Achilles’ heel

-A person’s weak spot

-From the Epic the Iliad by Homer
- Hero of the Trojan War, Achilles was a Greek hero whose mother, Thetis, a sea goddess, dips
him into the river Styx, which would render him invincible. However, she had held him by the heel, thus
leaving a vulnerable area. He would later die, as prophesized, by an arrow to his heel.

Adonis
-Handsome young man
-Book ten of Ovid’s Metamorphosis
-Son of Aphrodite, eventually fell in love with

Amazon
-Strong husky woman
-From the Iliad
-Greek word directly means “breast less”

Dog as a man’s best friend

-Self explanatory
-From Odyssey
-When Odyssues returned home in disguise, his faithful dog, who had patiently awaited his
return though near death, managed to stay alive to see his master and the only one who recognized
Odyssues, his master.

The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships

-Anyone who are causing disaster, or worst, a war
-From The Iliad
-The Helen of Troy. The abduction of her by the Trojan prince, Paris, caused Menelaus, her
husband, to declare war on Troy. Because of prior alliances, eventually all of the Argives were involved;
thus Helen’s beauty had “launched a thousand ships” in war.

Food of the Gods

-Luscious, unbelievably delicious delicacies
- From Odyssey
-Nectar and Ambrosia were what the gods normally ate. If a mortal were to eat the Ambrosia, he
would be rendered immortal

Titan
-Large, massive beings
-From the Theogony
-Giants were an enormous race whose existence began when Uaranus, the first king of gods, was
castrated by his son, Cronos.
Gorgon/Medusa
-A severely ugly woman
-From Greek Mythology
- Gorgons were three sisters who were so repulsing looking that their very gaze would turn a
man to stone.

Hermaphrodite
-Human possessing both man and woman genitalia
- Book ten of Ovid’s Metamorphosis
-Hermaphroditus was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. The nymph Salmacis fell in love with
him but he rejected her. She entertwined her arms around him and held tight; the gods molded the two
bodies together, never to part. Two sexes become one.

Judgement of Paris
-Any difficult decision
- From The Iliad
-Paris, a Trojan prince, was given the impossible task of deciding which goddess-Athena,
Aphrodite, or Hera- was the most beautiful.

Leave No Stone Unturned

-Search every minute detail
-From Heracle
-Eurystheus, the king who is after Heracle and his sons’ life. He wants “no stone left unturned” in
finding and killing them.

Lesbian
-A homosexual female
-Greek island of Lesbos

Midas’ Touch
-A person who always is lucky and said to have a Midas’ Touch
-From King Midas and his Golden Touch
-King Midas, who was granted the wish that everything he touched turned to gold. However, he
soon realized that he could not eat or drink or even hug his daughter.

Phobia
-Fear
-Greek Mythology
-Phobos was the son of Ares, the god of war and the representation of fear essentially in battles.
Trojan Horse
-Subversion or destruction from a seemingly serene person, people, or object, especially from
the inside.
-From Iliad
-A giant wooden horse, that is “from the gods”, is brought within the city of Trojans. The belly of
the horse has soldiers hiding in it and during the night, they emerged and sacked the city.

Echo
-Something that repeats or resembles something else
-From Greek Mythology, Echo and Narcissus
-Echo is a mountain nymph who talks so much for she has a gorgeous voice. Her voice was so
lovely, Hera, wife of Zeus, was so destructed so that Zeus can sneak out and make love with other
mountain nymphs. When Hera knew about her role, Hera take her ability to speak her thoughts but she
will repeat the words of others.

Erotic
-Sexual Desires
-From the Greek Mythology
-Eros was not just the god of love, but also sexual desires. As a result, his interventions often
cause gods and men to fall in love, often when already married.

Insomnia
-Unable to sleep
-From the Roman god counterpart Hypnosis
- Hypnos is the god of sleep. He lives in a dark cave where the sun never penetrates, and his
home has neither doors nor gates; thus he be awakened by creaking of woods.

Morphine
-Drug that puts you in a dream-like state or strong pain reliever for strong pain
-From Greek mythology
-Morpheus, the brother of Hypnos, the god of sleep, is the god of dreams.

Narcissism
-Love for one’s own body
- From Greek Mythology, Echo and Narcissus
-Narcissus is a gorgeous man, half nymph and half god, who was proud of his own looks that he
disdained all who dared to love him. Eventually, Nemesis punished him by luring Narcissus to a pool of
water where he could see his own reflection. At this point, there were two endings. One is he realized
that he could never find anyone as attractive as himself, so he finally gave up and killed himself. The
other ending is he did not realized it is an image and falls in love with the reflection, refusing to leave its
side until he died of hunger.
Nemesis
-A rival or enemy
- From Greek Mythology, Echo and Narcissus
-Nemesis was the god who took revenge against those who showed arrogance before gods and
to cause irritation and justification to those who deserve it.

Tantalizing
- Possessing a quality that arouses or stimulates desire or interest’ also mockingly or teasingly
out of reach.
- From Greek Mythology, Tantalus
-A half god and a half nymph who were invited to dine with Zeus at mount Olympus but he stole
the Ambrosia and nectar and other secrets of the gods and gave to humans. He later offered his own son
as a sacrifice to serve him at a banquet. The gods knew about his plan and as a punishment the gods
revive his son and Tantalus was punished to stand in a pool of water below a fruit tree with low hanging
branches. Whenever he would reach down to take a drink, the waters will fall back and whenever he
reached up to pluck some fruit, the branches would rise up out of his reach. He spent the rest of his
eternity tantalized by the water and the food that he could never have.