Gift Horse,Trojan War/Horse, Achilles' heel, myrmidon

 

The euro crisis

Europe’s Achilles heel

Google To Newspaper Industry: Don't Shoot The Gift Horse That Feeds You
Washington Post
Google's been taking a beating from the newspaper industry lately, and Rupert Murdoch in particular. But the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal let Google ...

 Achilles' heel

(ə-kĭl'ēz)
n.
A seemingly small but actually crucial weakness.

[From Achilles' being vulnerable only in the heel.]

TROY
also Il·i·on (ĭl'ē-ən, -ŏn') or Il·i·um (-ē-əm) An ancient city of northwest Asia Minor near the Dardanelles. Originally a Phrygian city dating from the Bronze Age, it is the legendary site of the Trojan War and was captured and destroyed by Greek forces c. 1200 B.C. The ruins of Troy were discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1871.


Troy (Troia), otherwise known as Ilium, an ancient city famous in legend; its siege by the Greeks is the subject of Homer's Iliad (see TROJAN WAR and TROJAN HORSE above). Its site in north-west Asia Minor some 6 km. (4 miles) from the Aegean Sea, a little south of the Hellespont, was identified at the modern Hissarlik by the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who between 1870 and 1890 excavated the occupation mound, composed of the accumulated debris of centuries. He and later archaeologists have established nine principal strata, representing nine successive periods of occupation (called Troy I, Troy II, and so on), dating from the Bronze Age to Roman times.



Spotlight:

Trojan Horse

Trojan horse: fact or fiction? The story of the Trojan horse was first told in Homer's Odyssey. He wrote of Paris' abduction of Helen, which caused the Trojan War. He wrote of the city of Troy and the Spartan warriors who, led by Achilles, set out to conquer it. And he wrote of the gift of a huge wooden horse that the Greeks supposedly left for the people of Troy — a gift that held dozens of Greek soldiers, who conquered the city. Most researchers believe that the story is just that — a beautifully written story. It has yet to be definitively proven or disproven, though archeologists led by Heinrich Schliemann found evidence of a city that was destroyed at around the time of Homer's Troy in the location indicated by Homer.

Quote:

"After the event, even a fool is wise." — Homer



 
Myrmidon

n.

1. Greek Mythology. A member of a warlike Thessalian people who were ruled by Achilles and followed him on the expedition against Troy.
2. myrmidon A faithful follower who carries out orders without question.

[From Middle English Mirmidones, Myrmidons, from Latin Myrmidones, from Greek Murmidones.] ant