Phrases From Greek & Roman Myths

In Greek myth, the hero Achilles was dipped in the magical River Styx as a baby, making him invulnerable everywhere except the heel by which his mother held him. A poisoned arrow to that spot eventually killed him.

Zeus gave Pandora a sealed jar (later called a box in retellings) as a gift, warning her never to open it. Her curiosity got the better of her, and when she lifted the lid, all the world's evils and sorrows flew out — leaving only Hope inside.

King Midas of Phrygia was granted his wish by the god Dionysus that everything he touched would turn to gold. The gift became a terrible curse when his food, drink, and even his beloved daughter turned to gold at his touch.

The hero Hercules (Heracles in Greek) was ordered to complete twelve seemingly impossible tasks — including slaying the nine-headed Hydra and cleaning the enormous Augean Stables — as penance for a terrible crime. His name became a byword for superhuman effort.

The Sirens were mythical creatures — part woman, part bird — whose enchanting voices compelled passing sailors to sail toward the sound, wrecking their ships on the rocky shore. Odysseus had himself tied to the mast so he could hear their song without being able to steer toward them.

Scylla was a terrifying six-headed monster who snatched sailors from their ships, while Charybdis was a massive whirlpool that could swallow an entire vessel. Odysseus had to steer between them, choosing to lose a few men to Scylla rather than risk his whole ship to Charybdis.

Around 279 BC, King Pyrrhus of Epirus won a costly battle against Rome at Asculum. He reportedly said, "Another such victory and we are lost" — his army's casualties were so heavy that the wins were strategically worthless. The phrase entered common use to describe any victory that costs more than it gains.

After ten years of siege, the Greeks pretended to sail away and left behind a huge wooden horse as a supposed offering to Athena. The Trojans wheeled it inside their walls — not knowing it was filled with Greek soldiers who crept out at night to open the city gates. The phrase now warns us that generosity from an enemy may hide treachery.

Sisyphus was a cunning king who twice cheated death, and the gods punished him by condemning him to roll a massive boulder up a hill in the Underworld for eternity — it would always roll back down just before he reached the top. His name gave us a word for any futile, never-ending labor.

In Greek myth, the young hunter Narcissus was so beautiful that he fell deeply in love with his own reflection in a clear spring. He could not pull himself away and eventually wasted away beside the water. His name is the root of the modern psychological term "narcissism."

King Minos of Crete had the master craftsman Daedalus build an elaborate underground maze — the Labyrinth — to imprison the Minotaur, a monstrous half-man, half-bull. The hero Theseus eventually navigated it with the help of a thread given to him by the princess Ariadne.

Daedalus crafted wings of feathers and wax for himself and his son Icarus to escape from Crete. He warned Icarus not to fly too high or the sun would melt the wax. Icarus, giddy with the thrill of flight, soared upward anyway — the wax melted, the feathers fell away, and he plunged into the sea. His story is the ultimate myth of hubris.

Apollo fell in love with the Trojan princess Cassandra and granted her the gift of true prophecy. When she rejected him, he could not take back the gift — so instead he cursed her so that every prophecy she made, however accurate, would be disbelieved. She foretold the fall of Troy and was ignored. Her name now describes anyone whose correct warnings go unheeded.

The Gordian knot was an enormously complicated knot tied to a cart in the city of Gordium, and a prophecy said whoever untied it would rule all of Asia. When Alexander the Great arrived, he simply drew his sword and sliced through it rather than spending hours untangling it. The story gave us a phrase for any shortcut that bypasses needless complexity.

Procrustes was a notorious bandit on the road to Athens who offered travelers a bed for the night — but he would stretch short guests to fit the bed or amputate the legs of tall guests so they fit exactly. The hero Theseus finally gave Procrustes a taste of his own medicine. Today a "Procrustean" solution is one that forces a complex reality into an inflexible mold.