The Apple of Discord (Ancient Greek: μῆλον τῆς Ἔριδος) was a golden apple dropped by Eris, the goddess of strife, at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis in the Greek myth of the Judgement of Paris. It sparked a vanity-fueled dispute among Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite that eventually led to the Trojan War.[1]
In common parlance, the apple of discord is the core, kernel, or crux of an argument, or a small matter that could lead to a bigger dispute.[2]