Apple of Discord

An apple of discord is a reference to the Golden Apple of Discord which, according to Greek mythology, the goddess Eris (Gr. Ερις, "Strife") said would go "to the fairest" at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, sparking a vanity-fueled dispute between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite that eventually led to the Trojan War (for the complete story, see "The Judgement of Paris"). Thus, "apple of discord" became a euphemism for the core, kernel, or crux of an argument, or for a small matter that could lead to a bigger dispute.

Derivative uses

Because of this, the Roman goddess corresponding to the Greek Eris was named "Discordia". Also, in German and in Dutch, the words are used a lot more often colloquially than in English, though in German the colloquial form is not "Apfel der Zwietracht" (lit. "Apple of Discord") but "Zankapfel" ("Quarrel-apple") and rarely "Erisapfel" - the Dutch is "Twistappel" ("Strife-apple").

In the Eixample district of Barcelona there is a block nicknamed in Spanish, "la manzana de la discordia", "manzana" meaning both "apple" and "city block".It was so named because it features three different interpretations of "Modernisme" architecture: Antoni Gaudí's Casa Batlló, Lluís Domènech i Montaner's Casa Lleó Morera and Josep Puig i Cadafalch's Casa Amatller.

Kallisti

Etymology

"Kallisti" is the word from the Greek language inscribed on the Golden Apple of Discord by Eris, meaning "for the fairest" or "to the most beautiful".

In ancient Greek, the word is "καλλίστῃ", "kallistē(i)", (the dative singular of the feminine superlative of καλός, beautiful). In Latin it is "pulcherrimae".

provides a close example.

Discordianism

The word "Kallisti" has become a principal symbol of Discordianism, a modern religion. In non-philological texts (such as Discordian ones) the word is usually spelled as "καλλιστι". Most versions of "Principia Discordia" actually spell it as καλλιχτι, but this is definitely incorrect; in the afterword of the 1979 Loompanics edition of "Principia", Gregory Hill says that was because on the IBM typewriter he used, not all Greek letters coincided with Latin ones, and he didn't know enough of the letters to spot the mistake.

Other uses

*Kallisti (Καλλίστη) is also an ancient name of Santorini.

ee also

*Judgement of Paris
*Polemic
*Golden apple
*German Apple Front