Discordia

It is said Rome wasn't built in a day. Whether the sweeping arches of the Colosseum, the long stretch of the aqueducts, or the power the Servian Wall, none can truly claim they were the origin that “built” Rome. For as mighty as she has become, Rome might have never been were it not for the mischief of the Goddess Discordia. Once known among the Greeks as Eris, the maligned Goddess of Strife, Discordia craved to unleash her full potential, to unravel the foundations of the mortals and deities that hated her. She found that opportunity through the vanity of others. Conjuring a golden apple, Eris cast it forth. Upon it read the words ‘for the fairest.’ A phrase that would set Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite against one another. A phrase that would cause Paris to kidnap Menelaus' wife, Helen. A phrase that would ignite the Trojan War. As chaos swirled, as cities crumbled, as heroes both Greek and Trojan fell to each other's blades and Gods grew to loathe one another, no one seemed to wonder from whence the golden apple came. It was masterful! Eventually, the Trojan War reached its peak, and Eris attached herself to the mortal Aeneus. She guided him safely from Troy, across the sea and wilderness, to the place where a new nation would be built. Here, Aeneus founded Rome. Free of the judgement she wore under the Greeks, bereft of the belittling glares of the other Gods, Eris was remade as Discordia. A Roman Goddess of importance and prominence. Indeed, Rome was not built in a day. It was the culmination of a plan for one Goddess to reinvent herself as more than she ever was. And all with one golden apple.