Children of Eris (Hesiod)
Catalogue ID: 01-cosmogony-theogony/039-children-of-eris-hesiodic
Cycle: Cosmogony / Theogony — personified ills
Version line: Hesiodic — Eris’s brood in the *Theogony* (with *Works and Days* double-Eris background)
Sources: Hesiod, *Theogony* 225–232; cf. *Works and Days* 11–26 (two kinds of Strife)
Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/01-cosmogony-theogony/039-children-of-eris-hesiodic.md
Characters
- Dysnomia, Ate — disorder and ruinous folly
- Eris — Strife; daughter of Nyx; mother of the listed ills
- Horkos — Oath; punishes false swearing
- Hysminai, Machai, Phonoi, Androktasiai — fightings, battles, murders, manslaughters
- Neikea, Pseudea, Logoi, Amphillogiai — quarrels, lies, words, disputes
- Nyx — grandmother of the brood (Eris’s mother)
- Ponos, Lethe, Limos, Algea — toil, forgetfulness, famine, pains
Places
Themes
Narrative
Among the children of dark Night, Hesiod sets hateful Eris (Strife). From Eris alone—without a partner—come a throng of personified ills that afflict mortal life: Ponos (Toil), Lethe (Forgetfulness), Limos (Famine), the Algea (Pains/Sorrows), the Hysminai (Fightings), the Machai (Battles), the Phonoi (Murders), the Androktasiai (Manslaughters), Neikea (Quarrels), Pseudea (Lies), Logoi (Words/Disputes), Amphillogiai (Disputes), Dysnomia (Disorder) and Ate (Ruin/Blind Folly)—close companions—and Horkos (Oath), who most troubles men on earth when anyone wilfully swears false.
In *Works and Days* Hesiod distinguishes a blameworthy Eris from a useful one that stirs potters and beggars to rivalry; the *Theogony* list is the genealogy of harmful strife’s consequences. The catalogue explains, in Hesiodic terms, why quarrel, famine, and false oath stalk humankind: they are kin born of Strife herself.