Mythological Allusions

How Can Something So Old

Still Be Used Today????

What Is an Allusion?
An allusion is any indirect reference to a
well-known person, place, event, literary
work, or work of art. This reference is one
others recognize, such as a reference to
the Bible, mythological character, historical
event, hero or famous individual.
Example: Hes a real Michael Jordan; I
know hell get a scholarship.

Adonis
An extremely
beautiful boy who
was loved by
Aphrodite, the
goddess of love
and beauty.
Allusion: an
Adonis is any
handsome young
man.

Amazons
A nation of warrior
women descended
from Ares, the God of
War. The Amazons
burned or cut off their
right breasts so that
they could use a bow
and arrow more
efficiently.
Figuratively: An
Amazon is any large,
strong, aggressive
woman.

Cupid
The Roman name of Eros, the god of love. In the story
of Cupid and Psyche, he is described as a

magnificently handsome young man.

Today Cupid is often

symbolic of Valentines Day
and is depicted as a chubby,
winged infant who shoots
arrows at people to make
them fall in love.

Midas
A king who was granted one wish by the god Dionysus.
Greedy for riches, Midas wished that everything he touched
would turn to gold. He soon regretted his request. When
he tried to eat, his food became inedible metal. When he
embraced his daughter, she turned into a golden statue.
On the instruction of Dionysus, he washed in a river and
lost his touch of gold.

A Midas Touch
Midas Then

Today, a person
who easily acquires
riches is someone
said to have the
Midas touch.

Midas Now

Nemesis
The Greek goddess
of Vengeance
Today, a nemesis
is an avenger. Ones
nemesis is that which
brings on ones
destruction or
downfall

The Labyrinth
A vast maze on the
island of Crete where
the King of Crete kept
the Minotaur, half
bull-half man. Very
few people escaped
from it. Only
Theseus used a ball
of string to find his
way out of the maze
once hed killed the
deadly Minotaur.

Boy, this is complicated!

A labyrinth can
be literally a
maze.
Or it can be
figuratively any
highly intricate
construction or
problem.

Pandora
The first woman,
created by
Hephaestus, given
treacherously to
Epimetheus along with
a box in which
Prometheus had
confined all the evils
of the world; as
expected, Pandora
curiously opened the
forbidden box and
thus released into the
world all troubles of
mankind. By the time
Pandora manages to
close the lid, luckily
only HOPE remains.

What Have You Done???

Today, a Pandoras
box is a prolific
source of troubles
or problems.
If ones opens a
Pandoras box, he
has created all
kinds of problems
for himself.

 A mythical bird of
great beauty, the
only one of its
kind, fabled to live
500 or 600 years,
to burn itself on a
funeral pile, and
to rise from its
ashes in the
freshness of
youth and live
through another
cycle of years

Phoenix

Rising Out of the Ashes

Today, a person or
thing that has
become renewed
or restored after
suffering calamity
can be called a
phoenix.
Will New Orleans Rise from the Ashes?

America is a phoenix rising from the ashes of the

9/11 terrorists attack!

Hercules
A mythical Greek hero
renowned for his great
strength and for
performing the 12
labors. Hercules
performed these labors
as retribution or
payment for the slaying
of his family while under
Heras spell of madness.

Today, any act of

extraordinary power,
extent, intensity, or
difficulty is said to be
Herculean.

Achilles
In mythology,
Achilles was the
greatest Greek
warrior at Troy; he
was also slayer of
Hector, the Trojans
best warrior.
Today, ones
Achilles heel is his
weak point or
character
weakness.

SIRENS
The sirens live on an
island surrounded by
sharp rock. They lure
sailors to the destruction
with their irresistible song.
They have heads of
women but bodies of
birds. Sirens are evil,
bent on destroying all
sailors and eating their
corpses.

Listening to the Song of the Siren

In modern day, if you listen to
the song of the Siren, you
are listening to someone you
should not trust. They seem
nice, but history shows they
cannot be trusted.
Example: Some voters fear
Barak Obamas promises are
the song of the Siren and do
not trust him, but many more
Americans disagree.

Scylla and Charybdis

Two monsters Odysseus faces
in his voyage home, Scylla
is a six-headed monster
lurking in rocks along the
shore that snatches men
from a passing boat, one for
each head.
Charybdis is a monster who
waits at the bottom of the
whirlpool that destroys ships
passing by sucking them in
and eating them.

Caught Between a Rock and a

Hard Place
Today, in an allusion to the monsters
Scylla and Charybdis, a person says he is
caught between a rock and a hard place.
This means he has two equal but difficult
options from which he must choose.
Example: Wow, I have been accepted to
both U.F. and F.S.U.; in choosing, I am
really between a rock and a hard place!

The Trojan War and Greeks

Bearing Gifts
The Greeks sneak into
Troy in a gift meant
to end the 10 year
Trojan War, a wooden
horse hiding sneaky
Greeks.
Today, a Greek bearing
gifts is one who is
acting like they can be
trusted when they
cannot.

What is the Allusion?

1. John Travolta suffered a serious
downturn in his acting career in the
1980s, but like a _____________, he
has risen back to the top of fame.
2. I feel like Ive been shot by
_____________; I am crazy about him!
3. Lifting a car off a crushed victim is a
_____________act, but Ive read in the
paper of such things happening.

4. Her laziness is her ________________; if she

really wants to be successful, shell have to get
busy!
5. The women of the WWF are ______________;
they are big, beautiful, and strong!
6. The ________________ of the human mind is
still not completely understood by scientists.
7. Stealing and getting caught is a ____________
because the police come, ones parents are
called, and jail time is possible.

8. I do not know why that girl is always

talking behind my back; she is my
__________.
9. Bill Gates has the ______________
because no matter what he does, he
makes millions.
10. Being the gorgeous ______________
that I am, I am sure shell definitely jump
up and down to go to prom with me!

11. Elie wanted a _____________ or guide

in his study of the cabbala, and his
search took him to Moshe the Beadle.
12. Few realize that the _____________,
the most famous ocean liner of all times
that struck an iceberg, was named after
the Titans, mythologys first gods and
goddesses.
13. Psychology and Psychiatry both get their
roots from the Greek word
___________, alluding to her and the
workings of the human mind.

14. I find pizza to be ________________ or very

tempting; I want to eat it every day but know
that isnt possible.
15. My family took a summer ___________,
traveling through the South, the Southwest,
and up the coast of California.
16. Nature is my ___________ as an artist,
and all my photos capture its beauty.
17. In order to discover where the Middle
East is, we consulted the ___________.
18. Many Greeks believed that when a
__________ erupted, Vulcans fire was under it.

19. Angelina Jolie is a beautiful _________,

and many men have been ____________
by her charms.
20. Her passion or ____________ for
drama was evident when she went to New
York to pursue a stage career.
21. The tennis shoe ____________ is
named after the Goddess of Victory.