paean
Paean was an epithet of the god Apollo, invoked in a cry for victory
in battle or for deliverance from sickness. A paean thus
became a song of thanksgiving. Today it refers to a song of joy
or praise, whether to a god or a human being.
palladium
As a child Athena had a special girl friend named Pallas, with
whom she used to play at war. During one of their skirmishes Athena
inadvertently killed Pallas and to her memory she built a wooden
statue of the girl. This statue was thrown down to earth by Zeus,
where it became known as the Palladium, and became for the Trojans
a talisman for their city; so long as they had possession of it,
the city would stand. Thus the English palladium means
a protection from harm for a people or state, a lucky charm.
pandora's box
Pandora was the first woman, given to men as punishment for Prometheus'
theft of fire. Sent with her was a jar, which, when opened, released
all the ills that now plague human beings. Later this jar became
a box and now pandora's box refers to something that should
be left unexamined, lest it breed disaster.
panic
Panic describes a state of great fear and anxiety with
an attendent desire for flight, which was considered inspired
by the god Pan. See Echo
phaėton
Helius, the sun-god, assured Phaethon that he was truly his father
and swore an oath that his son could have anthing he desired.
Phaethon asked that he be allowed to drive his father's chariot
across the sky. Helius could not dissuade the boy, and Phaethon
could not control the horses and drove to his death. A phaeton
has come into English as a four-wheeled chariot drawn by two
horses or an earlier type of convertible automobile.
priapism/priapic
Priapus was the ithyphallic son of Aphrodite. He is most often
depicted with an enormous and fully erect penis. Priapic is
an adjective referring to priapian characteristics. Priapism
is a pathological condition in which the penis is persistently
erect.
procrustean/procrustean bed
Procrustes (the "one who stretches") was encountered by Theseus.
He would make unwitting travelers lie down on a bed. If they did
not fit it exactly, he would either cut them down or stretch them
out to size. The adjective procrustean refers to someone or something
that aims at conformity through extreme methods. A procrustean
bed decribes a terrible, arbitrary standard against which
things are measured.
Prometheus/promethean
The god Prometheus ("forethought"), son of the titan Iapetus,
was the creator of humanity and its benefactor. He bestowed upon
mortals many gifts that lifted them from savagery to civilization.
One of his most potent benefactions was fire, which he stole from
heaven in a fennel stalk to give to mankind a boon expressly forbidden
by Zeus. As a punishment for his championship of human beings
in opposition to Zeus, Prometheus was bound to a rocky crag and
a vulture ate at his liver, which would grow back again for each
day's repast. Thus the name Prometheus becomes synonymous
for the archetypal champion, with fire his symbol of defiance
and progress. The adjective Promethean means courageous,
creative, original, and life-sustaining. Beethoven's music may
be called Promethean and Mary Shelley subtitled her gothic horror
novel Frankenstein, A Modern Prometheus.
protean
Proteus was a sea god who could change shape and who possessed
knowledge of the future. To obtain information, one had to grapple
with him until his metamorphoses ceased. Protean means
of changeable or variable form, or having the ability to change
form.
psyche/psychology, etc.
The Greek word for the soul was psyche. The myth of Cupid
and Psyche can be interpreted as the soul's longing for an eventual
reunification with the divine through love. For Freud psyche
means mind and psychic refers to mental activity; many English
derivatives describe the study of the mind and the healing of
its disorders: psychology, psychiatry, etc. In psychoanalytic
terms, the soul is the mind, the seat of thoughts and feelings,
our true self, which seeks to orient our lives to our surroundings.
python
Apollo established the major sanctuary for his worship and his
oracle at Delphi, but to do so he had to kill the serpent which
guarded the site. He named his new sanctuary Pytho, from
the rotting of the serpent after it had been killed (the Greek
verb pythein means to rot); or the serpent's name was Python.
A python today belongs to a particular family of non-venomous
old world snakes.
Rhadamanthus/Rhadamanthine or Rhadamantine
Rhadmanthus, along with Minos and Aeacus, is one of the judges
in the Underworld. Rhadamanthus and Rhadamanthine describe
anyone who is rigidly just and strict.
rich as Croesus
Croesus was the king of Lydia who possessed great wealth that
became legendary. Thus to emphasize their possession of extreme
riches we describe a person as "rich as Croesus."
