Atropos

In the ancient Greek myth, Atropos was the eldest of the three Fates, whose job it was to spin out the thread of life,

Aphrodite

Aphrodite was the ancient Greek goddess of love (called Venus by the ancient Romans). Her name means "foam-born," because she rose out of the sea, fully grown, mature, and magnificently beautiful, as shown in The Birth of Venus, the famous painting by Botticelli. She was a goddess of triple aspect: Aphrodite Urania -- ideal, spiritual love; Aphrodite Genetrix -- marriage; and Aphrodite Porne -- lust and prostitution.

Aphrodite played an essential role in the story of the Trojan War. At a wedding, all the gods and goddesses were invited except Eris, the goddess of discord. She attended the wedding anyway, and tossed out a golden apple, inscribed "To the fairest." Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena each claimed to be the fairest. To settle the dispute, Zeus gave the choice to Paris, a prince of Troy. Each of the three goddesses tempted Paris with a special gift. Venus won by offering him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, who was already married to Menelaus, the king of Sparta. Paris carried Helen off to Troy, the spark that ignited the Trojan War.

English word: Several words are derived from the names for Aphrodite. The most obvious is aphrodisiac, a substance that stimulates sexual desire. Several English words derive from Aphrodite Genetrix: genital -- related to the reproductive organs; progenitor -- ancestor; even gentleman and gentlewoman -- man or woman "of gentle birth." Another English word derived from an aspect of Aphrodite is pornography -- sexually arousing written material or its graphic portrayal. Another English word that may derive from Aphrodite is April, the month when love blooms.

Ambrosia

In ancient Greek myths, ambrosia was the food of the gods, which made them immortal.

In English: The English word ambrosia refers to delicious food. It is used specifically for a form of fruit salad. The version I know combines mandarin oranges, crushed pineapple, and coconut, although other versions contain sour cream, marshmallows, and sometimes other fruits. The adjective form of the word is ambrosial.

Aeolus

In ancient Greece myth, Aeolus was the keeper of the winds. He was the king of an island near Sicily. In The Odyssey, he received Odysseus (Ulysses to the ancient Romans), and provided a west wind to sail home, and gave him a leather bag containing the other winds. Unfortunately, Odysseus' men opened the bag of the winds, which blew them off course and greatly prolonged their voyage.

English word: In English, aeolian means borne or produced by the wind. An aeolian harp is a box fitted with strings so that when the wind blows across it, it produces musical tones. The Aeolian islands are the group of islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, supposedly the home of Aeolus.

Adonis

In the ancient Greek myth, Adonis was a youth who was so beautiful when he was born that Aphrodite, the goddess of love, put him into a wooden chest and gave him to Persephone, the goddess of the underworld, to keep him safe. When Persephone saw how beautiful he was, she refused to give him back to Aphrodite. This sparked a quarrel between two goddesses. Zeus, the king of the gods, resolved the quarrel when he decided to have Adonis spend four months each year with each of the two, with four months of the year to himself.

The myth goes on that Adonis was killed by the tusks of a boar sent by one of the other gods. In another version of the myth, Adonis was born from a tree when a boar tore up the bark of a tree with its tusks.

In ancient Greece, women practiced the cult of Adonis. At midsummer, they planted "gardens of Adonis," consisting of fast-growing salad greens, on flat rooftops. After the plants withered and died, the women wailed and mourned their beautiful god. However, the next year he returned, for he was a god of vegetation, a god of birth-death-and rebirth.

English word: In English, just as in ancient Greek, Adonis refers to a beautiful youth.

Aegis

In ancient Greek myth, the aegis was a shield that Hephaestus, the god of iron-working, made for Zeus, which he sometimes lent to his daughter Athena. Usually, it is associated with Athena.

English word: The word aegis also means a shield, and is the name given to a class of guided missile cruisers, and to many businesses.

Gordian Knot

Gordias appeared in Phrygia, an ancient kingdom of Asia Minor, on an ox-cart with his wife and his son, Midas. Because Midas seemed to fulfill certain prophecies, the priests declared him king of Phrygia. Gordias tied the ox-cart with a knot that was so intricate that it seemed impossible to untie. An oracle said that the one to untie the knot would become the king of Asia.

In 333 B.C., Alexander the Great solved the problem, after conquering Phrygia, when he took his sword and cut the knot. After that, he did indeed become the "king of Asia," conquering virtually all of the Middle East and most of Central Asia, all the way to India.

English word: Like Achilles, Gordias presents a two-word phrase in English, Gordian knot. This metaphor represents solving a problem by a brilliant, unexpected stroke.