FAMOUS MYTHS & LEYENDS
Achilles’ Heel
Achilles’ heel – A seemingly small but actually crucial weakness
When Achilles was born, his mother immersed him in the sacred water of river Styx to become immortal. But she grasped his heel so tightly that it didn’t get wet.
Like all those classical heroes down through the ages, Blue Avenger is not invulnerable; like them, he has a weakness. Superman feared kryptonite, Achilles had his heel. For Blue Avenger it is lemon merengue pie.
The Furies
Fury – Violent ager rage
The Furies were the three goddesses of vengeance. Wearing long black robes fastened around their waist with snakes, they hounded law breakers, and especially murderers. Serpents twined through their long white hair and coiled around their arms. Blood dripped from their black eyes. They lived in Tartarus, the deepest, darkest part of the underworld, where they persecuted evil doers even after their death. They also came to the surface if they were summoned to deal with an injustice.
The Graces
Grace – Seemingly effortless beauty of movement, form, or proportion. A disposition to be generous or helpful. To give beauty, elegance, or charm to.
The three goddesses called the Graces were always invited to festivals and celebrations. Whenever they arrived, heroes stopped boasting, poets recited with greater eloquence, musicians played more passionately, and philosophers spoke with deeper wisdom. Elegant and charming, the Graces radiate generosity, beauty and joy.
Hypnos
Hypnotize – To put into an artificial sleeplike condition
Hypnos, the god of sleep, was a great deal more powerful than his soft, droopy eyes suggested. He could put anyone to sleep whenever he wanted. He would doze all day to rise only in the evening when his mother, Nyx, the goddess of the night, roused him.
Pandora’s Box
Pandora’s Box – A process that generates many complicated problems as the result of unwise interference in something.
Before he left Pandora on earth, Zeus handed her a beautiful box saying, “This is my own special gift to you. Don’t ever open it.” As Zeus anticipated, Pandora’s curiosity got the best of her, and she opened the box, Horrible things flew out of the box including greed, envy, hatred, pain, disease, hunger, poverty, war, and death. All of life’s miseries had been let out into the world. Pandora slammed the lid of the box back down. The last thing remaining inside of the box was hope.
Nemesis
Nemesis – A source of harm or ruin. An opponent that cannot be beaten or overcome. One that inflict retribution or vengeance.
Nemesis was the goddess of justice. Her job was to punish the people of evil deeds or of breaking the rules for good behavior. But she also made sure that nobody was too happy, and so she watched Fortuna like a hawk. If Nemesis thought she gave someone too much good luck, she became annoyed.
