Encyclopedia > Damocles

  Article Content

Damocles

In Greek mythology, Damocles was a courtier in the court of Dionysius the Elder. He mentioned that, as a person of power and authority, Dionysius must be very content and happy. Dionysius invited Damocles to a banquet, which he enjoyed very much sitting at Dionysius' throne. Damocles looked up and saw a sword hanging by a single piece of horsehair directly above his head and he thereafter realized the precarious position rulers are in. The Sword of Damocles is an oft-used allusion to this myth.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Sakhalin

... the island by the Japanese during their possession of its southern part (1905-1945). Sakhalin is separated from the mainland by the narrow and shallow Strait of Tartary or ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 52.5 ms