Was Eris justified in throwing the apple of Discord?

[Piscivore]

According to Bullfinch:
"Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, but on one occasion she did a
very foolish thing; she entered into competition with Juno and
Venus for the prize of beauty. It happened thus. At the
nuptials of Peleus and Thetis all the gods were invited with the
exception of Eris, or Discord. Enraged at her exclusion, the
goddess threw a golden apple among the guests with the
inscription, "For the most beautiful." Thereupon Juno, Venus,
and Minerva, each claimed the apple. Jupiter not willing to
decide in so delicate a matter, sent the goddesses to Mount Ida,
where the beautiful shepherd Paris was tending his flocks, and to
him was committed the decision. The goddesses accordingly
appeared before him. Juno promised him power and riches, Minerva
glory and renown in war, and Venus the fairest of women for his
wife, each attempting to bias his decision in her own favor.
Paris decided in favor of Venus and gave her the golden apple,
thus making the two other goddesses his enemies. Under the
protection of Venus, Paris sailed to Greece, and was hospitably
received by Menelaus, king of Sparta. Now Helen, the wife of
Menelaus, was the very woman whom Venus had destined for Paris,
the fairest of her sex. She had been sought as a bride by
numerous suitors, and before her decision was made known, they
all, at the suggestion of Ulysses, one of their number, took an
oath that they would defend her from all injury and avenge her
cause if necessary. She chose Menelaus, and was living with him
happily when Paris became their guest. Paris, aided by Venus,
persuaded her to slope with him, and carried her to Troy, whence
arose the famous Trojan war, the theme of the greatest poems of
antiquity, those of Homer and Virgil."

Considering the results, was Eris right to throw the apple? It did serve to create some of the most enduring works of literature we have.

[Tsukasa Buddha]

It was her nature. She couldn't not create discord.

[Piscivore]

It was her nature. She couldn't not create discord.

Good answer. :)

[ddt]

It did serve to create some of the most enduring works of literature we have.

Yes, and therefore she was right. And, of course, for giving all these great warriors an opportunity to show their skills.

Achilleus got to slay Hektor and die young and famous, as was predicted.
Agamemnon got to show his great leadership skills, especially concerning the division of bounty, instead of bickering at home with his jealous wife.
Odysseus got to show his inventiveness with the horse (and to shack up for 7 years with Calypso)
Great Ajax got to show how he could take on a whole heard of cows.
Aeneas got to show his weightlifting skills with his old man and got to leave a beautiful potential bride and have her commit suicide.

Et cetera. Oh, I was a little troubled by the use of the Roman names. They're primarily Greek myths, the Virgil thing is a bit of imitation if you ask me.

[Fnord]

It was her nature. She couldn't not create discord.

I think she may have had an over-abundance of yellow bile, which leads to being easily angered and bad-tempered (choleric), but that's just my opinion.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Poor translation. It was not a "golden apple", it was an orange. :scared:

[Elizabeth I]

Certainly not. It could have been used to make apple pie.

[Tricky]

Throwing the "apple of discord" is defensible.

Throwing the "apple of out-of-tune" is unforgivable.

[boloboffin]

Certainly not. It could have been used to make apple pie.

Oh, a lost opportunity for a corny flourish! What would the Apple of Discord become? The Apple Pie of Brooding Resentment?

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Certainly not. It could have been used to make apple pie.

You are wrong. It could have been used to make orange juice. Why are you perverting the One True Religion? :scared:

[Elizabeth I]

You are wrong. It could have been used to make orange juice. Why are you perverting the One True Religion? :scared:

My cinnamon, nutmeg and butter for dotting expose your heresy!

[supercorgi]

I still blame Pandora and her box (is that sort of dirty?) (Must go to bed -- mind getting smutty).

[pakeha]

Poor translation. It was not a "golden apple", it was an orange. :scared:

And from Majorca.

To Elizabeth I-
Would your majesty's Grace be pleased to consider a variation of the butter dotting?
Oranges stuck with cloves in pleasing designs (ER, for example) and girt round with ribbons make excellent pomanders.
Orangeries provide a suitable setting for your Grace's unparalleled wit, learning and beauty.
As your majesty's Grace consented to favour the exploration and civilization of the New World, I humbly present the case for tolerating the orange, subject, as is natural, to your Grace's divinely inspired judgement.

[Elizabeth I]

And from Majorca.

To Elizabeth I-
Would your majesty's Grace be pleased to consider a variation of the butter dotting?
Oranges stuck with cloves in pleasing designs (ER, for example) and girt round with ribbons make excellent pomanders.
Orangeries provide a suitable setting for your Grace's unparalleled wit, learning and beauty.
As your majesty's Grace consented to favour the exploration and civilization of the New World, I humbly present the case for tolerating the orange, subject, as is natural, to your Grace's divinely inspired judgement.

We are pleased with your courtly and courteous missive and will relate a personal anecdote. [Leicester, quit rolling your eyes and sit down and shut up.]

In our girlhood we have made such pomanders of both oranges AND apples, one Christmas when the exchequer was quite bare. Our tender fingers were sorely sore from poking cloves into oranges, and the queen mother had to find the royal thimble. Nevertheless, the fragrance was exquisite and the ribands quite gay.

It's still hard as hell to make a pie from oranges unless they're Texas wild oranges, which are sour enough to substitute for the lemon in a lemon meringue pie.

We love meringue.

[Twiler]

Do we have an evidence that Eris DELIBERATELY caused the Trojan war? Otherwise, it's just a case of a prank setting off a bunch of psychopaths.

[negativ]

Piscivore's post is shaped like the Virgin Mary.

[pakeha]

Only the bliss of having received a reply from your Majesty's Grace maintains my resolve to dare make a small offering:
http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:1O5cvu3OR7UJ:splendidtable.publicra dio.org/recipes/main_tagliatelle.shtml+orange+recipe+16th+century+ England&cd=15&hl=es&ct=clnk&gl=es

For use in the unparalleled entertainments used to such brilliant efffect in Your Majesty's Grace's foreign policy, I would reccommend the use of the fair, sweet portygals brought from Goa in this recipe.
Thus your Majesty's Grace would have an opportunity to praise these fruits over the Spanish variety, to the discomfit of His Most Catholic Majesty's ambassador.

Never in my wildest dreams could I have foreseen being the confidant of a recollection of our Glorious Sovereign's childhood. The story of this undeserved distinction will be passed down to generations of Pakehas as proof of the tender appreciation of our Gloriana even of the least of her subjects.
I close this paltry letter with the earnest desire for the continued health and happiness of England's true defense against foreign mischief, your Majesty's Grace.

[marksman]

All right, I'm actually going to take a stab at answering the OP.

Eris is the goddess of discord, but she could have chosen otherwise. Other gods took on new domains (Hermes seemed to pick up and drop domains all the time).

However, choosing to remain Eris, goddess of discord, she couldn't have been all that surprised she wasn't invited to the wedding.

Moreover, her prank didn't even afflict the people who had offended her -- Thetis and Peleus. They're the ones who chose not to invite her. Their wedding was barely disrupted. After all, the apple was tossed at the reception. They had already been married. All that happened at the reception was a brief squabble amongst gods, which got resolved decades later when the three goddesses agreed to have the entire matter arbitrated by Paris. So as pranks go, that was a misfire. (Although, Thetis and Peleus ended up having one son -- Achilles -- who ends up dying in the Trojan War... but that seems to be an unnecessarily tortured revenge for not getting invited to the wedding, even if Eris did foresee the results of tossing the apple into the fray.)

According to Wiki (FWIW) Peleus and Thetis later divorce, when Peleus objects to Thetis dumping Achilles in the River Styx (or rather, she goes ahead and dumps him without even consulting her husband). Thetis just can't take being partnered with a mortal, so she flees. Later, Peleus remarries and has a son who goes and overthrows him. In exile, Peleus either dies or ends up reunited with Thetis who realizes she did love him and arranges him to be made an immortal. So you can't even say Eris had any sort of negative impact on Thetis and Peleus -- and they're the ones Eris shoudl be mad at!

Now, is Eris responsible for the Trojan War? No more than Thetis is for having married Peleus in the first place.


As an aside, how rude is it that when an apple appears at a wedding "To the Fairest" that nobody considered that maybe it was a gift for the bride?! I mean, it's supposed to be her day, and there's no reason the message had to be taken so literally! Imagine, if you will, if Eris had tossed the apple, Hermes picks it up, simple says, "How pretty. I think this was intended for you," and gives it to Thetis? Eh, the goddesses would still have squabbled over who should have gotten it were you to take its message literally, so probably it would have ended up the same. But at least someone at that party would have shown some class.

[Piscivore]

All right, I'm actually going to take a stab at answering the OP.

Eris is the goddess of discord, but she could have chosen otherwise. Other gods took on new domains (Hermes seemed to pick up and drop domains all the time).

However, choosing to remain Eris, goddess of discord, she couldn't have been all that surprised she wasn't invited to the wedding.
Well, someone's got to do it, and it's a lot more powerful position that people usually realise.

Moreover, her prank didn't even afflict the people who had offended her -- Thetis and Peleus. They're the ones who chose not to invite her. Their wedding was barely disrupted. After all, the apple was tossed at the reception. They had already been married. All that happened at the reception was a brief squabble amongst gods, which got resolved decades later when the three goddesses agreed to have the entire matter arbitrated by Paris. So as pranks go, that was a misfire. (Although, Thetis and Peleus ended up having one son -- Achilles -- who ends up dying in the Trojan War... but that seems to be an unnecessarily tortured revenge for not getting invited to the wedding, even if Eris did foresee the results of tossing the apple into the fray.)

According to Wiki (FWIW) Peleus and Thetis later divorce, when Peleus objects to Thetis dumping Achilles in the River Styx (or rather, she goes ahead and dumps him without even consulting her husband). Thetis just can't take being partnered with a mortal, so she flees. Later, Peleus remarries and has a son who goes and overthrows him. In exile, Peleus either dies or ends up reunited with Thetis who realizes she did love him and arranges him to be made an immortal. So you can't even say Eris had any sort of negative impact on Thetis and Peleus -- and they're the ones Eris shoudl be mad at!
Yeah, but consider all those people, thinking about how their lives went to hell, and what do they remember? "Man, it all went wrong after Thetis and Peleus' wedding." :D


As an aside, how rude is it that when an apple appears at a wedding "To the Fairest" that nobody considered that maybe it was a gift for the bride?! I mean, it's supposed to be her day, and there's no reason the message had to be taken so literally! Imagine, if you will, if Eris had tossed the apple, Hermes picks it up, simple says, "How pretty. I think this was intended for you," and gives it to Thetis? Eh, the goddesses would still have squabbled over who should have gotten it were you to take its message literally, so probably it would have ended up the same. But at least someone at that party would have shown some class.
Win.

[marksman]

Yeah, but consider all those people, thinking about how their lives went to hell, and what do they remember? "Man, it all went wrong after Thetis and Peleus' wedding." :D

True, but Thetis and Peleus were already divorced by the time the Trojan War started. They split up while Achilles was still an infant, for reasons that had nothing to do with discord (other than the fact that divorces are inherently discordant!). So, as revenge scenarios go, it's not likely that even Thetis and Peleus were looking back all that fondly on their wedding day.

(Eris being snubbed aside, I can't even imagine what negotiations were like trying to make a seating chart for that thing. Thetis is Olympian, Peleus is a mortal whose best friend is a centaur -- talk about a mixed wedding.)

[HansMustermann]

Well, while the analysis is insightful and corect in its own right, I fear you may have missed the point slightly. Mind you, slightly.

Eris was not Loki. She wasn't a goddess of pranks, nor of revenge, but of discord and strife among people and even gods.

Eris's domain was everything between envy of your neighbour's wealth, and bitter hatred in war. It was everything that was a non-harmonious relationship. Its effects ranged from just going ploughing earlier so you'd be as rich as the neighbour soon, to whole cities slaughtering and razing each other. All these, btw, are actual things that ancient writers have actually associated with her.

Eris in the story didn't just pull a prank or revenge, she caused the only thing she could cause: discord and strife. Strife between the goddesses who took it as an invitation to rivalry, and strife between mortals that escalated all the way to a major war. That was her domain. That was what she did for a living.

Maybe not a good prank or revenge, but heck of a discord.

Also, as you probably realize yourself very well, the question isn't as much "what could Eris do?", but rather, "what were the writer's choices?" It was a world where gods and goddesses ruled over every single domain, and in a sense were the personification of those domains. Any strife was by definition Eris's domain, and to some extent personified by Eris. A major greek alliance going to a major war, well, it _had_ to be her doing one way or another.

The only real choice the writer had was, basically, does he mention her explicitly or not. And they were rather heavily into mixing their gods into every kind of literature, poetry or theatre.

[marksman]

Well, while the analysis is insightful and corect in its own right, I fear you may have missed the point slightly. Mind you, slightly.
Well, I understand it's a fiction, but I thought the conceit of the thread was that we were supposed to treat the story as if it happened in the way described, as if gods were real entities and all. That's the way I was looking at it.

Eris was not Loki. She wasn't a goddess of pranks, nor of revenge, but of discord and strife among people and even gods.
While true, the writer still ascribed a motivation to her base don revenge, so I think it's fair to discern whether she attained her goal and if so, whether she was justified in doing so. It seems a bit ironic that the goddess of discord, who was attempting to get a little payback for being snubbed, was unable to insert any discord into a wedding for a marriage that ended up in divorce anyway!

I mean, if any marriage was ripe for discord, the marriage of Peleus and Thetis was, but Eris managed to throw Olympus into disarray, and all of Greece into disarray, but not Thetis and Peleus' marriage. No, that was thrown into disarray because of all things, an argument over whether to give Junior a bath.

Eris in the story didn't just pull a prank or revenge, she caused the only thing she could cause: discord and strife.
Yeah, but not strife between the two people who had offended her!

[Piscivore]

I mean, if any marriage was ripe for discord, the marriage of Peleus and Thetis was, but Eris managed to throw Olympus into disarray, and all of Greece into disarray, but not Thetis and Peleus' marriage. No, that was thrown into disarray because of all things, an argument over whether to give Junior a bath.
Well, the "bath" was to protect him, and mom felt the protection necessary because of the strife in the world, yeah?

[marksman]

Yeah, but not strife caused by the apple. That strife wasn't going to come down for another couple decades. So even if Eris' general discord helped cause Thetis and Peleus' marriage to fail, the apple -- which she ostensibly threw because she was offended at not being invited to their wedding -- still wasn't the cause.

Was she justified in trying to ruin a perfectly nice wedding? Probably not. But I'm imagining Eris like Lucy Ricardo. All she wanted to do was sing at the Tropicana/attend a pretty wedding. She concocted some hair-brained plan which didn't ruin the marriage, or get her into the party , but did succeed in creating 20 years of war and destroying Troy. Eris got some 'splainin' to do.

[Cainkane1]

According to Bullfinch:
"Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, but on one occasion she did a
very foolish thing; she entered into competition with Juno and
Venus for the prize of beauty. It happened thus. At the
nuptials of Peleus and Thetis all the gods were invited with the
exception of Eris, or Discord. Enraged at her exclusion, the
goddess threw a golden apple among the guests with the
inscription, "For the most beautiful." Thereupon Juno, Venus,
and Minerva, each claimed the apple. Jupiter not willing to
decide in so delicate a matter, sent the goddesses to Mount Ida,
where the beautiful shepherd Paris was tending his flocks, and to
him was committed the decision. The goddesses accordingly
appeared before him. Juno promised him power and riches, Minerva
glory and renown in war, and Venus the fairest of women for his
wife, each attempting to bias his decision in her own favor.
Paris decided in favor of Venus and gave her the golden apple,
thus making the two other goddesses his enemies. Under the
protection of Venus, Paris sailed to Greece, and was hospitably
received by Menelaus, king of Sparta. Now Helen, the wife of
Menelaus, was the very woman whom Venus had destined for Paris,
the fairest of her sex. She had been sought as a bride by
numerous suitors, and before her decision was made known, they
all, at the suggestion of Ulysses, one of their number, took an
oath that they would defend her from all injury and avenge her
cause if necessary. She chose Menelaus, and was living with him
happily when Paris became their guest. Paris, aided by Venus,
persuaded her to slope with him, and carried her to Troy, whence
arose the famous Trojan war, the theme of the greatest poems of
antiquity, those of Homer and Virgil."

Considering the results, was Eris right to throw the apple? It did serve to create some of the most enduring works of literature we have.
I'd go with Juno. You got money you got pretty women especially during the bronze age. However considering the fate of paris I'd consider this a no win situation for him. Tossing the gold apple was to be expected.

[HansMustermann]

Well, as I was saying, that's true and insightful. It wasn't a very good revenge.

I guess it depends on how you read it, though. I think another valid reading is: Eris wasn't as much motivated by hatred towards the newlyweds, but envy of the goddesses which got invited. (Envy was fully within her domain and arguably the main part of that domain.) It's a petty "oh yeah, you think you're more special because _you_ get invited to parties and I'm not?" kind of feud. It's not very uncommon among mortals either. Hence she's not as much trying to ruin that marriage, as just to ruin the day of the goddesses that do get invited to all parties.

Sorta like the unpopular ugly girl in a high-school dreaming of taking revenge upon the girls who are more popular, not on the guys who don't invite her out.

But which one is what Homer had in mind, well, we'll probably never know.

[remirol]

why has nobody made a hot dog buns reference yet? Yeesh.

[Piscivore]

Yeah, but not strife caused by the apple. That strife wasn't going to come down for another couple decades. So even if Eris' general discord helped cause Thetis and Peleus' marriage to fail, the apple -- which she ostensibly threw because she was offended at not being invited to their wedding -- still wasn't the cause.

Was she justified in trying to ruin a perfectly nice wedding? Probably not. But I'm imagining Eris like Lucy Ricardo. All she wanted to do was sing at the Tropicana/attend a pretty wedding. She concocted some hair-brained plan which didn't ruin the marriage, or get her into the party , but did succeed in creating 20 years of war and destroying Troy. Eris got some 'splainin' to do.

:D

[marksman]

Sorta like the unpopular ugly girl in a high-school dreaming of taking revenge upon the girls who are more popular, not on the guys who don't invite her out.

That's not a bad take... except that the timeline is still off.

Year 1: Wedding happens. Eris sends Hera, Aphrodite and Athena bobbin for apples.
Year 2: Achilles born.
Year 3: Achilles gets a bath -- Thetis and Peleus break-up.
Year 20ish: Goddesses ask Paris to mediate. Trojan War begins
Year 30: Achilles dies.

Exactly how much discord did Eris create with respect to the goddesses that they sat on this dispute for 20 years? I mean, Paris -- and for that matter most of the mortals in the Iliad -- wasn't even born yet when the apple got tossed!

Even looking at it as a high school sort of revenge plot (and I think most Greek myths make more sense when viewed in that context), it was pretty lame in execution. Now I'm imagining Eris as Meg from Family Guy trying to get back at the popular kids from James Woods High School.

Meg (outside school dance with apple): This will show them.
[Meg throws golden apple through window.]
Jock 1: Dude! Is that a MacIntosh?
Jock 2: No, it's totally a Fuji.
Meg (shouting through broken glass): It's made of gold you dolts! Just read it!
Connie Damico: It say "To the Fairest". That's obviously me.
Popular Girl 2: No way! It's totally me.
Popular Girl 3: That's for me you skanks.
Meg (whispering): Heh, heh. This is going to be good!
Jock 1: Whoa, girls. Why don't we wait fifteen years until that loser Meg's brother Stewie is in high school, and then we'll make him decide. Then we'll all beat the crap out of each other and burn down the school.
Girls: Okay. That will give up time to figure out what to wear!
Connie: Come on, let's dance!
[Jock throws gold apple back out the window. Hits Meg on head.]

[Madalch]

How fast would the apple have to leave Eris, all the way out in the Kuiper belt, in order to have arrived on Earth by now?

[Ysidro]

why has nobody made a hot dog buns reference yet? Yeesh.

It's not yet Friday.

[HansMustermann]

That's not a bad take... except that the timeline is still off.

Year 1: Wedding happens. Eris sends Hera, Aphrodite and Athena bobbin for apples.
Year 2: Achilles born.
Year 3: Achilles gets a bath -- Thetis and Peleus break-up.
Year 20ish: Goddesses ask Paris to mediate. Trojan War begins
Year 30: Achilles dies.

Except in my possible take on it, Achiles, Thetis or Peleus aren't even Eris's problem at all. She's just gonna show those Hera, Aphrodite and Athena for being more popular than her.

Exactly how much discord did Eris create with respect to the goddesses that they sat on this dispute for 20 years? I mean, Paris -- and for that matter most of the mortals in the Iliad -- wasn't even born yet when the apple got tossed!

20 years of dispute between the 3 goddesses, though probably a even more after Paris snubbed two of them? It sounds to me like exactly the kind of discord you'd expect from the personal divine intervention of the goddess of discord :p

Even looking at it as a high school sort of revenge plot (and I think most Greek myths make more sense when viewed in that context), it was pretty lame in execution.

You have to consider the available means for revenge. It's not like she could chuck a lightning bolt at them (Zeus's domain), or whatever else than discord. That was her one and only super-power, so to speak.

In that light, dunno, getting them to feud for 20 years sounds like quite the masterpiece to me. Lame reason for revenge, mind you. But for a goddess whose _only_ power is to create discord, that's, I would think, quite the achievement.

Now I'm imagining Eris as Meg from Family Guy trying to get back at the popular kids from James Woods High School.

Meg (outside school dance with apple): This will show them.
[Meg throws golden apple through window.]
Jock 1: Dude! Is that a MacIntosh?
Jock 2: No, it's totally a Fuji.
Meg (shouting through broken glass): It's made of gold you dolts! Just read it!
Connie Damico: It say "To the Fairest". That's obviously me.
Popular Girl 2: No way! It's totally me.
Popular Girl 3: That's for me you skanks.
Meg (whispering): Heh, heh. This is going to be good!
Jock 1: Whoa, girls. Why don't we wait fifteen years until that loser Meg's brother Stewie is in high school, and then we'll make him decide. Then we'll all beat the crap out of each other and burn down the school.
Girls: Okay. That will give up time to figure out what to wear!
Connie: Come on, let's dance!
[Jock throws gold apple back out the window. Hits Meg on head.]

Heh. Funny scenario, but I don't think Homer's view was that they just forgot about it for 20 years or so. More likely they genuinely bickered and hated each other's guts for those 20 years.

[marksman]

I don't think Homer's view was that they just forgot about it for 20 years or so. More likely they genuinely bickered and hated each other's guts for those 20 years.

It's been a while since I've read my Iliad, but I don't remember much if anything happening in Greece during that time. And the gods never got along -- I'm not sure Eris' apple made an appreciable difference until Zeus recruited Paris as the sole judge for the Miss Olympus Contest.

Edited to add: Also, the aftermath of Paris' contest wasn't much of a big deal. The goddesses didn't really take it out on one another. Sure, Aphrodite supported the Trojans (to defend Paris and Helen) and Athena sides with the Greeks (to defend her main man Odysseus), and Hera sides with the Greeks basically to spite Zeus was all over Troy, but all the gods took sides.

If Eris was going after Peleus and Thetis, I think it's pretty clear, the apple flopped.
If Eris was going after Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, the apple had at most a mild effect on those three.

The apple had its biggest effect on the mortals who had nothing to do with the wedding, but that's more of a side effect of anything Eris does. Whether she intended to start the Trojan War or not, it doesn't appear to be what she was trying to accomplish vis-a-vis the wedding. I have no idea what she was trying to accomplish. As arguments among the gods go, it actually ended up pretty tame, with some big consequences for innocents (as usual when gods muck about with mortals).

[HansMustermann]

Well, way I see it:

1. You probably realize that the subject of the whole thing is the war, not the bickering of the gods. Eris was a plot element to get the ball going, but that was about it. No use in dwelling on the 20 years of bickering of the gods any longer.

2. Also because: They loved to use the gods as plot elements. But the general idea was to use them to skip a chunk of exposition or plot.

E.g., what the Romans later called "deus ex machina" literally involved lowering a god with a crane, he'd tell everyone what to do, and that was the end of the play. Saved the bother of tying loose ends and/or coming up with a proper ending.

Here Eris is used for a quick introduction to why the war started, instead of a lengthy plot that culminates in the war. Nowadays we'd generally do the latter, back then it was ok to do the former. The Eris episode is sorta like the scrolling introduction to Star Wars Episode 4. It tells you briefly what and why happens, and you can start directly with the action after that.

So there's no point in dragging it any longer. If he was planning to describe 20 years of gods bickering, he could just as well describe 20 years of human politics that led to war instead.

3. Well, yes, the war on Earth was just a side effect of a game played among the gods. That was actually a rather common theme.

[Ron_Tomkins]

Throwing the "apple of discord" is defensible.

Throwing the "apple of out-of-tune" is unforgivable.

Unless you happen to throw it to Charles Ives. Then it's premeditated.

[marksman]

1. You probably realize that the subject of the whole thing is the war, not the bickering of the gods.Eris was a plot element to get the ball going, but that was about it. No use in dwelling on the 20 years of bickering of the gods any longer.
Yes, I understand that the point of the Iliad was the War against Ilium, not the seating arrangement at the Thetis-Peleus nuptials.

But I disagree that there's "no use in dwelling" on the deific bickering. It's fun!

If he was planning to describe 20 years of gods bickering, he could just as well describe 20 years of human politics that led to war instead.
Well, I sort of find it weird that Homer didn't pick a wedding that occurred just before the war. Really, there's no reason for the twenty-year gap except that Homer really wanted it to be Achilles' parents getting married.

That was actually a rather common theme.
No doubt. :)

[HansMustermann]

Well, I don't doubt that he could make a fun story out of the gods' bickering too. Just saying it happened not to be the topic of the story he was actually writing.