"PARTHIAN SHOT"

ENGLISH WORD: “parthian shot”.

CURRENT MEANING: a hostile gesture or remark delivered while departing.

ORIGIN: it alludes to the military practice of Parthian archers who shot their arrows backwards while retreating. An important battle in which this tactic was employed was the Battle of Carrhae and it was a principal factor in the Parthian victory over the Roman general Crassus.

 

 

A miniature from a medieval chronicle. The miniature decpicts an Ottoman horse archer.

 

"LANGUISHING IN THE DELIGHTS OF CAPUA"

ENGLISH WORD: “languishing in the delights of Capua”.

CURRENT MEANING: when people think too much of ease, and not enough of duty, they are said to be “languishing in the delights of Capua”.

ORIGIN: Hannibal, in his attempt to conquer Rome, came to Capua, where he wished to spend the winter, and gave his men a chance to recover after their long and exhausted journey. The city offered to the Carthaginians numerous pleasures that languished their forces.

 

 

The amphitheatre of the ancient Capua.

 

“AVENTINE SECESSION”

ENGLISH WORD: “Aventine secession”.

CURRENT MEANING: it makes reference to the actions of protest against an abuse of governmental powers.

ORIGIN: it has its origin in one of the conflicts between patricians and plebeians, in 494 BC, in which the plebeians went to the Aventine hill and threatened patricians with founding a new city. This threat meant that the patricians gave in to the protests of the plebeians.

 

“BYZANTINE”

ENGLISH WORD: “Byzantine”, “Byzantine argument”.

CURRENT MEANING: it refers to an argument or something highly complicated, intricate and involved.

ORIGIN: this expression comes from the complex and violent religious disputes that took place from the time of Constantine in the Eastern Roman Empire.

 

“GORDIAN KNOT”

ENGLISH WORD: “gordian knot”.

CURRENT MEANING: it´s often used to refer to a complex and intricate problem solved strongly and without hesitation.

ORIGIN: it has its origin in the legend of King Gordius of Phrygia, who offered to Zeus his cart, tying the spear and the yoke with a knot so complicated that nobody could release it. When Alexander the Great took Phrygia, knew that an old tradition said that who unleashed this knot was to become the lord of the world.

 

 

Alexander cuts the Gordian knot. Jean- Simon Berthélemy.

 

"PASS UNDER THE CAUDINE FORKS"

ENGLISH WORD: “pass under the Caudine Forks”.

CURRENT MEANING: to be forced to undergo humiliating conditions.

ORIGIN: it comes from the name of a narrow mountain (Caudine Forks) where during the Second Samnite War the Roman army was defeated and forced to pass under a “yoke” of the Samnites.

 

 

The battle of the Caudine Forks. Pass under the yoke, Roman wall-painting scene.

 

“PASS THE RUBICON”

ENGLISH WORD: “pass /cross the Rubicon”.

CURRENT MEANING: this idiom means to take a crucial and irrevocable decision from which there is no turning back.

ORIGIN: it refers to Julius Caesar´s army passing this small river, which was considered an act of war against Pompey and an action of uprising that led Caesar to his dictatorship.

 

 “MARATHON”

ENGLISH WORD: “marathon”.

CURRENT MEANING: a long-distance race, or it can refer to a contest or event greater than normal requiring exceptional endurance.

ORIGIN: it comes from the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger who ran the 26 miles and 385 yards to Athens from the battlefield of Marathon to announce that the Persians had been defeated by Greeks.

 

 

Painting of Pheidippides reaching Athens. Luc-Olivier Merson.