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 WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS REFERRED TO CHARACTERS IN ANCIENT HISTORY   

“MESSALINA”

ENGLISH WORD: “messalina”.

CURRENT MEANING: represents a powerful and scheming woman with reputation of licentious and promiscuous; this term has come to be used as a synonym of prostitute.

ORIGIN: Valeria Messalina was the third wife of the Roman Emperor Claudio, and was very famous for her beauty and her constant infidelity to her husband.

 

 

Messalina. Whore emperess. Eugène Cyrille. 1884. Museum of Fine Arts, Rennes

 

“DRACONIAN”

ENGLISH WORD: “draconian”.

CURRENT MEANING: is an adjective meaning “rigorous”, “severe”, “cruel”.

ORIGIN: it derives from Draco, an Athenian lawgiver from around 620-630 BC who was known for making a very strict code of conduct, that imposed death penalty on minor crimes.

 

“AS RICH AS CROESUS"

ENGLISH WORD: “as rich as Croesus”, “to be the Croesus”.

CURRENT MEANING: a very rich man, a very wealthy person.

ORIGIN: it refers to the wealth of Croesus, the king of Lydia from 560 to 547 BC, who took his wealth from the rich gold deposits along the Pactolus River.

 

 

Solon and Croesus. Gerard van Honthorst 1590-1656.

“MAUSOLEUM”

ENGLISH WORD: “mausoleum”.

CURRENT MEANING: this word has now come to be used for an above-ground, stately and magnificent tomb.

ORIGIN: the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus was a tomb built at Halicarnassus (current Turkey) for Mausolus, the king of Caria. The name given to the structure was a tribute to Mausolus.

 

 

The Mausoleum of Halicarnasus. Martin Heemskerck (s. XVI).

“PYRRHIC VICTORY”

ENGLISH WORD: “Pyrrhic victory”.

CURRENT MEANING: it´s a victory in which the victor´s losses are as great as those of the defeated. A victory or goal achieved at too great a cost.

ORIGIN: the Greek king Pyrrhus of Epirus achieved a great victory, however his army suffered many casualties in defeating the Romans during the Pyrrhic war.

 

“PHILIPPIC”

ENGLISH WORD: “philippic”.

CURREN MEANING: bitter and intense speech of accusation, invective, diatribe.

ORIGIN: this word originates with Demosthenes, the Athenian orator who pronounced several inflamed speaches against Philip II of Macedon by considering him a threat to the Greek city-states.

 

“ALEXANDER COMPLEX”

ENGLISH WORD: “Alexander complex”.

CURRENT MEANING: it´s the resentment of a son toward his father, because the father does not allow that the son can succeed for himself or overcomes him.

ORIGIN: this complex comes from Alexander the Great who in a time when his father celebrated his military triumph said: “my father leaves me nothing to conquer”.

 

 

Alexander and Porus by Charles Le Brun, painted in 1673.

 

“THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES”

ENGLISH WORD: “sword of Damocles”.

CURRENT MEANING: it expresses a constant hazard or an impending threat.

ORIGIN: it comes from Damocles, courtier of Dionysius, tirant of Syracuse. Damocles envied his comfortable and luxurious life and to punish him Dionysius made Damocles to replace him at a party full of delicious food. However, over his head hung a sharp sword held by the mane of a horse and it could fall at any time. Thus Damocles understood the brief prosperity of the tyrant.

 

 

The sword of Damocles. Richard Westall. 1812.

“LIKE CAESAR´S WIFE”

ENGLISH WORD: “like Caesar´s wife” or “Caesar´s wife must be above suspicion”.

CURRENT MEANING: the relationships of public figures must not be even suspected of wrongdoing, they must be pure and honest in morals.

ORIGIN: this expression referred originally to Caesar´s second wife Pompeia. According to rumors circulating in about 62 BC, it seems that her name was linked with Publius Clodius, a notorious dissolute man of the time. Caesar did not believe such rumors but he made it clear, when divorcing her, that even Caesar´s wife must be above suspicion.

 

“THE DOG OF ALCIBIADES”

ENGLISH WORD: “the dog of Alcibiades”, also known as "the Jennings Dog".

CURRENT MEANING: it refers to the acts or words used by famous people to distract or divert the public attention about them.

ORIGIN: it´s said that Alcibiades possessed a dog, which had cost him little money, and at a time he decided to cut its beautiful tail off by a simple whim. His friends censured him this ridiculous actions, telling him that the whole city talked about the poor dog and its tail. Alcibiades replied that this was precisely his intention; he wants Athens to talk about his dog´s tail as a way of distracting them from talking about his activities.

 

 

 

The dog of Alcibiades. Roman copy after a Hellenistic bronze original. British Museum.