i need to know what these mean in present day and an explanation of their origin?

Question

an achilles heel
the midas touch
a chimerical scheme
to open a pandoras box
an apple of discord
to work like a trojan
beware of greeks bearing gifts
a lotus-eater
difficult as the judgment of paris
between scylla and charybdis
an icarian adventure
the thread of ariadne
an aegean task
to be unable to bend ulysses's bow
the face that launched a thousand ships.
thank-you very much for your help :)

Answer 1

Wow! and only 10pts for this?
1) soft spot in an otherwise impregnable person or thing (Achilleus was dipped in holy river by his goddess mother, all except for his heel (she was holding that - when he was struck by an arrow at Troy (in the heel!) he died.
2) ability to turn dross into gold (success at all endeavors). King Midas wished for his touch to turn everything to gold - and it did - food, people, etc. He was miserable but rich beyond all.
3) A fantastic plan, like a rube-goldberg contraption - doesn't work well but mighty fancy. The Chimera was a shape changing mystical creature, I believe.
4) let loose all sorts of havoc. Pandora's box was said to drive men mad if they peered inside - it did.
5)In the garden of eden, when Eve bit the apple she was gifted with the knowledge of good and evil (and became ashamed of her wondrous nakedness). The apple of dischord is the thing that divides previously good friends or groups.
6) Trojans were besieged by Greeks for decades, and badly outnumbered.
7) See above. The Greeks prtetended to leave Troy and left behind a fabulous giant Wooden Horse. The Trojans, in a moment of insanity, brought the horse inside their city gates. The Greeks were inside and slaughtered the Trojans that night. It's meant now as a warning not to take someone's word at face value if they haven't been especially nice before, or to not take an item presented to you from soemone who has ulterior motives.
8) Lotus eaters were people who ate the flowers (lotus) and whiled away their time, not doing much. A lotus eater is considered lazy and a dreamer.
9)Paris took Helen from her husband and this was the cause of the Trojan war. Someone described in a situation as this is likely being chided for having to choose between living and dying, as Paris was eventually called out by the Greeks to fight one on one to end the war. He accepted, but then slunk away after being slightly wounded.
10) The literal Rock and hard place people talk about when they say they are between them now, having to make a difficult choice. Scylla and Charybdis were situated where the Sirens attempted to lure sailors, including Ulysses, to
their deaths.
11) Icarus flew too close to the sun on wings made of feathers and held together with wax. An adventure such as his would lead to dizzying heights, only to crash (like DotCom stocks or Housing Prices)
12) Ariadne held the thread of life in Greek mythology. If cut, you died. When we say you're "hanging by a thread" it's meant to convey precariousness.
13) Aegean task? I've heard Herculean task. If the same thing, it's meant to say a series of difficult endeavors to attain a goal. One of them Hercules was asked to clean stables (hundreds of horses) in one day. Naturally he could do it, but it signifies an enormous task for humans.
14) Ulysses' bow was similar to sword in the stone (Camelot). When Ulysses was presumed dead after years of wandering trying to get home from the Trojan war to his wife, it was said that he who could bend his bow would win her hand. Naturally, no one but Ulysses, secretly returne damong the robber bridegrooms, could do it. He strung it and bent it and killed them all. To be unable to bend the bow, likely means you were unworthy of the task.
15) Helen. When Paris and she absconded from Greece, her husband, King Meneleus, rounded up the "thosuand ships" and set sail for Troy after her. To be described as such now means you are very beautiful, indeed.


Hope it helps (though I'm not 100% positive about all of them)

Answer 2

Break it down into enough seperate questions that a person won't have to make a job of it rather than an enjoyment. You'll probably get more to answer then.

1. A subtle weakness.
2. Successful Business acuman.
3. Trying to sell home lots on the moon.
4. Question officials in the Whitehouse.

Answer 3

math cant be questioned by either philosophy or science. think about a concept representing a concrete object. you can change the concept but is the object changed no. so to answer your questions as things change in time the object in question is still represented but through different concepts. now this is my bs to you divisibilities origin started when cave people were feeding their family or when God created the earth and animals. comparability started when one cave person said hey you have more than me your better or when Adam and eve were in the garden of eden and adam said i am man and eve said i am woman. it evolved because people have feelings. while watching others die off because they have no food strikes fear of not passing the family line on. i could go on about how each situation complies to either God or evolution of man. my main point is that those are the reasons why people dont challenge God or they just dont want to look at what has been for so long. "if it aint broke dont fix it"

Answer 4

Hm...Having trouble with homework?

;)

Check out these links:

Icarus, Ariadne:
http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/greek_people/articles.html

Midas, Chimera, Pandora, Scylla/Charybdis:
http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/greek/articles.html

Lotus-eaters:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotophagi

Apple of Discord:
http://www.bartleby.com/59/2/appleofdisco.html

Aegean task:
(see Fifth Labor of Hercules, re: Augean stables [variant spelling])
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augeas

Judgment of Paris:
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/paris.html

Ulysses' Bow:
http://www.bartleby.com/81/16934.html


Related to the Trojan War, you have:

Achilles:
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/achilles.html

Greeks bearing gifts:
http://www.bartleby.com/59/3/bewareofgree.html

The "face that launched a thousand ships" was Helen of Troy:
http://www.bartleby.com/59/2/helenoftroy.html

Work like a Trojan:
http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/7/messages/801.html


And this one has a lot of different references to your list:
http://www.tigtail.org/TIG/S_View/TVM/E/Ancient/Greek/Greek-info/HOMR/HOMR-trojan_war.html

Good luck!