Information About ™Damocles |
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| greek mythology | |
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patron, Thomas Hope .]] Damocles is a figure featured in a single moral Anecdote which was a late addition to classical Greek culture. The figure belongs properly to Legend rather than Greek Mythology . The anecdote apparently figured in the lost history of Sicily by Timaeus Of Tauromenium (c. 356 - 260 BC ). Cicero may have read it in Diodorus Siculus . He made use of it in his ''Tusculan Disputations'' V.61 - 62. Damocles, it seems, was an excessively flattering courtier in the court of Dionysius II Of Syracuse , a 4th Century BC Tyrant of Syracuse, Italy . He exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority, Dionysius was truly fortunate. Dionysius offered to switch places with him for a day, so he could taste first hand that fortune. In the evening a banquet was held, where Damocles very much enjoyed being waited upon like a King . Only at the end of the meal did he look up and notice a sharpened Sword hanging by a single piece of Horse hair directly above the Throne . Immediately, he lost all taste for the fine foods and beautiful boys and asked leave of the tyrant, saying he no longer wanted to be so fortunate. The Sword of Damocles is a frequently used allusion to this tale, Epitomizing the insecurity of those with great power due to the possibility of that power being taken away suddenly, or, more generally, any feeling of impending doom. Woodcut images of the Sword of Damocles as a Symbol appear in 16th and 17th Century Europe an books of devices. Compare the imagery connected with Tyche and Fortuna . TRIVIA The Asteroid 5335 Damocles bears Damocles' name. ''The Sword of Damocles'' is the title of a song in the film '' The Rocky Horror Picture Show '' ( 1975 ), and even gets a mention in a Three Stooges short. In the ''. "Sword of Damocles" was also a song on Lou Reed 's 1992 Album tribute to two friends who had died of cancer, '' Magic And Loss '', describing the tenuous balance between life and death for those dying of a Terminal Illness . In a different domain, the first . In the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, main character Harry Dresden is placed under a watch called the Doom of Damocles for suspicion of Black Magic . The only punishment for violation of his Probation is Execution by the sword. The Computer Game '' Damocles '' centres on the player saving a Planet from a Comet , Damocles, that threatens to impact it. The Computer Game '' Deus Ex '' uses the word Damocles as a password on an in-game console computer. At the end of The Simpsons episode " Burns Verkaufen Der Kraftwerk ", Mr. Burns plots his revenge of Homer at some unspecified point in the future using a Sword of Damocles analogy. The book "De donkere kamer van Damocles" (Damocles' Dark Chamber) by Dutch author W.F. Hermans referenced to impending doom by a - failed - picture that was supposed to prove his innocence. He was accused of aiding the Germans, when he believed he was working for the rebellion. EXTERNAL LINKS
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