Rich as Croesus, a Midas touch, Cupid’s bow, Tantalizing, Echoes, Narcissism, flying too close to the sun. English is littered with mythic idioms, common phrases we use everyday with ancient origins, most of them tragic or gruesome – and quite often both.
Midas Touch
When someone has a ‘Midas Touch’, they have the unique ability to make money out of anything they take up. The myth behind this, takes this sentiment literally. As the story tells us, Midas was a fictional king of Phrygia and, in true fairytale fashion, was granted a wish for his kind treatment of the wondering Satyr, Silenus. Midas wished for the extreme wealth he could get if everything he touched turned to gold, and, true to his word, Silenus granted just such an ability. At first, this newfound power did just as intended, it granted him insurmountable wealth, however as time went on, there appeared to be a problem with Midas’ ability – every time he went to eat something, it turned to gold as soon as he touched it and slowly, Midas began to starve in a palace full of golden riches. He was eventually granted relief by the god Dionysus, a companion of the Satyr Silenus, with the order to bathe in the Pactolus River which washed away Midas’ touch.
Rich as Croesus
This river gave birth to another of our idioms – another one to do with wealth in fact. Those with enormous wealth might find themselves compared to the Lydian king of the 6th Century BCE, Croesus. Croesus was a king known throughout the ancient world for the wealth he supposedly gained from the sands of the River Pactolus. His riches extended with the tributes given by the lands he had conquered and were evidenced by his gold minted coins and the funding he provided for the building of one of the wonders of the world, the Great Temple of Artemis at Epheseus. Croesus’ wealth inflated his pride, for which he was eventually punished, after a misinterpretation of the Oracle of Delphi as to whether he should make war on the mighty Persian Empire (which he took to mean – sure go ahead, invade one of the strongest powers on your continent). Lydia was conquered by the Persians and Croesus was put to death, he did however manage to survive with the indirect aid of Athenian wise man Solon. You see, before his engagement with the Persians, Croesus had met with Solon and had been disappointed by his underwhelmed reaction at his wealth. The king had asked Solon who was the happiest man in the world, after showing him his wealth. Solon answered with three examples, all of them far from Croesus’ position, his point being that the happiness of man cannot be truly measured till he dies. So when Croesus was about to be executed, he shouted Solon’s name in realization – the Athenian had been right, and this is what saved his life. Cyrus the Great, Ruler of the Persians, happened to be a fan of Solon and instead of following through with the death sentence, Croesus was not only spared but made an advisor of Cyrus – keep your enemies close and all that.
Icarus
Punishment for pride is a common theme in classical myth and this seems to have translated to our idioms. Next up, another prideful man whose end is certainly more tragic than Croesus, Icarus the inspiration behind ‘flying too close to the sun’. Reaching too high and falling down is taken literally in this mythic idiom. Icarus was the son of Daedalus, the great craftsman who created the Labyrinth for the king of Crete, Minos’s monstrous son – the Minotaur. Daedalus made the mistake of offering some indirect help to the defeater of the Minotaur, Theseus, in giving the princess of Crete, Ariadne, a ball of string to give in turn to Theseus so that he could find his way out of the labyrinth. The price for this treason against the king? He and his son were locked in a tower. But Daedalus being Daedalus, devised a means of escape – he built two pairs of wings composed of feathers held with beeswax. He and his son leapt from the tower window and sailed unharmed across the sea, away from Crete. Icarus, though, in his prideful youth, chose to disobey the carefully planned orders Daedalus gave his son before they jumped – do not fly too close to the sun. Icarus, sawed above the sea and kept climbing in his joy. Helios – the sun – decided to take this as a challenge, a threat, his rays intensified to melt Icarus’ wings and he spiraled down, into the sea and drowned.
Tantalus
The punishment of humans by gods is a root to another common feature of our language – as seen in the adjective ‘tantalizing’. As you may have gathered this word comes from the name of a mythical figure, Tantalus who was punished by the gods with endless phycological torture. This man is probably one of the more deserving figures of myth who faced divine retribution. Essentially, as a test of the god’s omniscience, Tantalus cut up and boiled his own son, Pelops, and served him, hot and fresh, at a banquet of the gods. The gods, being in fact omniscient, surprise surprise, knew instantly of Tantalus’ crime and sentenced him to punishment in the underworld. Tantalus was sent to be tantalized, forever, trapped in a pool surrounded by low bending fruit trees. Whenever he reached to satisfy his hunger, they bent away, whenever he reached below to satisfy his thirst, the water receded.
Cupid’s Bow
This one is pretty simple – essentially, the dip in your top lip is supposed to be reminiscent of the god of sexual passion’s bow. Cupid was the son of Venus, often shown as a winged infant armed with a bow and arrow representative of his power to make anyone fall under the influence of passionate desire. In myth, we often find Cupid use as a tool by his mother to play with mortals for her enjoyment. His Greek counterpart, Eros, son of Aphrodite, was also representative of one of the six types of love that the Greeks visualized as making up the concept of love – they felt just one, to be under representative of the broad concept of love. Eros was the word for sexual love; Philia, the love of friends; Ludos, playful love; Agape, a love of all; Pragma, the deep understanding love we find sometimes in long married couples and Philautia, selfish love. This last type of love is what the character of our next idiom’s focus, fell under.
Echo and Narcissus
The term ‘Narcissism’ comes from the story of one of the most beautiful young men to walk the earth – Narcissus. Narcissus had lived his life unaware of his own face, courtesy of his mother who was obeying a prophesy that foretold this golden boy would live till old age, if only he did not know himself. In other words, he could not look at his reflection. Now, many perused Narcissus for his beauty, but at every proposal or advancement, Narcissus said no. He would only love those who were as perfect, as beautiful as himself. Narcissus even attracted the attentions of divinity, an mountain nymph, Echo. She saw him walking through the forest and followed him silently, having previously been stripped of her voice by Olympians, cursed only to repeat the last few words of the speaker before her. When Narcissus began to call out to his friends, finally, she could speak, but was forced to use his words and not her own. After this had gone on a while, the two met, according to Ovid, but on seeing Echo, just as all the others, Narcissus rejected the mountain nymph, not perfect enough for him. Once Echo realized the futility of her love, she faded into sadness until the only thing that remained was her voice.
In some versions it is this rejection that seals Narcissus’ fate. Angered by Echo’s rejection, the goddess Nemesis, deity of revenge, decides to take her revenge. While, Narcissus is out hunting, Nemesis lures him to a pool, to drink, he looks down into the pool and sees his face for the first time. At last, here was a being of perfection to equal the great Narcissus, at last, Narcissus had found love. So there he stayed, pining after his reflection until he wasted away. In his place, grew a beautiful flower, white and gold. Narcissus was forever immortalized in a perfect form.