bone of contention
Apple of contention , apple of discord or apple of discord colloquially designate the core of a controversial topic, the central point of the dispute, the object of a dispute.
origin
The term goes back to Greek mythology . According to legend , the apple of contention is - as it is told by Proclus ' chrestomathy , the epitome of the library of Apollodorus and in a Scholion (an explanatory note) on Homer's Iliad - the golden apple of discord .
At the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (the later parents of Achilles ), the goddess Eris (Roman Discordia ) is said to have thrown a golden apple with the inscription "For the most beautiful" ( ancient Greek καλλίστῃ kallistē , Latin pulcherrimae ) between the goddesses, namely out of anger that she wasn't invited. Zeus refused to settle the quarrel that had immediately arisen between Hera , Athena and Aphrodite, to whom the apple was due. At his instruction, Paris had to decide this. Paris chose Aphrodite because she promised him the love of Helena , the most beautiful of all earthly women, in return . However, she was already married to Menelaus , the king of Sparta who was allied with Greece . Thus, the Eris' bone of contention through the kidnapping of Helenas resulting from the judgment of Paris was a central trigger of the Trojan War .
The term can first be found in the late antique writer Junianus Justinus , who speaks of a malum Discordiae (XII, 15; XVI, 3).
Adaptation
The second volume of the Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea is entitled The Golden Apple , alluding to the Eris apple. This also plays a central role in Discordianism as a symbol for chaos . In the book, the inscription on the apple is mistakenly given in Modern Greek ( καλλίστι , kallisti ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Apple of contention in Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (digitized at Zeno.org ).
