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Opening Pandora's Box: Phrases We Borrowed From the Classics and the Stories Behind Them
By Ferdie Addis
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About this ebook
It has been one of those days. You've worked like a Trojan, displaying titanic strength and stoic endurance to overcome the Herculean labours that have faced you in order to meet that deadline. We regularly employ classically-derived expressions in our everyday language, yet many of us have little understanding of the origin of these common phrases. But an incomplete classical education need no longer be your Achilles heel. Opening Pandora's Box offers a light-hearted yet fascinating look at the stories behind the expressions. For example, did you know that the phrase 'the face that launched a thousand ships' originates from the story of the kidnapping of Helen of Troy, but the actual line comes from a poem by Christopher Marlowe? Opening Pandora's Box provides a useful introduction to classical mythology as well as giving an insight into our language.
Author
Ferdie Addis
Ferdie Addis read Classics at Oxford University, before embarking on a career as a journalist and author. He has written The Good Samaritan Bites the Dust (2011), I Have a Dream (2011) and Opening Pandora’s Box (2010) for Michael O’Mara Books. He lives in London.
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Opening Pandora's Box - Ferdie Addis
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