A Profusion of Allusions

Abraham and Isaac

In Genesis, Abraham was asked by God sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. Abraham made ready to obey. At the last moment, his hand was stayed By an angel of the Lord. Isaac was spared, and Abraham received the Lord’s blessing. The story is symbolic of the man’s will to make the ultimate sacrifice to demonstrate his faith and trust in God. It also Symbolic of the idea that faith shall be rewarded.

Absalom

In Samuel II, Absalom was David’s favorite son who was killed in battle while attempting to usurp, his father’s throne. David Grieved: “O My son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom!“ The word alludes to parental grief, and the lost and faithless son. William Faulkner used Absolom! Absolom! As a title of a novel.

Achilles

In Greek, legend, Achilles was the hero of Homer’s Iliad, who was the model of valor and beauty. He slew the Trojan hero Hector, but was himself in vulnerable to wounds because his mother Thetis had held him by the heel and dipped him in the river Styx. Later he was slayed by Paris, who shot an arrow into his heel, which had not gotten wet. Today, the term “ Achilles’ heel” Refers to the vulnerable part of a person‘s character.

Antigone

Daughter of Oedipus Who performed funeral rights over her brother Polynices in defiance of Creon’s order. Her story can be seen as a symbolic of the choice between the gods’ authority and civil authority, or the choice between justice and law.

Armageddon

In revelation, which predicts apocalypse, Armageddon is the location of the final cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil. The term is often used in literature to refer to an apocalyptic climax, or to a time of judgment.

Atlanta

In Greek mythology, she was a huntress who promised to marry any man who could outrun her in a foot race. She was defeated by Hippomenes, who threw three golden apples to distract her as she ran. She is the archetype of speed, strength, and daring foiled by a trick of the intellect.

Atlas

In Greek mythology, Atlas was one of the Titans who repelled against Zeus. As punishment for his actions, he was condemned to forever hold the heavens on his shoulder (literally “ Has the weight of the world on his shoulders?”)

Blind leading the blind

“And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” In the Bible, blindness frequently represents a lack of spiritual enlightenment. This particular reference from Matthew implies that wisdom cannot be obtained through the teachings of the enlightened.

Burning bush

In Exodus, God use this device to catch Moses’ attention when he wished to assign him to the task of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. Because the bush burns but is not consumed, this tail symbolic of initial reluctance, followed by proof of an authoritative truth. The burning bush also represents physical proof of divinity.

By bread alone

In Matthew, Chris said “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word….of God.” In other words, not all human needs are met by food; human kindness is important too. (An example is Lear’s “O! Reason not the need” speech.) Also refers to the idea that faith can provide spiritual substance.

Cain and Abel

In Genesis, Cain murdered his brother Abel out of jealousy. This became a theological reference to innocent blood, and the archetypal brother versus brother conflict. Read East of Eden!

Camel through a needle’s eye

Jesus criticized the Pharisees for striving to strain out a gnat, yet being willing to swallow a camel. In Matthew and Luke, he stated that it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven.

Cassandra

In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a daughter of Priam, king of Troy, who possessed the gift of prophecy but was fated by Apollo never to be believed. As an allusion, she represents an accurate but unheeded prophet of doom.

Cast the first stone

In John, a woman caught in adultery was to be publically stoned. But Jesus said, "He that is without sin among you, let him cast a stone at her...." This is a warning against hypocrisy.

Daedalus and Icarus

In Greek mythology, Daedalus, the great architect, designed the labyrinth that held captive the Minotaur of Crete. Imprisoned along with his son Icarus, he designed wings of wax and feathers that would allow them to escape. Despite warnings not to fly too high, Icarus soared too close to the sun god Apollo. The wax on his wings melted, and he plunged to his death. It is symbolic of the danger involved in daring to enter "the realm of the gods." James Joyce's protagonist Stephen Dedalus, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, dared to question the strict teachings of his Catholic upbringing.

Damocles, sword of

A symbol of impending peril in Greek mythology. Damocles was seated at a sumptuous banquet only to look up to see a sword suspended by a thread over his head. This spoiled his pleasure. In modern literary usage, the term indicates impending disaster.

Damon and Pythias

In Greek mythology, these were two inseparable friends who would lay down their lives for each other. They symbolize lasting friendship.

Daniel

This biblical hero was cast into the lions' den to punish him for his fidelity to his Christian God; he was divinely delivered. The tale of Daniel in the lions' den is representative of extreme bravery and unwavering faith in the face of adversity. Daniel also interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream; thus, an allusion to Daniel in literature may also be interpreted as referring to an uncanny ability to "read the handwriting on the wall".

David and Goliath

As a young man, David slew the "giant" (6 feet 9 inches) Philistine champion, Goliath. The battle and victory became symbolic of the just defeating the unjust, despite the latter's superior strength Modern example: "Jack and the Beanstalk."

Dionysus or Baccus

Greek and Roman name, respectively, of the god of wine, revelry, the power of nature, fertility, and emotional ecstasy. He is usually thought of in terms of overuse or excess. Ancient drama festivals were dedicated to him. Today he is representative of the Nietzschean philosophy, the creative-intuitive principle. Modern examples: the movie Animal House.

Eye for an eye

In Leviticus, the passage "Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: recommends the practice of exacting specific and equal punishment for a transgression or injury; for example, killing a murderer for his crime of killing another. (This was later revised in Mathew: "whoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.")

Four horseman of the apocalypse

In Revelation, John prophesies the end of the world, the final struggle between good and evil. He uses the metaphor of four enormously powerful horsemen as the ultimate destructive forces of divine retribution: war, death, plague, and famine. In literature, the four horsemen remain symbolic of powerful destructive forces.

Garden of Gethsemane

This is the garden outside Jerusalem where the agony and betrayal of Jesus took place. Symbolically, a place of great physical or psychological suffering.

Good Samaritan

In spite of a long-standing mutual hatred between Jews and Samaritans, a good Samaritan stopped to help a Jew who had been way laid by thieves, thereby becoming the prototype of a good neighbor. The term has come to mean anyone who stops to help a stranger in need.

Grail or holy grail

Subject of multiple legends, most prominently as the chalice or cup that caught the blood from Christ's side and which he had used at the Last Supper, probably of even more ancient origin as a fertility symbol. In Arthurian legend, it is the object of a quest on the parts of the Knights of the Round Table. The Holy Grail brings health and sustenance to those who hold it and may be found only by the pure of heart. Modern examples: Indiana Jones, Monty Python

Iphigenia

In Greek mythology she was the eldest child of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. She was sacrificed by her father in exchange for a guarantee of fair winds for the Greek fleet on its way to Troy. (Compare to Abraham and Isaac.)

Jacob’s ladder

In Genesis, Jacob dreamed of a Ladder from Earth to heaven and heard the voice of God promise land and favor to his descendants. He awoke to place the stone on which he had been sleeping as the first stone of a future temple of God. The ladder is symbolic of the path to God and to heaven. The dream also contains references to the Promised Land and to the covenant with the "chosen people"

Jezebel

In Kings, she was a Phoenician princess who married King Ahab and urged him to sin; she became a formidable enemy of the prophet Elijah. In Revelation, Jezebel is the name given to a false prophet. In literature the term usually refers to a seductive woman who leads the hero astray. Modern example: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

Judas Iscariot

One of the original twelve Apostles, he betrayed Jesus by selling him out for thirty pieces of silver and identifying him with a kiss. Later he committed suicide. Regarded as the prototype of the ultimate betrayer.

Judgement of Paris

In Greek mythology, a beauty contest was held to determine the fairest of the goddesses. Paris, the handsomest man in the world, was the judge; the contestants were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite (representative of greatness, prowess in battle, and love, respectively). Angered at not being invited to Thetis' wedding, Eris, the goddess of discord, threw an apple marked "To the Fairest" into the gathering, provoking the goddesses to fight over it. Paris ultimately chose Aphrodite and was promised the love of Helen in return. This sparked the events that led to the Trojan War. Consider similar elements in "Snow White" ("Mirror, mirror, who is the fairest?"); the apple as fruit of discord; the disastrous choice of love and beauty over less ephemeral attributes. Consider also the following similarities between Paris and Oedipus: both were exposed on a hillside as infants to protect their fathers; both were rescued by shepherds; and both were cursed by fate.

Labors of Hercules

In Greek mythology, Hercules had to perform 12 fabulous tasks of enormous difficulty before becoming immortal: killing the Nemean lion; killing the Hydra; capturing the hind of Artemis; killing the man-eating Stymphalian birds; capturing the oxen of Geryon; cleaning the Augean stables; capturing the Cretan bull; capturing the horses of Diomedes; capturing the girdle of Hippolyta (queen of the Amazons); killing the monster Gorgon; capturing Cerberus; and taking the golden apples of Hesperides. (IF YOU DON'T RECOGNIZE THESE - GOOGLE THEM!)

Laius

In Greek mythology, Laius was the father of Oedipus and the original husband of Jocasta. Killed by Oedipus in fulfillment of the oracle, Laius is a major figure in the Laius-Jocasta-Oedipus myth in which the son kills his father and takes his place as both king and husband. The tale is symbolic of the inevitable usurpation of father by son, a familiar theme in folklore.

Last Supper

The Last Supper was Jesus' last meal with his disciples before his crucifixion. Virtually every aspect of the story has both literal and symbolic associations.
During this dinner, Christ instituted a number of sacraments, especially Communion, in which bread and wine after transubstantiation become the "body and blood" of Christ. In consuming the bread and wine, followers of Christ accept him as their savior.

Lazarus

In the New Testament, he is the brother of Martha and Mary of Bethany, whom Jesus raised from the dead after four days, prefiguring the resurrection. Lazarus is symbolic of one who lives after a declared death.
(Compare to Sisyphus).

Leda

In Greek mythology, Zeus is said to have come to Leda in the shape of a swan to father four legendary children: Castor, Clytemnestra, Pollux, and Helen. The story of Leda and the swan is a favorite theme of artists from Michelangelo to Dali.

Lilies of the field

In Matthew, this is used as an example of the way God cares for the faithful. If he "dresses" the lilies so beautifully, surely he will provide raiment for his children.

Lion lies down with the lamb

In Isaiah, this is the classic image of the idyllic harmony and universal peace of the earthy paradise that will come into being when the Messiah arrives.

Loaves and fish

In Matthew, Christ multiplied five loaves of bread and two fishes into a sufficient amount to feed a crowd of 5000 (not counting women and children).
When all had eaten their fill, there were still 12 baskets of scraps left over.

Lot/Lot’s Wife

In Genesis, Lot was a moral inhabitant of the sinful city of Sodom. A nephew of Abraham, Lot escaped the destruction of the city by the angels of the Lord. Abraham had argued with the Lord over his intended destruction of the innocent along with the guilty.

Lot and his family were warned of their impending doom, but his sons-in-law "though he was joking". Lot took his wife and daughters and fled. God warned them not to turn back, but Lot's wife could not resist, and was turned into a pillar of salt. The tale of Lot's wife is illustrative of the idea that God punishes those who are disobedient.

Magi

Latin plural of magus, "wise man." Traditionally they have the names Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar.
The gifts the magi brought to the Christ child were gold (symbolic of royalty); frankincense (the emblem of divinity); and myrrh (the symbol of death). The story of the three wise men visiting the manger represents the
"showing forth" of the newborn Christ child to the Gentiles (non-Jews). This moment of awareness is known as "the Epiphany," the term writer James Joyce used for his and his characters' moments of
enlightenment. Modern example: O. Henry's short story
"The Gift of the Magi”

Mammon

From the Aramaic word for wealth, as used in the Bible. Mammon became the evil personification of riches and worldliness, and the god of avarice. Modern examples: In Spenser's The Faerie Queen and Milton's Paradise Lost, Mammon personifies the evils of greed and wealth.

Mary [the Virgin]

The mother of Jesus and wife of Joseph. Symbolic of purity and maternal love, she is the major subject, along with her son, of thousands of works of art, especially the art of the Renaissance. (Compare to the Greek/Roman goddess Artemis/Diana, known variously as goddess of the hunt, virginity, and motherhood.)

Medusa

In Greek mythology, Medusa was the chief of the three Gorgons - monsters who had snakes for hair, and faces so horrifying that just the sight of them turned men to stone. She was killed by Perseus, who took her head with a sword given to him by Hermes. Pegasus, the winged horse, sprang from her blood.

Minotaur

In Greek mythology, this was a monster with a bull's head and a man's body. Poseidon sent a bull from the sea as a signal of favor to Minos. As a result, Minos was crowned king of Crete, but he neglected to sacrifice the bull to Poseidon. Angered, Poseidon caused Minos' wife Pasiphaeto became enamored of the bull. The offspring of their union was the Minotaur, which was imprisoned by Minos in the labyrinth designed by Daedalus. Modern example: Mary Renault's novels Bull from the Sea and The King Must Die.

Moses

He received the Ten Commandments from Jehovah on Mt. Sinai. Following the pattern of the archetypal hero's life, Moses was a foundling child rescued by Pharaoh's daughter and raised to be a prince of Egypt. As an adult, he led his own people, the children of Israel, out of bondage in Egypt, through the Red Sea on dray land, and on a 40-year journey searching for the Promised Land. Because he committed one arrogant sin - striking a rock to bring forth water - he himself was not permitted to enter the Promised Land. (Compare to all cautionary tales from mythology that warn heroes not to fly too high, or to assume god-like powers. Like Moses, Icarus, Prometheus, and Bellerophon also suffered for their arrogance.)

Myrmidons

In Greek mythology these were people from Thessaly who accompanied Achilles at the siege of Troy. They were known for their brutality and savagery.

According to legend, they were originally ants who were turned into human beings to populate one of the Greek islands.

Nemesis

In Greek mythology, she was the personification of righteous anger. Nemesis punished those who transgressed upon the natural order of things, either through hubris or through excessive love of material goods. Currently, the word usually refers to an unbeatable enemy.

Nirvana

This Sanskrit word means "going out," like a light. Buddhists believe that in this doctrine of release, a state of perfect bliss is attained in life through the negation of all desires and the extinction of the self.
Nirvana is union with the Buddha, an ideal condition of harmony.

Noah and the flood

In Genesis, when God decides to punish the wicked of the world with a terrific flood, he chose Noah, a good man, to build an ark. Noah, his family, and pairs of animals of the world lived on the ark during the 40 days and 40 nights of the deluge, while everyone and everything else perished. Great Flood themes appear frequently in mythologies around the world. Examples: the epic of Gilgamesh in Sumerian legend; Vishnu in Hindu mythology, Deucalion in Greek mythology.

Odyssey

Ninth-century B.C. epic poem, attributed to Homer, which recounts the story of the ten-year-long homeward journey of Odysseus and his men after the Trojan War. The Odyssey is a source of our knowledge of many of the major Greek myths and legends, as well as the basis for many modern works. The most outstanding of these is James Joyce's Ulysses. More recently, the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? (one of Ms. Broaddus's favorite movies) was based loosely on the Odyssey.

Oedipus

You’ve read it… you should know this one.

In Greek mythology, Oedipus was the son of Laius and Jocasta. In response to an oracle, Oedipus was abandoned at birth and raised as the son of Polybus and Merope, king and queen of Corinth. When grown, Oedipus learned of the prophecy that foretold that he will kill his father and marry his mother – two of the worst taboos in human civilization. In an attempt to avoid fulfilling the prophecy, he left his adopted land, Corinth, and fled to Thebes, his actual birthplace. En route, he encountered – and in his pride and ignorance slew – Laius, the king of Thebes. He also answered the riddle of the sphinx, saving Thebes from paying the annual tribute of its best youth to the monster. As a reward, he was made king of Thebes and he married Jocasta, the queen and his mother, thus fulfilling the prophecy and continuing the curse of the House of Atreus. Freud based his well-known theory of the “Oedipus complex” on this myth.

Pandora

In Greek mythology, she was the first woman, comparable to Eve in biblical allusion. Like Eve, Pandora, whose name means “all gifts,” was given the power to bring about the ruin of mankind. Zeus gave her a closed box filled with all the evils of the world and warned her not to open it. Her curiosity got the better of her, and when she opened the box, all the evils flew out, and they have continued to harm human beings ever since. Today, Pandora’s box refers to a gift that turns out to be a curse. It also refers to the unanticipated consequences of one’s own actions, as in “opening a can of worms.”

Persephone

(Roman name: Proserpine) In Greek and Roman mythology she was the goddess of fertility and queen of the underworld. The daughter of Zeus and Demeter (Ceres), she was kidnapped by Hades (Pluto). Her mother (goddess of flora, the harvest, and fertility) grieved so deeply that all earthly crops died and perpetual winter threatened. A bargain was struck: Persephone would spend half the year with Hades – hence autumn and winter – and return to her mother for half of the year, allowing the revival of the crops during spring and summer. The myth of Persephone is the classical explanation for the seasons.

Phoenix

This mythical bird lived for 500 years, burned to death, and then rose from its own ashes to begin life anew. For this reason, the phoenix frequently symbolizes death and resurrection, or eternal life.

Pontius Pilate

The Roman governor before whom Jesus was tried. When he could not convince the mobs to release Jesus, he washed his hands, symbolically cleansing himself of what was to follow, and turned Jesus over for crucifixion. In contemporary usage, a Pontius Pilate is one who betrays his own moral convictions and submits to the pressure of others, “washing his hands of the matter.”

Procrustes

In Greek mythology, Procrustes was a thief of Attica who placed anyone he captured on an iron bed. If the person was too tall, he cut off whatever hung over; If too short, he stretched the person until he fit. The term “Procrustean bed” connotes a rigid standard to which exact conformity is enforced.

Prodigal Son

In one of Jesus’ parables, this is the younger son who wastes his “portion,” or his inheritance. His father forgives him and celebrates his homecoming over his older brothers’ protests. Modern examples: Prince Hal in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part II; the children’s tale “Peter Cottontail.”

Prometheus

(Greek for “forethought”) A Titan and the champion of men against the gods, Prometheus stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave the precious gift to humans. As punishment for his transgression, Zeus had him chained (or nailed) to a mountain where an eagle tore out his entrails each day. The organs regenerated overnight. He was eventually freed by either Hercules or Zeus (accounts differ). His is the hero of Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound and Shelley’s poem “Prometheus Unbound.” He is also the subject of the golden statue above the skating rink at Rockefeller Center in New York City.

Proteus

In Greek mythology, Proteus was Poseidon’s herdsman and a prophet. He was a sea god who could assume any form or shape he wished. In current usage, protean means versatile.

Pygmalion

In Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a sculptor and king of Cyprus who created a statue of Aphrodite. He fell in love with his own creation, and Aphrodite herself answered his prayer: The statue came to life, and he married her. The statue is named Galatea in other versions of the story. George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion and the musical My Fair Lady – the story of Professor Higgins and his “creation,” Eliza Doolittle – are based on this myth.

Pyrrhus

King of Epirus in ancient Greece. For 25 years his waged a series of wars. He often won, but lost too many soldiers in the process. At the time of his death, he had succeeded only in bringing Epirus to ruin. A pyrrhic victory is one that was won at much too high a price.

Romulus and Remus

In Roman mythology, these are legendary twins, sons of Mars and a vestal virgin who was put to death at their birth. The boys were thrown into the Tiber but were washed ashore (compare to Moses) and suckled by a she-wolf. They were found by a herdsman and his wife, who brought them up as their own. As adults, Romulus and Remus decided to found a city (Rome) on the spot where they had rescued from the Tiber. When an omen declared Romulus to be the true founder of the city, the brothers fought, and Romulus killed Remus. Note the similarities between this story and that of Cain and Abel (the demigod status of the founding father) and Oedipus (the coincidental raising by a herdsman). Virgil’s great Roman epic poem, the Aeneid, was so titled because the twins were said to be descendants of Aeneas.

Ruth

was a Moabite widow who refused to

abandon her mother-in-law, Naomi. Her lovingly loyal behavior became the model for good women to follow. Eventually, she married Boaz and became the great grandmother of David. Her intertribal marriage to Boaz also represents openness to the world.

Sabine women rape of

In Roman legend, Romulus “solved” the problem of finding wives for the men in his new settlement by stealing and raping the virgins of the Sabines after luring the men away to a celebration. After a subsequent war, the tribes intermarried by accord, and the settlement flourished.

Salome

In Matthew, because Salome so pleased Herod, the governor of Judaea, by dancing at his birthday feast (legend has it that it was the “Dance of the Seven Veils”), Herod promised her anything she asked for. Salome’s mother had divorced her husband and married Herod. John the Baptist had denounced the marriage and was imprisoned for doing so. Salome asked for John the Baptist’s head, and she was given it on a platter.

Satyrs

In Greek mythology, a race of goat-men, sometimes considered woodland demigods, with the tail and ears of a horse and the legs and horns of a goat. They were followers of Dionysus and were best known for chasing wood nymphs. Satyrs were a major figure of the satyr play, which traditionally followed a tragic trilogy. The satyr play treated serious matters in a grotesquely comic way. Shakespeare used vestiges of the form in plays such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Salman Rushdie alludes to the satyr figure in Satanic Verses. Also, e.e. cummings’ “goat-footed balloon-man.”

Scylla and Charybdis

In Greek mythology, a jealous Circe turned the nymph Scylla into a sea monster with twelve fee, six heads on long necks, and menacing rows of teeth with which she devoured sailors. The terrible Charybdis, hurled into the sea by Zeus, hid under rocks and created a whirlpool. Together they were a formidable danger to ships passing through the Straits of Messina. They came to be understood as metaphors for the dangerous rocks on one side of the passage and a devastating whirlpool on the other. The popular phrase related to the pair is “between a rock and a hard place.”

Sermon on the Mount

This is the sermon given by Jesus (as recorded by Matthew) in which he expresses the essences of his teachings. The sermon begins with the beatitudes: “Blessed are the poor,” the meek, the sorrowful, etc. The beatitudes (the word means “happiness”) promise religious happiness for those who lack material goods and are in need of the spiritual blessings of God. The sermon as a whole outlines rules for behavior. The speech is usually interpreted as the fulfillment of the law of the Old Testament.

Sisyphus

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus cheated death by telling his wife to forgo the usual burial rites when he died, thus giving him permission to return from the underworld to punish her. This angered Zeus, and when Sisyphus died a second time, many years later, he was condemned to eternally roll a huge rock up a hill, only to have it roll back down as he was about to reach the top. Albert Camus used Sisyphus as the metaphor for modern man’s situation in The Myth of Sisyphus. He serves as a constant metaphor for the never-ending struggle to complete one’s task, only to be thwarted by still more hurdles.

Sodom and Gomorrah

The two major cities, according to Genesis, which were destroyed by heave with fire and brimstone (traditional elements of hell) because of their wickedness. They stand as symbols of debauchery.

Solomon

Traditionally the wisest and grandest of the kings of Israel, Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba. When asked by Jehovah what gift he most wanted, he responded “an understanding heart,” and ever after he was renowned for his wisdom. The story of the two women who both claimed to be the mother of the same baby remains as the model of the “Solomon-like” decision. Solomon decreed the baby be cut in half to give each woman her “just” due. The false mother agreed, but the true mother was willing to give up her claim so the baby would live. Solomon returned the baby to the true mother, of course. He also directed the construction of the great temple that bore his name.

Sphinx

In Greek mythology, the sphinx was a monster with the face of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of a bird. She posed a riddle to the citizens of Thebes and devoured the young men who could not answer it. When Oedipus, en route to Thebes, correctly answered the riddle, the sphinx killed herself in chagrin. The riddle is usually given as, “What walks on four legs in the morning, on two at midday, and on three in the evening?” (Answer: Man, who crawls on all fours as a baby, walks upright as an adult, and uses a cane in old age.) In Egypt the sphinx was usually seen as a huge statue with the body of a lion and the head of a man, representing the sun god Ra. The largest remaining sphinx is two-thirds the length of a football field. The sphinx also represents monumental silence in literary reference.

stealing the apples of the Hesperides

In Greek mythology, the Hesperides were the daughters of Hesperus whose golden apples were guarded by a dragon. One of Hercules’ labors was to slay the dragon and steal the apples. (Compare to the serpent and the tree in the Garden of Eden.)

Styx

In Greek mythology, the Styx was one of the five rivers of hell (the others are Acheron, Cocytus, Phlegethon, and Lethe). Charon ferried the dead across the river Styx to the underworld. The Styx figures heavily in Dante’s Inferno and in “Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief”. Lethe turns up frequently in literature as an allusion to forgetfulness.

swords into ploughshares

Although the sword appears as a weapon of war or a symbol of wrath more than 400 times in the Bible, this use in Isaiah refers to the hope that a peaceful age will eventually eliminate the needs for weapons of war. Beating swords into farm implements is comparable to the practice of converting munitions factories into home appliance factories after times of war in the twentieth century. The phrase is often used by speakers advocating peace.

Tantalus

In Greek mythology, Tantalus was a progenitor of the House of Atreus (source of many of the extended Greek tragedies from Agamemnon to Orestes) who is best known for his punishment in Hades. He suffers eternal hunger and thirst while standing in the middle of a body of clear, cold water that dries up as he reaches for it. The fruit of a heavily laden bough hangs above his head, but remains just out of reach. His name gives us the word tantalize.

thirty pieces of silver

This is the amount paid to Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus by identifying him with a kiss. Legend has it that he threw it back at the Jewish priests just before he hanged himself. The phrases “thirty pieces of silver” and “Judas’ kiss” refer to betrayal and treachery.

Through a glass darkly

Writing to the Corinthians, Paul prophesied a time of perfect love and clarity of knowledge of God, in contrast to the time when people saw God “through a glass darkly” (or indistinctly). This passage is used frequently in wedding ceremonies and, conversely, by writers who wish to convey the opposite of perfect love and clear knowledge through irony. Most recently, this has been the title to movies, plays and novels.

Tower of Babel

In Genesis, after the flood, the descendants of Noah built a tower that was meant to reach to heaven. But Jehovah, unhappy with their arrogance and hubris, “confounded” their speech so they could not understand one another, and then he scattered them over the Earth. This is the biblical explanation for the diversity of languages in the world. The Tower of Babel has come to represent a madly visionary scheme, and the word babel now means a senseless uproar in which nothing can be understood. It is also related to the word babble. Once again, this is a cautionary tale warning that humankind should not aspire to the heights of the gods.

Trojan Horse

A large wooden horse designed and built by the Greeks, supposedly as a gift to Athena. Because the Greeks had been unable to take the walled city of Troy during their ten-year siege, they instead tried deception. Placing a troop of soldiers inside the hollow wooden horse, the Greeks pretended that they were sailing homeward. The unsuspecting Trojans brought the horse inside the walls. Late that night, the Greeks crept out of the horse and opened the gates of the city, letting in their comrades, and they took Troy at last. The phrase “beware of Greeks bearing gifts” has its origins in this tale.

Utopia

In literature, the title of the 1516 book by Sir Thomas More, who gave the name, meaning nowhere in Greek, to his imaginary island. More describes the ideal society according to the ideals of the English humanists, who dreamt of a land where ignorance, crime, poverty, and injustice did not exist. Since then the name has been applied to all attempts to describe or establish a society in which these ideals would prevail. Interestingly, many twentieth-century writers have focused on the anti-utopian, or dystopian, world. Examples of this kind of work include Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, George Orwell’s 1984, and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.

Waterloo

The town in Belgium where Napoleon was resoundingly defeated in 1815. In current usage, the term refers to a crushing and final defeat.