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Minerva In Roman mythology, Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, handicrafts, and also of war. She corresponds to the Greek goddess Athene.

There was, as I have said, a Minerva fully armed.

MARILYNNE ROBINSON Mother Country, 1989

Tyr In Scandinavian mythology, Tyr was the god of battle, corresponding to the Roman Mars.

Valkyries In Scandinavian mythology, the Valkyries (literally 'choosers of the slain') were Odin's twelve handmaidens who hovered over battlefields, selected the most valiant warriors to die in battle, and escorted them to Valhalla, the hall of heroes. They appear in Wagner's opera Die Walkiire (1854-56).

Dorothy Thompson seemed to me an overpowering figure in a Wagnerian opera, a Valkyrie, deciding with careless pointing of her spear who should die on the battlefield.

JOHN HERSEY 'Sinclair Lewis' in Life Sketches, 1987

Martya ducked the tub aimed at her; the second exploded at Kareen's feet. Muno's attempt to lay down a covering fire for his party's retreat backfired when Enrique dropped to his knees and scrambled away down the hall toward his screaming Valkyriesque protectors.

LOIS MCMASTER BUJOLD A Civil Campaign, 1999

Water

The entries here all relate to the sea and mainly comprise sea-deities or their children.

Neptune In Roman mythology, Neptune was the god of the sea, identified with the Greek god Poseidon.

Flying fish. These extraordinary creatures, actually scaly denizens of the deep and subjects of Neptune, are possessors, like the members of the feathered tribe, of wings.

TIMOTHY MO An Insular Possession, 1986

He was not an athlete, but he was at the water's hissing edge when his father emerged, like a matted red-lipped Neptune, blue-nosed, encased in dripping wet wool and shining burnt toast.

PETER CAREY Oscar and Luanda, 1988

Nereid The Nereids were sea nymphs in Greek mythology, daughters of Nereus. They include Galatea and Thetis, the mother of Achilles.

Mandras was too young to be a Poseidon, too much without malice. Was he a male sea-nymph, then? Was there such a thing as a male Nereid or Potamid?

LOUIS DE BERNIÈRES Captain Corelli's Mandolin, 1994

Nereus In Greek mythology, Nereus was an old god of the sea and a son of

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vulnerable point. VSee special entry u ACHILLES on p. 3.

It reveals a curious Achilles heel in the master spindoctor: brilliant as he is at selling Labour, he is strangely bad at selling himself.

The Observer, 1997

Antaeus In Greek mythology, Antaeus was a giant, son of the sea-god Poseidon and the earth-goddess Gaia. He forced all comers to wrestle with him and overcame and killed them until he was defeated by Hercules. Antaeus was invincible as long as he touched the earth (enabling him to draw new strength from his mother), but was lifted into the air by Hercules and crushed to death in his arms.

Balder In Scandinavian mythology, Balder was the son of Odin. Beautiful and popular, he was the god of light. When Balder had a dream that he would die, his mother, Frigga, exacted a promise from all things that they would not harm him, but she overlooked the mistletoe. Loki tricked the blind god Hodur into throwing a branch of mistletoe at Balder, and this killed him.

Delilah •See Samson.

Goliath David's slaying of the Philistine giant Goliath with a stone from a sling (i Sam. 17) can be alluded to, as in the quotation below, in the context of something apparently impregnable or invincible being breached or overcome because of the discovery of a weak point. • See special entry • DAVID on p. 90.

They were unable to bar the door to those diabolic bestioles which crawl through the smallest hole even as David found the chink in Goliath's armour.

JULIAN BARNES A History of the World in 10 Je Chapters, 1989

Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty is a nursery rhyme character whose name is taken to refer to an egg:

'Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses, and all the king's men Couldn't put Humpty together again.'

The name can be applied to anything fragile, especially something that once damaged cannot be restored.

It would be hundreds of years before any emergent Amazons would ever grasp the fact that a man is vulnerable only in his pride, but delicate as Humpty-Dumpty once that is meddled with.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD Tender Is the Night, 1934

It is, we would remind our readers .. . impossible to make an omelette without first breaking eggs. We . . . cannot wait to see the great Chinese Humpty Dumpty given a forceful shove off his wall of secrecy and deceit and broke all to pieces. Not all the Emperor's men shall put him together again.

TIMOTHY MO An Insular Possession, 1986

We should not bang on about Cascoigne throwing it away because in our hearts we always knew that this was a footballer as fragile as Humpty Dumpty with a bout of vertigo.

PAUL WEAVER in The Guardian, 1998

Caspar Milquetoast Caspar Milquetoast was a timid comic strip character

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already had good things in his lifetime whereas Lazarus had not. Consequently, Lazarus received comfort in the afterlife whilst the rich man endured agony.

Remember, we are bid to work while it is day—warned that 'the night cometh when no man shall work'. Remember the fate of Dives, who had his good things in this life. Cod give you strength to choose that better part which shall not be taken from you!

CHARLOTTE BRONTE Jane Eyre, 1847

El Dorado El Dorado (literally 'the gilded one') was the fabled city or country of gold sought in the 16th century by Spanish conquistadors, who believed it existed somewhere in the area of the Orinoco and Amazon rivers. Hence, any place of fabulous wealth can be described as an El Dorado.

A year ago, I finally weaned myself off office life and took to working from home. It is far more productive, of course, but I still feel a little pang when I hear words such as coffee machine or stationery cupboard—stationery cupboard, in particular, sounds like El Dorado now I have to buy my own Jiffy bags.

The Sunday Times, 1994

One should have thought a transfer to a continental club would have made more sense, even though Italian fooball is no longer the El Dorado it used to be.

The Sunday Telegraph, 1995

Fort Knox Fort Knox is a building in north Kentucky, part of a military reservation, which houses the US gold reserves in the form of bullion.

It's important to chip away at Ford's defences here because they seem to be protecting the Fort Knox of his imagination.

The Observer, 1997

Jean Paul Getty Jean Paul Getty (1892-1976) was an American oil billionaire who became allegedly the world's richest man.

Golden Fleece In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece was the fleece of pure gold taken from the ram which carried Phrixus to Colchis on the Black Sea. Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus and offered its fleece to Aeetes, king of Colchis, who hung it from an oak tree guarded by a dragon that never slept. It was eventually recovered by Jason. • See special entry • JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS on p. 220.

The birth of Jason had not been a happy day for Dominique. The little bastard was just over a year old now. Wrapped in his golden fleece, his birth had signalled a new wave of excessive behaviour from Dominique.

MEL STEIN White Lines, 1997

Howard Hughes Howard Hughes (1905-76) was an American millionaire who produced films and designed and flew aircraft. He became a recluse in his later years.

Maecenas Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (d. 8 BC) was a wealthy Roman statesman and patron of Virgil, Horace, and other poets.

When Mrs Felpham asked him to tea, Rampion wanted to refuse the invitation—but to refuse it without being boorish or offensive. After all, she meant well enough, poor woman. She was only rather ludicrous. The village Maecenas, in petticoats,

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patronizing art to the extent of two cups of tea and a slice of plum cake. ALDOUS HUXLEY Point Counter Point, 1928

But let's just say for the moment that Saatchi was a Maecenas to an important generation of British artists, and that even if he never buys another painting, or mounts another show, we should be grateful to him for giving us Sensation.

LYNN BARBER in The Observer, 2000

Mammon Deriving from the Aramaic word for 'riches'. Mammon is sometimes used in the Bible to mean wealth when considered as an idol whose worship is in opposition to that of God. The most familiar reference is probably Jesus's teaching that 'No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon' (Matt. 6: 24). Mammon was taken by medieval writers as the proper name of the devil of covetousness, and this use was revived by Milton in Paradise Lost. The name is now used as the personification of wealth, seen as greedy and selfish materialism.

I know poetry is not dead, nor genius lost; nor has Mammon gained power over either, to bind or slay: they will both assert their existence, their presence, their liberty and strength again one day.

CHARLOTTE BRONTE Jane Eyre, 1847

Carling is so closely identified with the increasing commercialisation of rugby union it's as if he personally got hold of the compass and swung the game in the direction of Mammon. He didn't.

The Guardian, 1995

Midas In Greek mythology, Midas was the king of Phrygia, a country in what is now part of Turkey. He was granted a wish by Dionysus and wished that everything he touched should be turned to gold. However, when even the food in his mouth turned to gold, he was allowed to lose the gift by bathing in the River Pactolus. The name of Midas is thus used for someone very rich, and the 'Midas touch' is a gift for making money, seemingly without effort.

Custom dictates that carolers be asked in and offered a cookie . . . and so must any person who comes to your door, otherwise the spirit of Christmas will leave your house, and even if you be as rich as Midas, your holiday will be sad and mean.

GARRISON KEILLOR Lake Wobegon Days, 1985

Ferguson's inspired signing of Cantona, and other purchases of his, have shown him to have a bit of a transfer Midas touch. Once he has ventured money on a player, the Manchester United manager usually manages to get the best out of him.

The Sunday Telegraph, 1995

John Pierpoint Morgan John Pierpoint Morgan (1837-1913) was an American banker whose wealth was sufficient to enable him to stabilize the American economy in 1895.

I bought a dozen volumes on banking and credit and investment securities and they stood on my shelf in red and gold like new money from the mint, promising to unfold the shining secrets that only Midas and Morgan and Maecenas knew.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD The Great Gatsby, 1925

Nibelung In Germanic mythology, Nibelung was the king of a race of Scandinavian dwarves, also called the Nibelung, who owned a hoard of treasure and gold. In the 13th-century epic German poem the Nibelungenlied, the treasure is

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guarded by the dwarf Alberich and later taken by Siegfried, the hero of the poem.

Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (1906-75) was a Greek ship owner who built up an extensive independent shipping empire and founded the Greek national airline, Olympic Airways.

Chilcott rubbed his hands together. 'Wickham's something in the City and as rich as Onassis, according to Sir Peter. Could do me a lot of good, business-wise, if I play my cards right'

SUSAN MOODY Grand Slam, 1994

Kerry Packer Kerry (Francis Bullimore) Packer (b. 1937) is an Australian media tycoon who became famous for creating 'World Series Cricket' in 1977, a series of unofficial one-day matches in Australia for which he paid top cricketers high fees to play. He obtained exclusive television rights for his own TV channel to cover the series.

'I wouldn't worry,' Margin told Delaney. 'It's probably only a box number somewhere, and no one can watch a box number twenty-four hours a day. You'd have to be Kerry Packer to afford it!

THOMAS KENEALLY A Family Madness, 1985

PllltllS Plutus was the son of Demeter and the god of wealth in Greek mythology. The Greeks represented him as blind because he distributed riches indiscriminately, as lame because riches come slowly, and with wings because riches disappear more quickly than they come.

It would be difficult for the most jealous and eager devotee at the shrine of Plutus

to devise any securities for property.

Harpers Monthly, 1880

Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller (1839-1937) was an American oil magnate who founded the Standard Oil Company, gaining increasing control of all aspects of the oil industry in the 1870s. He later used his fortune for philanthropic projects.

FRANK MCCOURT Angela's Ashes, 1997

If Edward's hours were billable, she thought, he'd be as rich as Rockefeller.

NORA KELLY Old Wounds, 1998

Rothschild Meyer Amschel Rothschild (1743-1812), a German Jew, founded a banking house in Frankfurt and a dynasty. His five sons set up banks throughout Europe. His third son, Nathan (1777-1836), who founded the London bank, made a £1 million profit on the Stock Exchange having staked his fortune on the outcome of the battle of Waterloo.

If she wanted a new hat, he'd say hadn't he bought her a hat only five or six years

ago and get off nasty cracks about women who seemed to think they'd married into the Rothschild family,

p. c. WODEHOUSE Cocktail Time, 1958

'I said I was your housekeeper,' replied that lady .. . 'Oh good,' said Aunt Irene. 'He'll think I'm Rothschild!

ALICE THOMAS ELLIS The 27th Kingdom, 1982