the feast, Eris brings an apple marked for the fairest. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite dispute it, leading to the Judgment of Paris and ultimately the Trojan War. The episode is linked to the lost epic cycle and later retellings, not fully narrated in Homer’s two surviving epics.
Eris can be compared with Hecate, whose image also changed over time, and Gaia, whose family story drives divine succession.