Women have been either praised or looked down upon in society. In ancient Greek times, we see women take the form of goddesses and encapsulate many different traits. One goddess in particular, Eris, is a strange case. From her powerful status gives her spite, which makes her a dangerous vixen. On the vase, Red-figured Krater: Paris Judgement , the story on it displays Eris, and how her spite and self-righteousness go hand in hand. Spite and power are two sides of one coin. They cause each other, and strengthen each other. Eris is not even the only woman who shows this trait, as other women in media showcase this too. Eris herself has a modern version which is identical, and uses spite and power to her benefit as well. Though stereotypical in a sense, the idea of a women in power who uses spite is a common one, and one that stretches a longevity one would never have imagined. The Greek religion recognizes spite and power, and makes it divine! Those who are divine, have spite.

This vase painting from the classical period of Greek art depicts Eris and Themis in the top corner. It is called Red-figured Krater: Paris’s Judgement . Pottery was created from clay using this style. In this pottery style, a black slip was used in the backgrounds, and then the usage of relief lines help create finer elements (1). It was constructed during 400 BC. Proudly, the piece stands a strong 49.5 centimeters (2). This scene is part of a story in which Zeus decides to hold a gathering for matrimony of Peleus and Thetis. Zeus purposely does not invite Eris who is enraged and wants revenge. She is angered by them not recognizing her greatness, and the spite in her grows. A light bulb goes off, and Eris brings an apple to the room. The apple was to go to whoever was the most fairest, and Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena argued over this. In the vase painting, Eris and Themis are gossiping satisfied while they watch Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite argue over the golden apple. This is the founding scene of what caused the Trojan war and its bloody results. Paris was requested by Zeus to pick which goddess was the most beautiful, as he did not want to do it himself. All the goddesses bribed him, but Aphrodite’s bribe was the one who won. She offered him the romance of queen Helen of Sparta (3). This would cause the Trojan War to commence which ultimately would ruin not only Paris, but the city of Troy (4). This specific vase showcases the part of the story where the 3 goddesses are competing for the apple, and Eris snickers in the backdrop. The three goddesses wants the apple to prove that they are the truest of fairness, and Paris must be the judge. The name of the vase suggests that the piece is about Paris’ judgement on the goddesses, but it can also be taken as Eris judging Paris and the rest for falling for ploy. Her spite, is the reason all of this happened. She has power over them all without them even knowing.

I really like the outfit that Eris is wearing, as it has little fine details through out with flowers and stars. Her necklace and crown are highlighted with white which makes them stand out, and gives the impression that they are even more valuable than her garments. In the context of competition for beauty, might this image with the elaborate dress and jewelry be arguing for the preeminence of Eris over even Aphrodite? Her elegant, nonchalant pose further suggests her beauty. And the catty gesture of her hand and intense gaze in her eyes as she communicates her emotions suggests a satisfied spitefulness. She smiles at what is happening without a care about the destruction this surely will cause. Proportionally, Eris is larger than Themis, showing her superior importance and power. If we even compare their garment, Eris’s outfit has even more detail compared to Themis. Themis is outfit is devoid of intricate designs, but Eris outfit has a wide array of patterns and details. Themis has as much details as the horses behind them which is not saying much as they are almost only there to cover up space. Eris’ outfit brings her the forefront of her background area in the piece. The focus of the vase is the scene of the bickering caused by the chaos, however, Eris is still very noticeable because of the features spoken about before. She is the reason for this vase and it is almost like a tribute to her that she is in it, and to show her importance in the matter they gave her fashion that only the primary spectacles in the piece are wearing. We can see that Eris is depicted as a main character in this story who does not care about the mischief she created, and makes light of it in the safety of her own space.She is displayed as being happy from what her spite caused, showing the action of spite in a deplorable way.

What Eris embodies is not something typical of what you would think of a god. Usually an element, something chivalrous, or noble cause, but here is someone eboding have chaos. Her role as a goddess gives her power, which makes her spite even more of an issue, as she feels and technically has a strong social status than others. It is like a circle, where spite and power are interplayed. She has power, and gets spite from it, but intern, gets more power from spite which gives her spite more power. Gods and goddesses were made to personify human emotions, and they are glorifying things like spite, more powerful than others, and chaos because these are natural feelings and it is okay to feel these ways. Eris played a seminal role in starting the infamous Trojan War. This is ironic as Eris’ reason for anger was in retaliation for not being invited to a party with no vindictive towards the mortals. They are kind of caught up in the actions of Eris, but this is no concern to her. In retaliation she sent them an apple which was for the fairest lady. “ Ares drove these on, and the Akhaians grey-eyed Atehene, and Phobos drove them, and Eris whose wrath is relentless, she is the sister and companion of murderous Ares, she is only a little thing at first, but thereafter grows until she strides on the earth with her head striking heaven. She then hurled down bitterness equally between both sides as she walked through the onslaught both sides making men’s pain heavier ”(5). Here Eris is performing a physical act of spite, entering a battle and causing mayhem. She did not care which side she hurt, as she was above them all in her mind. This shows her power as a goddess, and the spite from it, lending each other a hand to cause a more vindictive force. In another instance “But the sons of men fought on, and slew; and Eris gloating watched” (6) . From the Fall of Troy , we can see Eris laughing at others as they fight. She shows no empathy for what is before her, and just watches in glee to the demise of man in her sight. It's like the queen of the popular kids table laughing at the jocks beat up the nerds. She is not physically using her spite, but emotionally. She is hurting their feelings, with no care. Spite can be in two forms, physical or emotional. Regardless of which, they both are equally able to showcase power.

Usually Zeus is the father of Eris. This can be seen in The Iliad as it details her brother as Ares who is the son of Zeus (7). In Works and Days (8), by Hesiod, there are two versions of Eris. One is related to Nyx, and the other is to Zeus. The idea of her being the daughter of Zeus is appealing since it gives her more authority. It suggests that she is the spoiled rotten child in the family, and I find that dynamic more interesting rather than her being the daughter of the King of Darkness. The story makes one wonder how she became so vengeful. In today’s terms, she might be cast as the popular kid in school who loves drama and causing drama. She is essentially in the goddess personification of the modern movie Mean Girls.

The plot of Mean Girls is about a girl trying to fit in, and joins the popular girls in her school as a joke, but slowly becomes just like one of them. The popular girls in this movie fit Eris to a tee. They do mischievous things just for the fun of it, and do not care about the consequences that concur. They feel they are better, with no reasons to this, and will just do what they want. This is just like how Eris started the Trojan War with no care to what happened to Paris, or causing mischief in battles. Two works from two different eras but a common theme is still here. In both scenarios, we had women in power who used spite to get power, which would fuel their spite even more. The girls in Mean Girls are by no means goddesses, but their status as “popular” gives them a feeling of power over those who are not. They are divine in their own world. They show spite because if you are lesser to them and are not honoring them, you deserve punishment, just like Eris.

Mean Girls is just one form of media that showcases similarities to Eris in terms of women using spite and power interlocked. In the movie/play Heathers a titular character is named Heather Chandler. Similar to Mean Girls, Heather Chandler is the “queen” of the school. When one character, Veronica by accident makes Chandler look like a fool, Chandler does not stop to analyze the situation. Chandler who already feels more powerful because of her social status, sees this action as mutiny even though it carried no malice. She vows to destroy Veronica, out of spite of Veronica’s actions. Though not divine like a goddess, she is the top dog of her school. and the students honor her. She feels her status was attacked by Veronica, and wants reprimation, like a certain goddess.

Another example of a woman using spite and power is Queen Niobe, who is also from ancient Greek texts like Eris. Unlike Eris, she is but a mortal woman. Her spite comes from her self proclaimed status of having many children. She feels Leto is not worthy of anything, as she a mortal is able to conceive way more than her. This in turn leads her to feel like she has power over even the gods because of her extravagant child bearing skills. She mocks the goddess Leto from her perceived betterness, which in turn causes her downfall. Her children would be killed because of arrogance (9). Niobe pride and spite ultimately caused her downfall, but this does not change the fact that she felt her status as a fertile caregiver gave her power and spite over those who could not compare.

In the same story, Leto and Artemis are two more women who act upon spite and power. Insulted by Niobe’s words, they want revenge. They are insulted by a mere mortal talking down to them, the gods. Leto wanting to punish Niobe for her words, makes Artemis and Apollon slaughter Niobe’s children. The insulting of their power, causes spite, which just cause the two things to grow which causes the massacre of these kids. Depending on the version of the story, sometimes children are spared (10), however the vast majority are killed. Two sides are shown that have spite and a perceived sense of power, but one outshines the other, and the other meets a grim faith. Goddesses are divine, as that is their nature, but Niobe is a queen, and is divine in her own way too. She is “divine” to her people, and her children for birthing them. Divinity is just looking holier than thou to someone else, it does not mean you have to be a god. Only when her divinity went against someone of higher social standing, did her spite become something of evil, and the god’s spite outclassed hers.

The Greek Goddess, Eris, was more recently depicted in a cartoon from the 2000s called The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy . In the cartoon, Eris is depicted a blonde woman hailing from a place not earthly. This depiction is pretty different if we look at Figure 3, which is a vase painting of her from Ancient Greek times. This piece shows that she was the center of attention, with deep beauty one should respect of a goddess. Though her nature is not so pure, she is stiller depicted as someone of higher class. This is because she will always more holier than a mere mortal as that is her statue. She is given wings in this depiction, but in Figure 1, she is displayed more human. As a goddess she has powers and so is not an issue for her to be displayed with wings. The cartoon Eris, I speak of, is depicted with long blonde hair, a stereotype of a beautiful blonde popular girl by western standards. Though these are two different versions, they both in the end are depictions of divinity.

The cartoon Eris carries a golden apple which is used to stir up chaos ,similar to what the ancient version has done in the Trojan War. She is quiet modernized using modern lingo, and speaking as if she was a teenager of the current era. However, she keeps her nature in tact. Eris still produces chaos in this modern version of her, just in ways that make more sense for the plot of of a cartoon in modern days. She creates wars between people over consumerism while in the ancient version she creates long battles and wars over petty. Cartoon primarily shows up to cause the main characters to get into arguments, or annoying situations for the pleasure of herself. She feels better than the main characters, so she does not mind playing with them out spite. Not too different to her ancient version. Regardless of depiction and age, spite and power go hand in hand for Eris. Through all her shenanigans, it is clear to see from her spite, she feels she has power over others, and will use it in her justification for her malicious actions.

Eris is a strong example of how from ancient Greek to now, a female is using spite and power is not a new thing, but something that stretches far and beyond. They feed and nurture each other. Through many media, women who are in a placement of power, are depicted with spite. Eris being something of this nature, makes the act of being powerful and spiteful a prophetic attribute to the Greeks. Having power, and being spiteful go hand in hand.

1 Amanda Bauer, Archaeologies of the Greek Past Red-figure pottery https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/greekpast/4815.html

2 Giannis Papathanasiou, “ΑΡΧΑΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΑΓΓΕΙΟΓΡΑΦΙΑ.” http://users.sch.gr/ipap/Ellinikos%20Politismos/klasiki/Kadmos,2.htm

3 Colluthus, Rape of Helen 38 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek Poetry C5th to C6th A.D.)

4 Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca E3. 2 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.)

5 Homer, The Iliad 4. 441 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.)

6 Quintus Smryneaus, The Fall of Troy 9. 324 ff (trans. Way)(Greek epic C4th A.D.)

7 Homer, The Iliad 4. 441 ff (trans. Lattimore)(Greek epic C8th B.C.)

8 Hesiod, Works and Days 11 ff (trans. Evelyn-White)(Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.)

9 Homer, The Iliad 24. 602 ff (trans. Lattimore)(Greek epic C8th B.C.)

10 Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 46 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.)

Works Cited

Amanda Bauer, Archaeologies of the Greek Past Red-figure pottery

https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/greekpast/4815.html

12/1/19

APOLLODORUS. The Library of Greek Mythology . Translation by Aldrich, Keith. Lawrence,

Kansas: Coronado Press, 1975.

Giannis Papathanasiou, “ΑΡΧΑΙΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΑΓΓΕΙΟΓΡΑΦΙΑ.”

http://users.sch.gr/ipap/Ellinikos%20Politismos/klasiki/Kadmos,2.htm 12/1/19

HESIOD, THE HOMERICA HYMNS, EPIC CYCLE, HOMERICA. Translation by Evelyn-White,

H. G. Loeb Classical Library Vol 57. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard UniversityPress.

HOMER, The Iliad Translation by Lattimore, R. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

OPPIAN, COLLUTHUS, TRYPHIODORUS. Translation by Mair, A. W. Loeb Classical Library

Vol 219. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.

QUINTUS SMRYNEAUS, Fall of Troy 9. 324 ff Translation by Way, A. S. Loeb Classical

Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press