The apple of discord - Яблоко раздора
The phrase the apple of discord is used to denote a cause of dispute, a moot point. The allusion is to the Greek myth of the golden apple that the goddess of discord threw among the guests at the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, to which she had not been invited. The apple bore the inscription “ for the fairest”. Hera (Juno), Aphrodite (Venus) and Athena (Minerva) became competitors for it. Being unable to settle the point, they referred the question to Paris, a Trojan prince. Each of the three goddesses offered P aris a precious gift if he would award her the prize. Hera offered him a kingdom; Athena, great success in battle; Aphrodite said she would give him the most beautiful woman in the world for his wife. Paris chose Aphrodite as the fairest. This inflamed the jealousy and hatred of Hera and Athena to all the Trojan race (to which Paris belonged), and resulted in the Trojan war and the fall of Troy.
That night when standing by chance outside
the chamber of her parents she heard for the first
time their voices engaged in a sharp altercation.
The apple of discord had, indeed, been dropped
into the house of the Millbornes.
T. Hardy, Life’s Little Ironies
Знаете ли вы значение метафоры яблоко раздора?
It denotes a moot point, doesn’t it? As far
as I know, it comes from Greek mythology.
Да, выражение заимствовано из греческого мифа
о Парисе и золотом яблоке. Вы помните, какая была
на яблоке надпись?
For the fairest.
И кому преподнес его Парис?
The legend has it that he awarded it to
Venus as the most beautiful of the three goddesses.
Вы хотите сказать Афродите? Имя Венера употребляется в римской мифологии, а не в греческой. Итак,
на пиру среди прочих присутствовали три богини:
Гера, Афина и Афродита или, если хотите, Юнона,
Минерва и Венера. Кстати, что это был за пир?
It was at the wedding feast of Thetis and
Peleus, where all the gods and goddesses
met.
Однако одна из богинь не была приглашена.
That was the goddess of discord. She
came uninvited and threw onto the table the
golden apple.
Богини сами не смогли решить вопрос о том, кому
должно достаться золотое яблоко, не так ли?
Since the goddesses were unable to settle
the point, they referred the question to Paris,
the son of the king of Troy.
И Парис, не задумываясь, преподнес золотое яблоко Афродите.
Paris’s judgem ent in favour of Aphrodite
brought upon him the vengeance of Hera and
Athena.
И из-за этого началась Троянская война?
And the fall of Troy is to be attributed
to the spite of the goddesses.