Sword of Damocles

  • The Sword of Damocles is an everyday expression meaning to be in the presence of a continuous but unseen danger.
  • The story comes from Cicero, who got it from the now lost ‘Histories of Greece, Sicily and Rome’ by a Greek historian named Timaeus of Tauromenium.

Damocles and King Dionysius

  • Damocles was praising the good fortune and immense power that King Dionysius II of Syracuse, (c.367-c.344 BCE) wielded.
  • Dionysius invited Damocles to swop chairs, so he could sit on the throne, and feel the power for himself.
  • After Damocles had sat in the throne, Dionysius arranged for a sword to be suspended above it, held only by a horses hair.
  • Dionysius did this to show Damocles, that despite all his power and wealth, his enemies were plotting against him all the time. Damocles soon begged to leave, realising that with great power comes great peril.

 

Everyday Expressions that come from Ancient Greece
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