7 Phrases You Didn't Know Came From Greek Mythology

Many people would be surprised to realize how much they know about Greek mythology, just from using common words and phrases. For example, most people can easily explain what it means to have an Achilles heel or an Oedipus complex, even if they've never read The Iliad or Oedipus Rex. Similarly, words like "narcissist" and "tantalize" carry the ancient stories they emerged from into their modern meanings.

But while some of these are fairly obvious, particularly when they include a character's name in the phrase, others require more context to connect with their mythic origins.

These seven common phrases were all derived from Ancient Greek stories, but they have evolved enough to be understood in entirely unrelated circumstances.

1. Between a rock and a hard place
2. Trapped in an echo chamber
3. Fatal flaw
4. Flying too close to the sun
5. Sour grapes
6. Carrying the weight of the world
7. Greeks bearing gifts

Between a rock and a hard place

While the earliest known use of the phrase "between a rock and a hard place" comes from 1920s America, its conceptual framework originated in The Odyssey. The phrase refers to a situation where there are no good options—but a choice must be made, all the same. In The Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew must sail through the Strait of Messina, which is plagued by two sea monsters: Scylla and Charybdis.

At least in Homer's telling, there is no way to avoid both dangers. Scylla is a six-headed monster who will kill and eat at least six of his crew members if they sail past her; Charybdis is a personified whirlpool who will probably destroy the entire ship and everybody on it. Odysseus's allies suggest choosing Scylla, as the losses will be more manageable, but it's a brutal example of utilitarianism. When we talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place today, we allude to the no-win scenario from The Odyssey to highlight how painful the decision-making process is.

Trapped in an echo chamber

The modern understanding of an echo chamber requires multiple layers of explanation, beginning with a natural phenomenon and the tragic story that the Greeks invented to explain it. In Greek mythology, Echo was the name of a beautiful nymph who was tasked by Zeus with distracting his wife. She did so by talking incessantly, and when Hera learned why she was doing so, she cursed Echo to be unable to speak her own thoughts. Instead, she was forced to repeat the words of others.

While this part of her story is tragic enough, Echo then fell in love with a beautiful man named Narcissus. When he rejected her advances, Echo fled into the mountains and faded away until only her voice remained. This was then used to explain why you tend to hear echoes in the mountains and other cavernous spaces. As time went on, people began seeking out locations that functioned as "echo chambers" for musical performances. Churches and cathedrals were often designed to be resonant so that religious music would become more powerful than ordinary voices could make it.

Communications theory then took this concept and applied it to insular social groups and algorithm-driven social media. In this context, an echo chamber is any situation where a person has their own beliefs echoed back at them to reinforce their ideologies and make them seem more prominent than they really are. Once a person is inside an echo chamber, it is very hard to change their perspective, because they are prevented from hearing other viewpoints or seeing evidence that contradicts them. While the modern phrase has more to do with the basic concept of an echo than the myth behind it, it feels appropriate that the original echo chamber was created from the words of a narcissist.

Fatal flaw

The Percy Jackson franchise placed a lot of emphasis on fatal flaws, introducing them to generations of young readers. But while that context may have popularized the concept, it has been used for thousands of years to describe both fictional characters and real-world figures. One of the most basic pieces of writing advice out there is to give characters flaws that they must overcome, but a fatal flaw is so deeply rooted that it cannot be outgrown. Instead, it drives otherwise moral and intelligent characters to create their own destruction.

Aristotle used the word "Hamartia" to describe the way that characters made decisions that hurt themselves in tragedies like Oedipus Rex. While some scholars argue that Aristotle intended for hamartia to describe a tragic chain of events, with no indictment on the character in question, his concept was soon rebranded as a "tragic flaw." It was now a personal failing, and the character's tragic fate taught audiences to behave differently. As the concept was adapted into Christian contexts, characters often died for their sins, leading to the alliterative phrase "fatal flaw."

While ancient traditions typically only described the fatal flaws of great heroes like Achilles and Heracles, we use the phrase far more broadly today. It is a common feature of narrative analysis, where a scholar might highlight Hamlet's indecisiveness or Spock's over-reliance on logic, but it could just as easily be applied to ordinary life. Your friend's fatal flaw might be their desire to be loved or their unwillingness to let people in. A politician's fatal flaw might be their unwillingness to work with members of another party, or their tendency to appease enemies rather than opposing them. What began as a Greek literary tradition has become shorthand for practically any defining character trait that promotes self-destructive choices.

Flying too close to the sun

There are many situations where you might be warned against "flying too close to the sun." It's commonly used to highlight the dangers of ambition, as the actions you take to advance your career might backfire if they upset the wrong people. Parents also use the phrase when warning their children about dreaming too big, as defeat can be emotionally crushing when your expectations are set too high. But like most of the phrases on this list, the idea of flying too close to the sun originated in a much more literal form.

According to the myths, an inventor named Daedalus and his son were trapped in a tower by King Minos as punishment for helping Theseus escape the Labyrinth. Seeking his own freedom, Daedalus created two sets of wings to allow himself and his son to fly away. However, he warned his son not to fly too high, where the sun would melt the wax holding the wings together, or too low, where the sea would wet the feathers and drag him down. But when Icarus began to fly, he became so excited that he flew so high that his wings melted and he plummeted into the sea.

The modern phrase compares Icarus's fatal mistake to those who attempt things they aren't capable of. Indeed, the business world warns about Icarus Syndrome, where new leaders throw all their resources behind grand schemes that never work out. But the myth provides additional context that we often ignore. First, it would have been just as dangerous for Icarus to fly too close to the sea, yet we rarely hear warnings about not being ambitious enough. Furthermore, Icarus flew higher because he had already exceeded his expectations. Likewise, people commonly try to break barriers because they have already achieved all that they thought possible. By considering the rest of the story, we get a much richer understanding than the phrase usually implies.

Sour grapes

The modern idea of scorning "sour grapes" dates back to around 600 BC, when a Greek storyteller named Aesop created short, moral-driven stories. These (and others from a similar time frame) were collected in the Aesopica. Although they are technically distinct from Greek mythology, Aesop's fables still tell us a lot about human nature and the values that ancient Greeks held.

As with most fables, the story itself is very simple. A fox sees a bundle of grapes that look delicious, so he tries everything he can think of to reach them. When he fails, he comments that it was foolish for him to have tried in the first place, since the grapes must be sour. Per the Library of Congress translation, the moral is that "There are many who pretend to despise and belittle that which is beyond their reach."

The story element made its way into the English language by 1760, where it was used to undermine others' words by identifying their hidden bias. A man claiming that a woman is ugly might do so because she rejected him; a businessman claiming a product is worthless might have tried to purchase the rights to it. In these situations, an outsider must point out the phenomenon because the bitter person, like Aesop's fox, is either unwilling or unable to see their own hypocrisy.

Carrying the weight of the world

Although there are few circumstances in modern life where we have to carry massive loads in a literal sense, it's common to feel a very physical burden when responsibilities stack up. When others have high expectations for us, when we have a to-do list a mile long, and when we feel like getting through our day-to-day life is more than we can take, we might say that the "weight of the world" is on our shoulders. This image comes to us courtesy of Atlas, a Titan who literally held up the world.

Atlas was a powerful Titan who rose to prominence when Zeus and the Olympians faced off against their father and the other Titans. Unfortunately for him, the Olympians won and charged him with either holding the heavens, holding the world, or holding the two apart (depending on the myth and translation). Since this was considered a nearly impossible task, Atlas soon came to personify endurance. Heracles briefly took on Atlas's burden, winning glory for being able to bear the weight without being crushed, but he quickly tricked the Titan into reclaiming the heavens.

Many layers of this story apply to our modern applications of it. When used internally, we often focus on the strain we feel from a task, just like Atlas felt the constant weight of the heavens on his back. Outsiders, on the other hand, typically pay attention to the person's strength and dedication. The task is the same, but only one side truly understands how crushing it feels. Adding another layer, Atlas never knew if he would be carrying the world for a day or for a lifetime, and the uncertainty that brings makes the burden feel heavier. There are many expressions about burnout, but the image of Atlas literally bearing the world on his shoulders is most successful at capturing the unending nature of our responsibilities and the consequences if we fail.

Greeks bearing gifts

The warning to "beware Greeks bearing gifts" is a reference to Greek mythology coming to us through Roman mythology, making it a particularly interesting case to end on. In modern contexts, the phrase largely warns about situations that seem too good to be true. If a long-time adversary suddenly offers you advice or assistance, you should be wary of it. In more day-to-day situations, a bully is unlikely to suddenly become your friend without ulterior motives.

The original phrase comes from a poetic translation of the Aeneid. Near the end of the Trojan War, the Greek forces appeared to have fled back home, but they left a wooden horse behind them. One of the Trojan priests cautioned his people against bringing the horse into the city, announcing "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" (I fear the Greeks, even when they bring gifts). But when the man and his sons are abruptly killed by sea serpents, the Trojans decide to accept the horse—and bring about their own destruction.

Interestingly, this line may have an earlier source as well. In Sophocles' play Ajax, the titular character refers to an "ancient proverb" which states, "Foes' gifts are no gifts: profit bring they none." It's an ironic line to come from a Greek soldier, albeit not one who participated in the Trojan Horse gambit, but it still proves true when Ajax uses the "gift" of Hector's sword to commit suicide. While modern uses of the phrase don't usually involve life-or-death situations, they refer to the doomed gifts of the Trojan War to advocate for vigilance against former enemies offering sugar-coated attacks.

More About Greek Mythology: