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occurrence or a highly improbable coincidence.

Wonderland • See ALICE IN WONDERLAND.

Strength

The biblical SAMSON and the classical HERCULES have proved the most durable archetypes of the strong man. Several of the figures included below also appear within the theme Weakness. • See also Large Size, Power.

Muhammad Ali Born Cassius Clay in 1942, Muhammad Ali, the American boxer, won the world heavyweight title for the first time in 1964, regaining it in 1974 and 1978, to become the only boxer to be world champion three times. He retired in 1981. Ali frequently boasted 'I am the greatest'.

Gimme a cup of coffee as strong as Muhammad Ali.

CHESTER HIMES Blind Man with a Pistol, 1969

Amazon In Greek mythology, the Amazons were a race of female warriors alleged to exist on the borders of the known world. They are said to have cut off their right breasts to make it easier for them to draw their bows, hence their name, which means 'without a breast'. Any strong, tall, or athletic woman can be described as an Amazon. The corresponding adjective is 'Amazonian'.

Sofia right about her sisters. They all big strong healthy girls, look like amazons. ALICE WALKER The Color Purple, 1983

The image I lingered on the longest was, unsurprisingly, of Françoise. Françoise as an Amazon, frozen, with a spear poised above her head, concentrating fiercely on the shapes beneath the water.

ALEX GARLAND The Beach, 1996

Atlas Atlas was one of the Titans in Greek mythology, punished for rebelling against Zeus by being made to support the heavens on his shoulders. The image of Atlas holding up the sky, or sometimes the earth itself, is a common one in art and literature.

When she heard from a neighbour that there was a strongman in the square performing wonders and prodigies worthy of Atlas himself, she put up the broom with which she had been sweeping the yard and hurried out to join the gaggle of inquisitive and impressionable that had gathered near the well.

LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES Captain Corelli's Mandolin, 1994

Charles Atlas Charles Atlas was the name adopted by the body-builder Angelo Siciliano (1894-1974), a '98-pound weakling' who became 'the world's strongest man'. The advertisements for his body-building course carried the famous slogan: 'You too can have a body like mine.'

Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan is an American folk hero, a giant lumberjack of

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BC) famous for his strength. He was said to have slain 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. After his betrayal, capture, and blinding, he took his revenge by pulling down the pillars of a house, destroying himself and a large gathering of Philistines: 'And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood . . . And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were therein' (Judg. 16: 29-30). • See special entry n SAMSON on p. 336.

Well, Miss Matty! men will be men. Every mother's son of them wishes to be considered Samson and Solomon rolled into one—too strong ever to be beaten or discomfited—too wise ever to be outwitted.

ELIZABETH CASKELL Cranford, 1 8 5 1 - 3

He had awakened that morning from a sleep deep as annihilation; and during those first few moments in which the brain, like Samson shaking himself, is trying its strength, he had some dim notion of an unusual nocturnal proceeding.

THOMAS HARDY Tess ofthe D'Urbervilles, 1891

'We have been assuming Inman was struck hand to hand. Couldn't he have had something thrown at him?' 'By a professional darts-player with muscles like Samson,' said Cox.

KINCSLEY AMIS The Riverside Villas Murder, 1973

Spartan The Spartans, natives of the ancient Greek city state Sparta in the southern Péloponnèse, were famous for their toughness in enduring pain and hardship.

A Spartan matron, iron-hearted, bearing warrior-sons for the nation, j . M. COETZEE Age of Iron, 1990

The water temperature would have struck even a Spartan as low and the soap was as carbolic as Hamilton's temper, but I felt better afterwards.

PAUL JOHNSTON Body Politic, 1997

Superman Superman is a US comic book superhero character who possesses prodigious strength, the ability to fly, and other powers. Born on the planet Krypton, Superman conceals his identity by adopting the alter ego of mildmannered reporter Clark Kent. Superman was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster.

Tarzan Tarzan is a character in novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs and subsequent films and television series. He is the son of an English noble (Lord Greystoke by birth) who is orphaned in West Africa in his infancy and reared by apes in the jungle. The name can be applied to any man of great physical strength and agility.

Putting me to silence by brute strength? Okay, Tarzan. Then you'll never hear the rest—which is also the best.

ROBERTSON DAviEs The Manticore, 1972

Thor In Scandinavian mythology, Thor, the son of Odin and Frigga, was the god of thunder and war. He was also the god of the weather, agriculture, and the home. He was usually represented as a man of enormous strength armed with a hammer called Mjollnir which returned to his hand after he had thrown it. Thor also wore iron gloves to help him grasp his hammer and belt, which doubled his strength.

Titan The Titans were the older gods who preceded the Olympians and were

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the children of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth). Led by Cronus, they overthrew Uranus. When Cronus' son Zeus rebelled against his father, most of the Titans supported Cronus, but they were eventually defeated by Zeus. A person of very great strength and size can be described as a Titan.

Laputa was in truth a Titan, who in the article of death could break down a bridge which would have taken any three men an hour to shift.

JOHN BUCHAN Prester John, 1910

We were wrapped in mist, enveloped in snow, and an accursed Arctic wind sprang up from the north that flung itself upon us like the bunched fist of a Titan.

LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES Captain Corelli's Mandolin, 1994

Struggle

The idea of a struggle can strikingly be suggested by reference to an account of a wrestling match or other physical tussle.

Hercules In Greek mythology, Hercules was a hero of superhuman strength and courage who performed twelve immense tasks or 'labours' imposed on him by Eurystheus, king of Argos. The first of these was to kill the Nemean lion, which ravaged the country near Mycenae. After failing to subdue it with his club and arrows, Hercules choked the lion to death with his bare hands. He carried it back to Mycenae on his shoulders and thereafter clothed himself in its skin. • See special entry • HERCULES on p. 182.

He had nought but four or five white scratches on the left side of his open and amiable countenance as if like Hercules he had struggled with a wild beast! (Hercules, you know, was fabled to have wrestled with the Nemaean Lion.)

WILLIAM COLDINC Rites of Passage, 1980

Jacob In the Bible, Jacob was the younger of Isaac's twin sons, who became his heir. According to one story concerning him, one night he wrestled with a man until the break of day, refusing to release him until he blessed Jacob. The man eventually revealed himself to be an angel, who then changed Jacob's name: 'Your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed' (Gen. 32: 28). The name Israel literally means 'he that strives with God'. The episode is a popular subject in art.

Sometimes their hearts failed them and they felt that they could not resist the passion that burned the marrow of their bones. They resisted. They wrestled with evil as Jacob wrestled with the angel of God and at last they conquered,

w. SOMERSET MAUGHAM The Judgment Seat, 1951

But finally it is impossible to escape those monsters that devour from the inner depths, and the only ways to vanquish them are either to wrestle with them like Jacob with his angel or Hercules with his serpents, or else ignore them until they give up and disappear.

LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES Captain Corelli's Mandolin, 1994