WIBCI Post #107

WIBCI we really knew what we were saying and understood what we were hearing?

I do not like when I hear words I don’t understand or phrases, like idioms, where I know the gist but have zero idea where the word came from. Then there are the words I took for granted, where the origin never occurred to me.

Examples:

1. In reference to the Battle of Bunker Hill during the American Revolution from the British POV, it was referred to as a Pyrrhic Victory. Never hearing that word before, I looked it up, per Wikipedia:A Pyrrhic victory (/ˈpɪrɪk/ PIRR-ik) is a victory gained at such a cost to the victor that it is tantamount to defeat.^[1]

   The phrase references a statement attributed to Pyrrhus of Epirus. After his victory against the Romans in the Battle of Asculum in 279 BC, Plutarch reports that Pyrrhus exclaimed “One more victory over the Romans and we are completely done for!”

2. Spill the Beans synonymous with revealing a secret meant to be kept, this I knew, what I didn’t know I learned from: www.phrases.org.uk:  The derivation of this expression is sometimes said to be a voting system used in ancient Greece. The story goes that white beans indicated positive votes and black beans negative. Votes had to be unanimous, so if the collector ‘spilled the beans’ before the vote was complete and a black bean was seen, the vote was halted.

3. As Rich as Croesus: I knew it was a historical figure who had coin, I didn’t know he is meant to be a cautionary tale. Here’s what worldhistory.org had to say about it:Croesus (r. 560-546 BCE) was the King of Lydia, a region in western Asia Mnor (modern-day Turkey) and was so wealthy that the expression “as rich as Croesus” originates in reference to him. Best known for his wealth, he is also famous for misinterpreting the message from the Oracle at Delphi, leading to his downfall.

   His wealth, it is said, came from the sands of the River Pactolus in which the legendary King Midas washed his hands to rid himself of the Midas Touch (which turned everything he touched into gold) and in so doing, the legend says, made the sands of the river rich with gold. The Lydians, during the reign of Croesus’ father Alyattes (r.c. 635-585 BCE), were the first people to mint coins in the world (the Lydian stater, initially made of electrum) while Croesus later minted coins of gold and also funded construction of the great Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, further associating him with money and seemingly unlimited wealth.

   CROESUS WAS AN ACTUAL HISTORICAL KING WHO RULED FROM THE CITY OF SARDIS.

   After conquering the cities of Aeolis, Doris, and Ionia, Croesus would not have needed a magical gold river to enrich himself as he received tribute from all of them as well as from Phrygia. Much of the information on his reign comes from the historian Herodotus (l. c. 484-425/413 BCE) who claims he consulted with the sage Solon (l. c. 640 – c. 560 BCE) who warned him against the sin of pride in thinking too highly of himself, advice he ignored, and that his fall was due to a misinterpretation of the message from the Oracle at Delphi concerning making war against the Persian Achaemenid Empire. He is also said to have had the Pre-Socratic Philosopher Thales of Miletus (l. c. 585 BCE) as an engineer in his army who helped divert the Halys River during the military campaign against the Persians, though his association with the philosopher seems to have done Croesus no more good than his consultation with Solon.

   Although some historians have claimed that Croesus was largely a legendary figure, his signature at the base of one of the columns of the Temple of Artemis (now on display at the British Museum) is evidence that he was an actual historical king who ruled from the city of Sardis. He is frequently referenced in the present day in regard to vast wealth but his story also serves as a cautionary tale (as it did in antiquity) regarding pride and the risks inherent in the interpretation of signs, omens, and messages from the Divine.

The more you know, the more you see. – Aldous Huxley

Last Updated on 12/15/2025 by Death of Hypatia Inc.