GLOSSARY OF MYTHOLOGICAL WORDS AND PHRASES IN ENGLISH 773lize one of his major, defining ideas on the nature of
the human psyche and infantile sexual development;
the Oedipus complex is the term he used to describe
the natural progression of psychosexual develop-
ment in which the child has libidinal feelings for a
parent of the opposite sex and hostility for the par-
ent of the same sex. The term Oedipus complex refers
to the male child. See Electra complex.
Olympic Games/olympian The Greek gods had
their homes on the heights of Mt. Olympus in north-
ern Greece, and so were called the Olympians. The
term olympian carries with it notions of the new or-
der ushered in by Zeus and his family and also dis-
tinguishes these gods in their sunlit heights from the
chthonic ("of the earth") deities, who have associa-
tions with the gloom of the underworld. Therefore
olympian means towering, awesome, and majestic,
akin to the gods of Olympus. The adjective can also
refer to one who competes in or has won a contest
in the Olympic Games, but this designation is de-
rived from the ancient Olympic Games, celebrated at
Olympia, which was a major sanctuary of Zeus in
the Péloponnèse.
paean Paean was an epithet of the god Apollo,
invoked in a cry for victory in battle or for deliver-
ance 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 inad-
vertently killed Pallas, and in 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; as 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 attendant desire for flight, which was
considered inspired by the god Pan. See echo.
phaeton Helius, the sun-god, assured Phaëthon
that he was truly his father and swore an oath that
his son could have anything he desired. Phaëthon
asked that he be allowed to drive his father's char-
iot across the sky. Helius could not dissuade the boy,
and Phaëthon 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 ear-
lier type of convertible automobile.
priapism/priapic Priapus was the ithyphallic son
of Aphrodite. He is most often depicted with an enor-
mous and fully erect penis. Priapic is an adjective re-
ferring to priapian characteristics. Priapism is a
pathological condition in which the penis is persist-
ently 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 pro-
crustean bed decribes a terrible, arbitrary standard
against which things are measured.
Prometheus/promethean The god Prometheus
("forethought"), son of the titan Iapetus, was the cre-
ator of humanity and its benefactor. He bestowed
upon mortals many gifts that lifted them from sav-
agery to civilization. One of his most potent bene-
factions was fire, which he stole from heaven in a
fennel stalk to give to mankind, a boon expressly for-
bidden by Zeus. As a punishment for his champi-
onship of human beings in opposition to Zeus,
Prometheus was bound to a rocky crag and a vul-
ture ate at his liver, which would grow back again
for each day's repast. Thus the name Prometheus be-
comes 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 called her
gothic horror novel Frankenstein, A Modern Pro-
metheus.
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 ac-
tivity; many English derivatives describe the study
of the mind and the healing of its disorders: psy-
chology, psychiatry, etc. In psychoanalytic terms, the