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Older Than Feudalism: Difference between revisions
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== A-C ==
* [[Abdicate the Throne]]: A famous, albeit curious, example appears in ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]''. Odysseus, son of Laertes, is the legitimate King of Ithaca. His father Laertes is however still alive in the last chapter. He had retired to his farm, but seems virile enough to take arms. Most scholars agree that Laertes had abdicated the throne in favor of his son, but nowhere does the text explain why.
* [[Abduction Is Love]]: The abduction of Persephone by Hades in [[Greek Mythology]]. This married couple of deities is typically depicted as relatively happy, and stable, with few fights and very few stories of infidelity.
* [[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.
* [[A Chat with Satan]]: Two such tests of character occur in ''[[The Bible]]'': The serpent's conversation with Eve, and Satan trying to tempt Jesus in the wilderness.
* [[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]]
* [[Actually, I Am Him]]: In the ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]'', Odysseus returns to Ithaca disguised as a beggar. His first contact with Penelope, has him delivering (false) news concerning her missing husband.
* [[Adam and Eve Plot]]: The [[Book of Genesis]] casts the Sons of Noah (Ham, Japheth, and Shem) and their unnamed wives in this role. The Adam and Eve story from the same book is not however a particularly good example. Neither of the two was a survivor from a previous group, nor did they struggle against extinction.
* [[Adipose Rex]]: King Eglon from ''[[The Bible]]'' (Judges 3).
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* [[Bolt of Divine Retribution]]: The Greek god Zeus punished many people with his signature lightning bolt, i.e. Iasion (who slept with Demeter) and Salmoneus (who tried to impersonate Zeus).
* [[Born as an Adult]]: In the ''[[Theogony]]'', Athena emerged from the head of Zeus in adult form and fully armed, and Aphrodite emerged from the sea foam in adult form. In the ''Works and Days'', Hephaestus created Pandora, the first mortal woman, in adult form.
* [[Bound and Gagged]]: Odysseus asks his crew to tie him to the mast when his ship sails past the Sirens in ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]''. The other sailors use his reactions as a gauge for when it's safe to unclog their ears.
* [[Boy Meets Girl]]: Ovid's Pygmalion and Galatea, sort of.
* [[Breaking the Bonds]]: The story of Damon and Pythias from [[Classical Mythology]], as well as the story of Samson from ''[[The Bible]]''.
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* [[Bring My Brown Pants]]: A regular occurrence in the plays of [[Aristophanes]].
* [[Bring News Back]]: Pheidippides at the Battle of Marathon, who managed to warn Athens that Sparta would not aid them in time for the battle.
* [[Brother-Sister Team]]: ''[[The Iliad]]'' has twin deities Apollo and Artemis teaming up to slay the children of Niobe. Apollo killed the sons, Artemis the daughters.
* [[Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie]]: When the Isrealites left Egypt, they took the embalmed body of Joseph with them (Exodus 13:19), fulfilling Joseph's own wish (Genesis 50:25).
* [[But I Can't Be Pregnant]]: Abraham and Sarah in ''[[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]''. Subverted with Mary, who's often depicted as knowing why she's pregnant with Jesus.
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== D-I ==
* [[Daddy's Girl]]: According to ''[[The Iliad]]'', Athena is Zeus' favorite child. Ares claims that Zeus rarely bothers to restrict her behavior. She also has the boyish traits associated with the trope.
* [[A Date with Rosie Palms]]: Genesis 38 is the source for an outdated term for masturbation, ''Onanism''.<ref>Some argue that, technically speaking, the sin in question, and thus the term, was Onan not impregnating his late brother's wife for him rather than what he did with his tonker instead, but in either case, the possibly wrong use of the term is older than dirt regardless.</ref>
* [[David Versus Goliath]]: The [[Trope Namer]] is from the Book of Samuel in ''[[The Bible]]''.
* [[The Day of Reckoning]]: The [[Book of Revelation]] in ''[[The Bible]]''.
* [[Dead Person Conversation]]: Odysseus converses with several ghosts in Homer's ''Odyssey''.
* [[Death by Childbirth]]: Likely as old as our species, what with our disproportionately huge heads and tiny, tiny hips. In ''[[The Bible]]'', Jacob's favorite wife Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin.
* [[Death Takes a Holiday]]: Sisyphos tied up Thanatos in [[Greek Mythology]], and nobody could die until Ares rescued him.
* [[Deconstruction]]: [[Euripides]]'s ''Trojan Women'' and ''Hecuba'' portrayed [[The Trojan War]] as a human tragedy rather than a sweeping epic tale of martial valor in the Homeric tradition, by showing the human consequences of war and its aftermath on the conquered people, and the cruelty and violence of the "heroic" invaders.
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* [[Driven to Suicide]]: King Saul from ''[[The Bible]]''. Queen Iocaste in ''[[Oedipus the King]]''.
* [[Drives Like Crazy]]: Yes, really: Jehu, son of Nimshi drives his chariot "like a madman" (''[[The Bible]]'', 2 Kings 9:20). When [[Classical Mythology|Phaethon]] drove the sun chariot recklessly, he died and nearly destroyed all life on Earth.
* [[The Drunken Sailor]]: In ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]'', the ship was almost home when the sailors decided to crack open Odysseus's pouch, assuming he was hoarding wine or gold. It actually contained all the winds, which immediately blew them way off course.
* [[Dual-Wielding]]: Dimachaerii type gladiators in Ancient Roman games.
* [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma]]: In [[Greek Mythology]] the handsome Endymion is enchanted to eternally sleep, with his youth and beauty preserved. Meanwhile Selene, goddess of the Moon, frequently makes love to him.
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* [[Every Man Has His Price]]: Excessive amounts of bribery were commonplace in [[The Roman Republic]].
* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: ''[[The Bible]]'' never specifically states exactly which pharaoh is involved in the ''[[Book of Exodus]]''.
* [[Everything's Better with Rainbows]]:
** Rainbows used by characters: In Greek religion, the rainbow was personified as the goddess Iris, and was the path left by her as she travelled between heaven and earth.
** Rainbows as symbols: In Genesis 9, the rainbow is the sign of God's promise that he will never again destroy the Earth [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|with a flood.]]
* [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]: Dates back to ''[[The Bible]]'', in which the Devil often shown in this fashion, being unable to appeal to anything other than selfish desires when manipulating humans.
* [[Everything's Worse with Bears]]: In ''[[The Bible]]'' (2 Kings 2) when a group of children mocked Elisha for his baldness, he cursed them, whereupon two bears came out of a forest to maul them.
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* [[Feed the Mole]]: One of [[The Thirty-Six Stratagems]].
* [[Fighting For a Homeland]]: The march of the Ten Thousand, as depicted in [[Xenophon]]'s ''[[Anabasis]]''. The Hebrews fighting the Canaanites in ''[[The Bible]]''. The Trojan refugees in ''[[The Aeneid]]''.
* [[Fire-Forged Friends]]: The Spartans and Thebans encouraged soldiers to have a lover in the army so that they'd fight harder to protect them. And if they died, hopefully they'd go [[Axe Crazy]] in a quest for vengeance.
* [[Fire of Comfort]]: The domain of Hestia, Greek goddess of the Hearth. She was associated with the fireplace and the joys of domesticity. A Homeric Hymn to her mentions her place of honor in the residences of every immortal god and every mortal man.
* [[Flash Back]]: [[Homer]]'s ''Odyssey''.
* [[Flipping the Table]]: Jesus does this with the moneychangers in the temple.
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* [[Grand Theft Me]]: Yayati, after the curse of his father-in-law that he should become old and infirm, asked his sons to exchange their youthful body with his. All refused except the youngest son, Puru, who was crowned after his reign. Puru was the ancestor of the Kauravas and the Pandavas in the ''[[Mahabharata]]''. His brother Yadu was the ancestor of the Yadavas—thus the ancestor of Krishna.
* [[Gratuitous Greek]]: Several Roman authors often inserted Greek quotations into their works.
* [[Gray Eyes]]: Athena is always described as ''glaukopis'', meaning she has blue-green, or blue-gray eyes (or in an alternate translation, owl eyes). Translations typically simplify it to "gray-eyed."
* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: The Achaeans and Trojans in ''[[The Iliad]]''.
* [[Guile Hero]]: [[Odyssey|Odysseus]]. Ruth and Queen Esther in ''[[The Bible]]''. Krishna in the ''[[Mahabharata]]''.
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* [[Hero-Killer]]: Typhon in [[Classical Mythology]], who is terrifying enough to make the gods flee Olympus, and [[Badass]] enough to defeat Zeus in a straight up fight. From a Trojan perspective Achilles is definitely this; one could make a case for [[Implacable Man|Mezentius]] or Turnus in ''[[The Aeneid]]''.
* [[Heroic Bastard]]: Almost all of the demigod heroes in [[Greek Mythology]], such as Heracles. Karna in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', and Jephthah in ''[[The Bible]]''.
* [[Hit Me Dammit]]: In Kings 20:35-37, a prophet of God needs to be beaten and bruised in order to deliver the message God had for King Ahab (It makes sense in context).
* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: [[Greek Mythology|Oedipus's]] father Laios, when he's killed by the son he abandoned years earlier. Murderous King Diomedes, eaten by the freakish horses he used to feed human flesh. Corrupt minister Haman in ''[[The Bible]]'', hung on the gallows he built for his rival.
* [[Hollywood Atheist]]: Despite the name, this shows up at least as early as the book Hayy ibn Yaqzan.
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* [[Hope Springs Eternal]]: In [[Hesiod]]'s story of Pandora's Box, hope was in the box (jar) to either help mortals, or deceive them.
* [[Hope Sprouts Eternal]]: The olive branch was the sign to Noah that the flood waters were receding.
* [[Hot Amazon]]: In ''[[The Trojan Cycle|Aethiopis]]'', Achilles falls in love with Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons.
* [[Hot Librarian]]: The Greek goddess Athena was beautiful ''and'' wise.
* [[How Do You Like Them Apples?]]: Eris's Apple of Discord in the [[The Trojan Cycle|Trojan Cycle]].
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* [[Men Are Generic, Women Are Special]]: The Greek ''[[Theogony]]'' has men created first, and the woman created later as a ''punishment'' to ruin mortal life.
* [[Mentor Archetype]]: In the ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]'', Athena poses as Mentor, Telemachus's elderly advisor, and convinces him to actively seek information on his missing father, instead of passively waiting.
* [[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.
* [[Mission From God]]: The Patriarchs, Moses, prophets in general (''[[The Bible]]'').
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* [[Only Sane Man]]: Most prophets. Also Odysseus. Noah and Lot from the Book of Genesis—although "righteous" rather than sane.
* [[The Only Way They Will Learn]]: "The Tao which can be explained is not the eternal Tao." Laozi, fifth century BCE China.
* [[Ordered to Cheat]]: Krishna urges Bhima to illegally hit Duryodhana below the belt in the ''[[Mahabharata]]'', since his [[Achilles' Heel]] is his thighs.
* [[Organ Autonomy]]: Ancient Greek and Roman doctors commonly believed that the uterus could get up and wander around a woman's body, inciting her to insanity. This is why the word "hysteria" comes from the Greek word for uterus.
* [[Our Angels Are Different]]: ''[[The Bible]]'' actually features very few [[Winged Humanoid]] Angels. Otherworldly, Lovecraftian [[Eldritch Abomination]]s abound. The angels in Isaiah and Ezekiel are particularly awesome. The Cherubim were originally imagined as ''winged cobras''.
* [[Outdoor Bath Peeping]]: David to Bethsheba in ''[[The Bible]]'' (Samuel 1). Actaeon and Siprotes to Artemis, and Tiresias to Athene, in [[Classical Mythology]].
* [[Outsourcing Fate]]: Several examples in [[Greek Mythology]], but probably the best-known is Paris having to choose the most beautiful goddess from among Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite. [[Trojan War|We all know how that ended.]]
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* [[Peacock Girl]]: Hera in [[Greek Mythology]] sometimes wears a few feathers; the peacock is her sacred bird.
* [[Pegasus]]: The [[Trope Namer]] shows up first in [[Hesiod]].
* [[Plague of Good Fortune]]: [[The Histories|Herodotus]] tells of a king who had such good luck that he threw a cherished ring in the ocean to try and balance things, hoping to dodge whatever doom the gods had in store for him. The ring was eaten by a fish, the fish captured by a fisherman, and the ring returned to the king. This sealed his fate —- he lost everything.
* [[Planet of Hats]]: The allegorically intended nations of Hyperborea and [[Atlantis]], among others.
* [[Plant Person]]: Greek legend has the dryads, the nymphs of trees, groves, woods, and mountain forests. Hamadryads were a type that died when their tree died.
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* [[The Promised Land]]: Canaan in the book of Exodus, which is also the [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Prongs of Poseidon]]: Poseidon's trident, the [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Proper Lady]]: ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]'' features Penelope, Queen of Ithaca, who remains loyal to her missing husband Odysseus for twenty years, keeping her suitors at bay. She was cited as the greatest example of marital faithfulness in the classical world.
* [[A Protagonist Shall Lead Them]]: Saul, Moses, David, etc.
* [[Psycho Ex-Girlfriend]]: Euripides's [[Medea]], after Jason dumped her for the princess of Corinth. This did not end well.
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* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]: In ''[[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]'', the evil Serpent that persuades Adam and Eve to eat the [[Forbidden Fruit]] appears to be a stand-in for Satan.
* [[The Resenter]]: Cain, towards Abel, in the Torah.
* [[Revenge SVP]]: The ''[[The Trojan Cycle|Cypria]]'' featured the story of Eris, goddess of Strife. Denied invitation to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, she responded by orchestrating a quarrel between Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera. Said quarrel lead to the [[Trojan War]].
* [[Riddle Me This]]: The Sphinx in [[Greek Mythology]].
* [[Riddle of the Sphinx]]: The [[Trope Namer]] in [[Greek Mythology]].
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* [[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.
* [[Rousing Speech]]: Boudicca gave one in her (ill-fated) campaign against the Romans. Pericles' funeral oration in the Peloponnessian War, as depicted by Thucydides, has elements of this.
* [[Rule of Seven]]: Rome was built on seven hills.
* [[Rule of Three]]: In the [[The Bible|New Testament]]: In John 13:38 "Jesus answered (Peter), Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice." After his resurrection, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him, extracting from Peter a promise to continue his work three times before he leaves him alone. This could be a symbolic reversal of Peter's thrice-denial of Jesus before his death.
* [[Sacred Hospitality]]: An ancient Greek custom, and a plot point in many myths. The gods punish those who violate this rule. Getting rid of [[Odyssey|those pesky suitors]] would have been easier were it not for this.
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* [[Same Sex Triplets]]: [[Greek Mythology]] has the 3 Fates, the 3 Furies, the 3 Graces, the 3 (elder) Cyclopes, the 3 Hekatonkhires, the 3 Horai/Seasons (usually), the 3 Harpies (usually), the 3 Graeae, and the 3 Gorgons (usually).
* [[Satan Is Good]]: Specifically, the redemption of Prometheus in ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'' fits this trope perfectly.
* [[Schmuck Bait]]:
** "Do not under any circumstances bring [[Trojan Horse|this horse]] into your city, because then us Greeks will never ever be able [[The Trojan Cycle|to conquer Troy."]]
** Adam and Eve: "You can eat anything you like in this garden, except the fruit from That One Tree. Got that? Whatever you do, don't touch the fruit from That One Tree."
** Pandora's Box (actually a jar), with Pandora intentionally set up to peek.
* [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money]]: Happened more and more towards the end of [[The Roman Republic]].
* [[Scylla and Charybdis]]: [[Odyssey|Odysseus]] lost several men to the [[Trope Namers]].
* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: Pandora's Box, filled with all the miseries and evils that now make humanity miserable, as told by [[Hesiod]].
* [[Sealed Good in a Can]]: Several examples predate feudalism. [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'' did it twice:
** The Cyclopes and Hundred-Handed were imprisoned by Uranus, then again by Cronus, because they were ugly. Zeus freed them, and they pledged their not-inconsiderable skills to his cause.
** Pandora managed to shut the box before Hope got away.
* [[Sea Monster]]: Charybdis and Leviathan are just a couple of many sea monsters found in early myths.
* [[See You in Hell]]: According to the Roman biographer Suetonius, a certain actor implied this in a farce during Emperor Nero's bloody reign.
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* [[Sidetracked by the Analogy]]: Happens every so often when when one of [[The Bible|Jesus's parables]] falls flat. See [[Comically Missing the Point]] above.
* [[Sins of Our Fathers]]: In ''[[The Bible]]'', especially Original Sin. The Greek gods bring misfortune on several descendants of Tantalus through their family curse, even those who were innocent, because Tantalus was a cannibalistic ass.
* [[The Smart Guy]]: Athena among the Olympians: she's the goddess of wisdom, strategic thinking, and various arts. Odysseus tends to be this whenever acting as part of a group, or leading a crew.
* [[Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom]]: The Argonauts had to pass their ships through the maritime version in [[Greek Mythology]].
* [[Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter!]]: One of the Ajaxes in ''[[The Iliad]]'' curses the gods until Poseidon and Zeus both smite him.
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* [[Troll Bridge]]: The Angel of Death in ''[[The Bible]]''.
* [[Turn the Other Cheek]]: Jesus advocates and names this trope in the [[The Bible|New Testament]].
* [[Turtle Island]]: Pliny the Elder in his ''Natural History'' describes a giant fish called ''pristis'', which is so big that sailors have taken it for an island and landed on its back.
* [[Twenty Bear Asses]]: Four words: David. Hundred Philistine foreskins. Worst. Quest. Ever.
* [[Two Lines, No Waiting]]: ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]'' has Odysseus attempting to get home, and Odysseus's son Telemachos's attempts to find his father.
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* [[Unaccustomed as I Am to Public Speaking]]: Socrates at his trial, according to Plato.
* [[Underdressed for the Occasion]]: Appears in [[The Four Gospels|Matthew 22]].
* [[The Unfavourite]]: Ares in ''[[The Iliad]]'', in the eyes of his father Zeus. In a famous scene, Athena helps her champion Diomedes defeat Ares himself in combat. Ares escapes while severely wounded and bleeding. When he complains to Zeus about his favoritism for Athene, Zeus basically chews him out for being a violent bully.
* [[Unicorn]]: Greek writers first mention them in the 5th century BCE.
* [[The Uriah Gambit|Uriah Gambit]]: [[Trope Namer|Named after]] a biblical story of King David.
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* [[You Can't Go Home Again]]: [[Homer]]'s ''Odyssey''.
* [[You Have Waited Long Enough]]: Poor Penelope has to put up with this for ''years'' in ''[[Odyssey|The Odyssey]]''.
* [[Youngest Child Wins]]:
** Zeus, king of the Greek gods, is the youngest of his siblings according to [[Hesiod]]. His father Cronos, previous king of the gods, was also the youngest son. [[Homer]], however, makes Zeus the eldest son of Cronos.
** Also a remarkably popular trope in ''[[The Bible]]'': Abel, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Moses were all favored younger sons. (In most cases, parental favoritism led to big trouble...)
* [[Zero Effort Boss]]: Emperor Claudius vs. Beached Killer Whale.
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