Older Than Feudalism: Difference between revisions

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* All ancient [[Classical Mythology|Greek and Roman]] myths, literature, and theatre.<ref>Some of these stories may have originated before the Greeks invented their alphabet, but the only versions we have come from this period</ref>

** ''[[The Art of War]]'', probably by Sūn Zǐ (also spelled Sun Tzu).

** ''[[The Thirty-Six Stratagems]]'', usually attributed to Sūn Zǐ or Zhuge Liang.

 

'''Note:''' Tropes originating in other mythologies/religions almost never belong in here, as we have no idea whether those stories even existed by the 5th century CE, or what forms they took, centuries before they were first written down. Even Norse and Celtic mythology are only [[Older Than Print]]; although they're derived at least in part from earlier (unwritten) stories, the details are fundamentally un-dateable. Early folklorists often started with the assumption that folktales and myths never changed; [[Science Marches On|more research]] [[History Marches On|has shown that]] people can and do modify all sorts of tales for many purposes.

 

 

== A-C ==

* [[Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder]]: Agamemnon and Clytemnestra didn't wait during the Trojan War, nor remain faithful. Clytemnestra did have a reason, though.

* [[Abusive Parents]]: Common in [[Classical Mythology]]. Ouranos and Cronos both imprisoned all their children at birth. Hephaestos in ''[[The Iliad]]'' tells how his father Zeus threw him off a mountain. Acrisios imprisoned his daughter Danae, then threw her into the sea when she got pregnant anyway.

* [[Achilles' Heel]]: The [[Big Bad]] Duryodhana in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', and Talos in [[Greek Mythology]]. Also Achilles, the [[Trope Namer]].

* [[Achilles in His Tent]]: [[Homer]]'s ''[[The Iliad]]''; [[Trope Namers|Trope Namer]]

* [[An Aesop]]: Greek folktales, notably [[Aesop's Fables]], have these.

* [[Age Without Youth]]: Tithonos of [[Greek Mythology]] ages forever without dying, after a botched wish. The Cumaean Sibyl is cursed with the same after spurning Apollo.

* [[Akashic Records]]: A repository of ultimate knowledge on another plane of existence. In other words, The Internet! The name comes from Sanskrit, and the concept originates in the Samkhya philosophies, which were first recorded around 200 CE.

* [[Alcohol Hic]]: Afflicts [[Aristophanes]] in Plato's ''Symposium''.

* [[Alien Lunch]]: Atreus in [[Greek Mythology]], and his brother Thyestes.

* [[All Amazons Want Hercules]]: The [[Trope Namers|Trope Namer]] happens in a Greek myth. Also occurs in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'' with Hidimba falling for Bhima.

* [[All for Nothing]]: Saul, David, and Solomon in ''[[The Bible]]''.

* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]'' contains a well known Greek story: Aphrodite, though married to the smith-god Hephaestus, much prefers the bloody war-god Ares and has a long affair.

* [[The Chains of Commanding]]: The Sword of Damocles, described by Cicero.

* [[Changeling Fantasy]]: Many [[Half Human Hybrids]] in [[Greek Mythology]], if their father or mother was a god.

* [[The Chessmaster]] (only the version without chess motifs): ''[[The Art of War]]'' is a good guide on how to be the Chessmaster (but inspired by [[Go]] instead).

* [[Chess with Death]]: Some Greek characters challenge gods to contests and end up dead or otherwise badly off. I.e. Marsyas (5th century BCE), Arachne (Ovid and Virgil), and Thamyris in Apollodorus and Asklepiades.

* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]: Hera, though she had reason to be jealous since Zeus was constantly unfaithful.

* [[Clingy MacGuffin]]: The Ring of Polykrates, as recounted by [[The Histories|Herodotus]].

* [[Clothes Make the Superman]]: In the Greek myth of Perseus, the invisibility cap, flying sandals, and magic arms are what let Perseus kill Medusa.

* [[Cluster F-Bomb]]: Gaius Valerius Catullus' Carmen 16.

* [[Comforting the Widow]]: The Widow of Ephesus story in ''Satyricon''.

* [[Comically Missing the Point]]: [[The Bible|The Apostles]] of all people, when they [[Sidetracked by the Analogy|took a parable too literally]]:

'''Apostles:''' He's upset that we didn't bring any bread! }}

* [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]]: In addition to [[Cold-Blooded Torture|physical tortures]], [[Greek Mythology]] features a variety of less physical tortures such as those inflicted upon Tantalos and Sisyphos (in ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]'') and Atlas (in ''[[Theogony]]''). The biblical Cain's punishment for killing his brother was to be shunned by all people for the rest of his life.

* [[Cunning Like a Fox]]: In [[Aesop's Fables]].

* [[Cutting the Knot]]: The original Gordian Knot.

 

== D-I ==

* [[Flash Back]]: [[Homer]]'s ''Odyssey''.

* [[Flipping the Table]]: Jesus does this with the moneychangers in the temple.

* [[Food Chains]]: Eating some pomegranate seeds in [[The Underworld]] forced Persephone to return there every year. In the Homeric Hymns, Hades force-fed her. [[Odyssey|Odysseus]] almost loses several men to the lotus-eating addiction.

* [[Forbidden Fruit]]: The Adam and Eve story from Genesis is the [[Trope Namer]].

* [[A Form You Are Comfortable With]]: In [[Greek Mythology]], Zeus apparently did this sort of thing whenever he had an affair with a mortal woman, at least according to the story in which his true form turned the woman Semele to ash. In ''[[The Bible]]'', angels occasionally tried to appear in human form, since their true forms were bizarre [[Eldritch Abomination]]s.

* [[Funny Foreigner]]: A staple of ancient Greek and Roman comedy. An example is Triballos, a "barbarian god" serving as an ambassador to Cloudcuckooland in [[Aristophanes]]' ''The Birds''.

* [[Gate of Truth]]: Described in [[The Underworld]] in [[Homer]]'s ''Odyssey'' and [[Virgil]]'s ''Aeneid''.

* [[Gender Bender]]: Tiresias in [[Greek Mythology]], Iphis and Hermaphroditos in [[Ovid]]'s ''Metamorphoses'', and Bhangasvana and Shikandin in the ''[[Mahabharata]]''.

* [[Literal Genie]]: In a late (Roman) myth about the Greek god Hermaphroditos, an annoying clingy girl wished she could forever be united with the uninterested deity she was harassing. Some literal-minded god fulfilled her wish ... by fusing their bodies together into one hermaphroditic person.

* [[Living MacGuffin]]: Helen of Troy from ''[[The Iliad]]''.

* [[Losing Your Head]]: [[Orpheus]]'s head continued to sing after his decapitation, according to Ovid.

* [[Lost in Imitation]]: Several Greek myths are best known, and more often repeated, from a later version after a famous poet or playwright altered the contours of an earlier story. Such was apparently the case with [[Aeschylus]]'s ''[[Prometheus Bound|Prometheus]]'' and [[Euripides]]'s ''[[Medea]]''.

* [[Merlin Sickness]]: The fruit on Anostus causes this in the Roman ''Varia Historia'', by Claudius Aelianus.

* [[Miles Gloriosus]]: The play of that name is the [[Trope Namer]], but ''[[The Iliad]]'s'' [[Trope Maker|Paris]] beat him to it.

* [[Modesty Bedsheet]]: Believe it or not, there are numerous Roman wall paintings depicting couples during sex—with the woman wearing a brasserie, because it would've been considered lascivious for her to show her breasts. To her own husband. During sex.

* [[Monkey Morality Pose]]: Dates back to the days of Confucius.

* [[Moon Rabbit]]: Earliest recorded reference found during the Warring States period of Ancient China.

* [[Morton's Fork]]: In [[The Four Gospels|the New Testament]] (Mark 12:13) the Pharisees try to catch Jesus in one by asking if they should pay taxes to Caesar.

* [[Moses in the Bulrushes]]: Moses himself, in the [[Book of Exodus]]. Also Oedipus in [[Greek Mythology]], Romulus and Remus in [[Roman Mythology]], and Karna in the ''[[Mahabharata]]''.

* [[Noble Savage]]: Used by Tacitus when describing the Germanic and Caledonian tribes.

* [[No Hero to His Valet]]: Jesus mentions that [http://niv.scripturetext.com/luke/4.htm "no prophet is accepted in his hometown."] for this reason.

* [[No Place for Me There]]: In [[The Bible]], Moses could not enter [[The Promised Land]] because of his impiety at Meribah (never mind that the other Israelites frequently surpassed him by leaps and bounds). King David could not build the Temple of Jerusalem because he was a man of war, and the temple had to be built by a man of peace (his son Solomon).

* [[Nostalgia Ain't Like It Used to Be]]: In many myths of this period, the ambiguous "past" was much better than life at the time; for example, people lived much longer (Genesis), they mingled with gods, etc. [[Hesiod]]'s myth of the Five Ages explicitly describes the decline of humanity.

* [[Preacher's Kid]] (diabolic type): In [[The Bible|Leviticus]] 10:1,2 the very first High Priest, Aaron (the brother of Moses), had two of his sons mess up.

* [[Prodigal Hero]]: [[The Bible|Moses]] exiles for some time, then comes back to free the Israelites from slavery.

* [[The Promised Land]]: Canaan in the book of Exodus, which is also the [[Trope Namer]].

* [[Prongs of Poseidon]]: Poseidon's trident, the [[Trope Namer]].

* [[Public Domain Artifact]]: Many such artifacts are drawn from very old stories, but it happened back then too. The Golden Fleece was used by various mythographers in their retellings of the Argonauts story, and Hercules's bow showed up in his stories and the [[The Trojan Cycle|Trojan Cycle]].

* [[Pungeon Master]]: [[God]] made some puns in ''[[The Bible]]''.

* [[Purple Is Powerful]]: In [[Ancient Rome]], the Patrician class were the only people allowed to wear Tyrian purple.

* [[Purpose Driven Immortality]]: ''[[The Bible]]'' contains several examples of people who were promised that they would not die until they saw some prophesy fulfilled, such as Simeon who was promised he would live to see the Lord's Messiah.

* [[Pyrrhic Victory]]: The [[Trope Namer]] is the Greek general and king [[wikipedia:Pyrrhus of Epirus|Pyrrhus of Epirus]], who tried to conquer Italy. Rome beat him in a war of attrition partly because of Roman improvements on Greek military doctrine (combined arms tactics, and generals commanding from the rear instead of leading from the front), but mostly because they could replace their forces fairly readily and Pyrrhus couldn't.

 

== Q-Z ==

* [[Roaring Rampage of Rescue]]: Essentially the entire plot of the ''[[Ramayana]]'' once the demon king Ravana kidnaps Rama's wife Sita, starting a war in the process.

* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: From [[Greek Mythology]]: Achilles avenging Patroclus, Odysseus killing the suitors, and Heracles on several occasions.

* [[Rock of Limitless Water]] - Several of these appear in Greek Mythology. In addition, Moses creates one with [[God]]'s power in ''[[The Bible]]''.

* [[Romance Arc]]: ''[[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]'': God creates Man. Next on the agenda—Introducing Man's love interest. [[Classical Mythology]] examples include Venus and Adonis, Jason and Medea, and Cupid and Psyche.

* [[Stranger in a Familiar Land]]: [[Homer]]'s ''Odyssey''.

* [[Straw Character]]: Plato regularly used strawmen as opponents to Socrates in his Socratic Dialogues.

* [[Suddenly-Suitable Suitor]]: In the classical Sanskrit play ''The Recognition of Śakuntalā''.

* [[Supernatural Aid]]: Gods granted Perseus the use of winged sandals and the Cap of Hades (which rendered all wearers invisible) so he could slay Medusa.

* [[Voice of the Legion]]: Daniel experiences it in ''[[The Bible]]''.

* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: In "Prince Khaemwase and Si-Osiri," the two Ethiopian wizards shapeshift themselves into geese. Though Egyptian, this tale is only from the 1st century CE. Greek gods like Zeus, Proteus, Thetis, and many river gods could take any shape they pleased.

* [[War Elephants]]: Encountered by Alexander on invading India; also famously used by Hannibal in the Second Punic War.

* [[Warrior Poet]]: King David slew giants, won wars... wrote poetry, and once danced naked to celebrate the return of the Ark.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon]]

[[Category:Index]]

[[Category:The Oldest Ones in the Book]]