Credible evidence of Erisian worship in Ancient Greece

[Cain]

HA HA!  I am a genius!

Anyway, that aside, I was searching through some very old and dull copies of the American Journal of Archaeology, when I found a very interesting article in Volume 30, Issue 3 of the publication (July - September 1930).

David M Robinson, the writer of the piece, was given an Attic pinax depicting both of the Erites, dating from the sixth century BC.

That it and of itself is very rare.  Most pottery of this period is Corinthian or Rhodian, Attican regional pottery is quite unusual.  But pieces of art depicting either aspect of Eris (the Strifebringer or Eris of Competition) are not normally seen until the late Classical or early Hellenistic Period, being made more popular as she was via the work of Euripides.

More interesting, the pottery itself.  Firstly, there is no doubt the figure is that of Eris.  If the black skin and wings were not enough, the artist himself inscribed Eris on the front of the pinax.  The back is harder to read, but it could say 'Epiov, "for the shrine of the Strifes."  Equally, it could read Strife against Strife, or the Strife of Competition, but one must consider another fact.

Pinax's were hung in temples, as votive offerings.  Especially pinax's with two suspension holes.  It is also believed the same artist has done other works, found in Delos and the Acropolis (fragments).  These do not depict either of the Erites, but the style of drawing, as well as colouration and themes, would suggest a common source.  These works also had the same suspension holes and were found in Temples

The only other depictions of Eris we know of are on a chest in Corinth (Chest of Cypselus) and in the sanctuary of Artemis at Ephesus.  There is also the sanctuary of Ares at Athens, where there is an image of Enyo, made by the sons of Praxiteles.  But none of these are pinax's, and most depict Eris as a ghastly figure, which this artwork does not do.  It would seem then that Eris was considered somewhat acceptable in Attica, in stark contrast to Corinth and the Ionian cities.

Other things to note about this is the animal symbols used to depict Eris.  We have the hare, for the Eris of Competition, and the snake for the Eris of strife.  Throw in Robert Graves' thinking on Blackthorn being another symbol of Eris and perhaps we have the start of some interesting symbology here, not normally assosciated with unworshipped Goddesses.

If anyone knows how to rip images from pdf format, please tell me.  I have tried copy and paste into paint, but that seems to fail.  If I can, I will get the images and post them up here.

Finally, I will end with a free verse adaption of the tale of the two Erites told in Hesiod, transformed by the article writer into modern English.

Beneath the age-long, far-flung strife of man
With man over the whole wide earth lurk two
Strife sisters. They are not twin, yet must be kin.

Blameless and beautiful the first and great,
Not to the crass and heavy mind that stands
Far off: but, closely known and understood,
Fair as a daughter of the gods to whom
Men make their songs of worship and of praise.

But not like-minded is the other one.
In human hearts she is the power behind
The throne and shapes its whispers, urging on
The ugly crash of battle axes sharp,
With clash of splintering spears in evil war.
O dark and strange her sway. Men love her not,
Yet some dark mystic spell from deathless gods
Her hateful name a noisy honor lends.

Not so that other, elder daughter, true:
Born from the travail of Dark Night, seized by
The Son of Kronos, waiting in the thin
And shadowy ether there and rushed to earth
By him and set beside the secret roots
Of human life on earth, she tends them well
And upward sends her kindly influence
Through all the branching sap of the great tree
Of men in every land and clime and time.

And when Ambition stirs some shiftless churl
To toil, or when a working neighbor shames
Some sluggard from his lazy bed, 'tis she
Who starts the effective thrill that makes him leap.
The rich man ploughs and plants, fully his house
Is filled, all things in order stored. Neighbor
With neighbor vies in hot and wholesome chase,
For all substantial gain. Potter competes
With potter, craft with craft, until we see
Beggar with beggar strive better to beg.
At last the minstrel feels the jealous sting
Some other singer's sweeter song inspires.

0 Better Strife, up from Thy secret seat
Beside the roots of life sending to men
The inspirations for this peaceful war,
Great is thy name, goodly thy fame!

[Cramulus]

great find, Cain!

as for PDFs - if you send them to me I can print them and then scan them into TIF, but only in black and white. The printers and scanners here are pretty high quality.

Have you tried screencapping and pasting into paint? Or was that what you tried which didn't work?

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

For grabbing images from PDF, if all else fails, you can take a screenshot and then cut out the bits you want to keep.

Also... nice!!! I like the association of Chaos/Strife as competition, that fits nominally with the whole Creative Chaos bit.

[Cain]

Cram and Rata: Actually, no, that never occured.



I'll do that now, and see if the quality is decent enough.  The photos are in black and white anyway, so if they don't come out as well as I would like, I'll pass them along to you, Cram.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

They should appear exactly (or damn close) to the quality you're seeing... thats the good stuff about digital

[I Am Not A Rhombus]

Is Eris actually meant to be black, then?

All art I've seen of her has her as pale... and with either red or blonde hair.

[Cain]

True, though apparently multiple transfers of images can affect their clarity...its not something I've especially noticed, but it is said to happen.

Anyway, the Erites themselves



The bottom of the plate



The other works of the "Strife Painter"

[Cramulus]

*fap* *fap* *fap* *fap* *fap*

[Cain]

Is Eris actually meant to be black, then?

All art I've seen of her has her as pale... and with either red or blonde hair.

In traditional Greek drawings, she is black with wings.  Or some sort of hideous hag.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Is Eris actually meant to be black, then?

All art I've seen of her has her as pale... and with either red or blonde hair.

In traditional Greek drawings, she is black with wings.  Or some sort of hideous hag.

The modern PD based Eris is usually the sexy redhead for a couple reasons, much of which has to do with her portrayal in Illuminatus! wherein she appears as most of the female characters but her 'true form' often appears as a redhead.

<i>"Actually, the idea had been subtly planted in her consciousness by the leader of her Wiccan, an  astonishingly beautiful woman with flaming red hair and smoldering green eyes who had once played a starring role in a Black Mass celebrated by Padre Pederastia at 2323 Lake Shore Drive."</i> - Illuminatus

According to the PD itself, Eris claims that the Greeks feared her because they misunderstood her (well, apparently everyone except for the People In The Attic) and thus they made her look scary.

[Cain]

I wonder if the Attican description differed due to the status of Athens as a trading power?  Obviously, naval trade was vital to their empire and long a component of local culture.  Competition would be considered a good thing, since it spurred Athenians on to create more music, more plays, more poetry, better soliders and better philosophy, laying the groundwork for Classical culture.

I know Verthaine believes market sellers would often say prayers to Eris to bring luck in their dealings that day, so it would seem a natural extension.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I wonder if the Attican description differed due to the status of Athens as a trading power?  Obviously, naval trade was vital to their empire and long a component of local culture.  Competition would be considered a good thing, since it spurred Athenians on to create more music, more plays, more poetry, better soliders and better philosophy, laying the groundwork for Classical culture.

I know Verthaine believes market sellers would often say prayers to Eris to bring luck in their dealings that day, so it would seem a natural extension.

Wouldn't that be a great laugh if we pieced together the worship of Eris and the groundwork for Classical culture? After all, she's already pretty embedded in the Modern Counterculture, so why not the Classical Culture?

She's "The Man" that she has us fighting!!! OMG!

[Cain]

OFUK!

Well, you have to remember, most revolutionaries are middle class (even Communist ones.  Especially Communist ones), and the American revolutionaries took their ideas from theoriests like Adam Smith....who promoted free trade to improve competition.  In fact, the middle class would not likely exist today if not for the allowance of lower classes to econimocally compete, meaning competition helped bring them into being.

o_O

[Cainad (dec.)]

And Charles Darwin made baby Jesus cry by suggesting that biodiversity exists because of competition, and not because of God's wuv.

Kansas has laws against making baby Jesus cry, I think.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

When you consider that the British retreat from The North Bridge in Concord happened on 4-20-1775 and the first congressional army was raised in Mass on 4-23 I think its obvious.


LOL23OMGZ!