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1[[WMG:[[center:[-'''TheOldestOnesInTheBook'''\
2OlderThanTheNES | Before 1985\
3OlderThanCableTV | 1939 -- 1980\
4OlderThanTelevision | 1890 -- 1939\
5OlderThanRadio | 1698 -- 1890\
6OlderThanSteam | 1439 -- 1698\
7OlderThanPrint | 476 -- 1439\
8'''Older Than Feudalism''' | ~800 BC -- 476 AD\
9OlderThanDirt | Before ~800 BC-]]]]]
10
11[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/feudalism_6304.jpg]]
12[[caption-width-right:350:{{Ancient Rom|e}}an Floor mosaic at the [[http://www.ostia-antica.org/regio4/15/15-2.htm Baths of Musiciolus]] in Ostia, probably early 4th century AD]]
13
14All of TheOldestOnesInTheBook first recorded after the invention of the Greek alphabet (c. 800 BC) and before the fall of Western Roman Empire in the 5th century (c. 476 AD), a period usually called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_antiquity Classical antiquity]]. Works from this period include:
15
16* All ancient [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek and Roman]] myths, literature, and theatre.[[note]] Some of these stories may have originated before the Greeks invented their alphabet, but the only versions we have come from this period.[[/note]]
17* Literature/TheBible[[note]] As the work page explains, some parts of the Torah/Pentateuch probably do originate from as early as 1000 BC, but the dating is uncertain, and for simplicity's sake the whole Bible is included on this index. In any event, all of the Old and New Testaments were written before the fall of Rome.[[/note]]
18* Most of ancient South Asian literature and Myth/HinduMythology, including:
19** The Hindu ''Upanishads'', ''Literature/{{Ramayana}}'', ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'', and ''Literature/BhagavadGita'' (whereas the Sanskrit ''Vedas'' are OlderThanDirt).
20** The ''Literature/{{Panchatantra}}'' fables
21** The plays of Kālidāsa
22** The Buddhist epic ''Buddhacharita''
23** The ''Literature/TwentyFiveTalesOfTheVetala''
24* Most surviving[[note]]Thanks UsefulNotes/QinShihuangdi, for burning practically every copy of every non-technical book in the empire save the one you kept in your personal library! And thanks, Xiang Yu's Army of Chu, for letting the Qin palace in Xianyang--the place where Qin Shihuang's personal library was kept--burn to the ground![[/note]] examples of ancient Chinese literature, philosophy, and history date to this period:
25** The ''Analects'' of Creator/{{Confucius}}
26** The ''Daodejing'' by Creator/{{Laozi}} and other foundational texts of Taoism.
27** ''Literature/{{The Art of War|SunTzu}}'', probably by SÅ«n ZĒ (also spelled Sun Tzu).
28** The ''Records of the Grand Historian'', or ''Shiji'' by Sima Qian. This is the classic text on Chinese history up until the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in the 2nd century BCE. It is also (apart from a penchant for exaggeration) surprisingly accurate, all things considered: among other things, its list of Shang emperors and their relationship to each other very nearly matches the one modern archaeologists have reconstructed from the available primary sources (the oracle bones that date from the Shang period), even though Sima lived and wrote nearly a thousand years after the fall of the Shang.
29** The ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' by Chen Shou (which documents the fall of the Han Dynasty and the [[UsefulNotes/ThreeKingdomsShuWeiWu Three Kingdoms period]], written shortly after the unification of China by the Jin Dynasty in 280; it is the historical basis for the ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', which does ''not'' fall into this, being a novel written in the 14th century.)
30** ''UsefulNotes/TheThirtySixStratagems'', usually attributed to SÅ«n ZĒ or Zhuge Liang, although only firmly recorded in the Book of Qi, written after 502 CE (slightly after the end of this period); that being said, the events used as examples almost universally date from the Warring States period (c. 475 BCE-221 BCE), the Chu-Han Contention (206 BCE-202 BCE) or the Three Kingdoms era (220 CE-280 CE).
31** Though this trope is also problematic if taking China into consideration. Chinese Feudalism actually started between 800 BC to 770 BC, and ended around 221 BC. So could this be a case where Feudalism is a trope Older Than Feudalism?
32* The Zoroastrian holy book, ''Avesta''[[note]]The oldest portion of the Avesta, the Gathas (hymns attributed to Zoroaster himself), are probably OlderThanDirt (c. 1200 BCE), but we include the whole thing here for simplicity's sake.[[/note]].
33* The [[UsefulNotes/{{Manichaeism}} Manichean]] holy book, ''Shabuhragan''.
34* The works of the Christian Church Fathers, like St. Augustine's ''Literature/{{Confessions|SaintAugustine}}''.
35
36'''Note:''' Tropes originating in other mythologies/religions are not indexed here, as we have no idea whether those stories even existed by the 5th century AD, or what forms they took, centuries before they were first written down. Even Norse and Celtic mythology are only OlderThanPrint; 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; [[ScienceMarchesOn more research has shown that]] people can and do modify all sorts of tales for many purposes.
37
38!! Tropes that date back to this time period:
39[[index]]
40[[foldercontrol]]
41
42[[folder:A-C]]
43* AbdicateTheThrone: A famous, albeit curious, example appears in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''. 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.
44* AbductionIsLove: The abduction of Persephone by Hades in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]]. This married couple of deities is typically depicted as relatively happy, and stable, with few fights and very few stories of infidelity.
45* AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder: In Myth/ClassicalMythology Agamemnon and Clytemnestra didn't wait during UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar, nor remain faithful. Clytemnestra had a good reason, though.
46* AbusiveParents: Common in Myth/ClassicalMythology.:
47** Ouranos and Cronos both imprisoned all their children at birth.
48** Hephaestos in ''Literature/TheIliad'' tells how his father Zeus threw him off a mountain.
49** Acrisios imprisoned his daughter Danae, then threw her into the sea when she got pregnant anyway.
50* AchillesHeel: The BigBad Duryodhana in the Literature/{{Mahabharata}}, and Talos in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]]. Suprisingly not Achilles, the {{Trope Namer|s}} (in ''Literature/TheIliad'', anyway; the first time heā€™s an example is in ''Literature/TheAchilleid'', 1st century CE).
51* AchillesInHisTent: Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Literature/TheIliad''; {{Trope Namer|s}}.
52* AcquittedTooLate: In Sophocles' ''Theatre/{{Antigone}}'', Creon realizes Antigone is innocent after she's already committed suicide.
53* ActuallyIAmHim: In the ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', Odysseus returns to Ithaca disguised as a beggar. His first contact with Penelope, has him delivering (false) news concerning her missing husband.
54* AdamAndEvePlot:
55** The Literature/BookOfGenesis 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.
56** Deucalion and Pyrrha from Myth/ClassicalMythology.
57* AnAesop: Ancient Greek folktales, notably Literature/AesopsFables, have these.
58* AgeWithoutYouth: Tithonos of [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]] ages forever without dying, after a botched wish. The Cumaean Sibyl is cursed with the same after spurning Apollo.
59* AIIsACrapshoot: [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis 3]] and the fall of Adam and Eve.
60* AkashicRecords: 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 AD.
61* TheAlcatraz:
62** Tartarus in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]] is the prison-ward of TheUnderworld where the Titans, some monsters, and a few particularly malevolent mortals were kept forever (and generally tortured). ''Nobody'' ever escaped, even if they were still technically alive.
63** The Minoan Labyrinth was "solved" only by cheating with a piece of string.
64* AlcoholHic: Afflicts Creator/{{Aristophanes}} in Creator/{{Plato}}'s ''Literature/{{Symposium}}''.
65* AllAmazonsWantHercules: The {{Trope Namer|s}} happens in a Greek myth. Also occurs in the Literature/{{Mahabharata}} with Hidimba falling for Bhima.
66* AllForNothing: A story's buildup gets its payoff. A later event renders it meaningless. It happens to Saul, David, and Solomon in ''Literature/TheBible''.
67* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' 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.
68* AllJustADream: Creator/{{Zhuangzi}}.
69* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: Hephaestus was either born crippled and abandoned at birth, or born ugly and crippled when his father threw him off of Olympus. In ''Literature/TheIliad'' the other gods mock him for his lameness. A Homeric Hymn has Hera describe her son with disgust. He still manufactures most of their great weapons.
70* AllPlanetsAreEarthlike: Showed up in the first space travel story ever, ''Literature/TrueHistory'' by 2nd century author Creator/LucianOfSamosata. (This is excusable because the telescope wouldn't be invented until the Renaissance.) Not only is the moon Earthlike, but so is ''the Sun''.
71* AllowedInternalWar: In The Literature/BookOfEsther, the king's EvilChancellor Haman decrees that the Jews must be slaughtered, and makes this official with the king's own seal. The king is in love with Esther, but can't contradict an order bearing his seal, so instead he allows Esther to warn her people and arm themselves.
72* AlmightyJanitor: The ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'' (4th century BCE) has Vishnu's human avatar, Krishna, becoming the humble charioteer of the epic's hero Prince Arjuna. Among other things, he teaches Arjuna all about Hindu philosophy and convinces him to rejoin the fight after a HeroicBSOD (in a pep talk that forms the bulk of the spiritual text the ''Literature/BhagavadGita'').
73* AlmostDeadGuy: A Greek legend, based ''looooosely'' on the historical Marathon run.
74* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Literature/TheGospelOfJudas does this with Judas, compared to a lot of other Christian texts. Myth/ClassicalMythology is full of this, since nearly every story has at least a couple versions all by different authors with their own versions of each god and hero.
75* AlternateHistory: Book IX of Livy's ''Literature/HistoryOfRome'' ponders what would have happened if Alexander the Great had led his armies west -- towards the young Roman Republic -- instead of east. [[CreatorProvincialism He thinks Rome would have won.]][[note]]This isn't ''entirely'' unjustified; Greek phalanxes were great at fighting in the flat valley bottoms of Greece and open plains of Asia, but as the Romans themselves learned during the Samnite Wars (during which they tried and failed to fight with Greek tactics), they were kind of garbage at fighting in the rolling, hilly terrain of Italy. That said, it's not clear the Romans would have been able to capitalize on that advantage had Macedon chosen to turn west, nor is it clear that this advantage would be decisive.[[/note]]
76* AmoralAttorney:
77** Mentioned in ''Literature/TheBible''.
78** Several Greek societies basically believed in this, and therefore [[DefiedTrope forbade anyone from arguing another person's case in court]]. (The Athenians were the most famous for this, but the Spartans and various other Greek peoples had the same rule.)
79** The Romans, on the other hand, ''reveled'' in this trope, especially in the republican period: After the gladiatorial games and chariot races, trials were Rome's favorite spectator sport, and it was understood that the trials were heavily politicized and the lawyers would resort to any kind of UnconventionalCourtroomTactics to win (up to and including inciting the audience against their opposing counsel and opposing party). (This didn't keep the Romans from insisting on the fairness of their legal system--Roman justice in the republican era was very community-focused, so the opinion of the people was ''very'' important in deciding cases.[[note]]The point of the jury system, in Roman eyes, was that the people's view of what was just and what was not had to be considered, whatever the fine points of the law might be. It's the same communitarian spirit that informs [[CommonNonsenseJury jury nullification]] in common-law systems.[[/note]]) Many Roman politicians made their names as litigators, Creator/{{Cicero}} (who [[UrExample basically invented]] the SimpleCountryLawyer trope) being the most famous. Nearly all of them took their cases on the basis of ability to pay or political expediency--Cicero was seen as weird because he only ever took politically-advantageous cases, not well-paying ones.
80* AmusinglyAwfulAim: According to Diogenes Laertius' ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'', Diogenes of Sinope once, when watching the practicing of a lousy archer, sat down right next to the archer's target "so he would not get hit".
81* AnachronicOrder: Literature/TheBible is written this way. One of the major principles of Judaism is ''Ein Mukdam Umeuchar Batorah'', which means don't assume things happen in the order they're written.
82* AnachronismStew: The most famous Greek myths of Theseus jump from bronze age Crete to Classical, democratic Athens, and depict other Greek cities as early Archaic monarchies.
83* AncestralWeapon: Greek hero Theseus received his father's sword from his mother.
84* AncientGrome: The Romans themselves would place plays in Athens or other Greek cities, to avoid slandering the state, but leave everything else Roman-like.
85* AncientPersia:
86** ''Literature/TheHistories'': A detailed account on the rise of the Achaemenid Empire and the Greco-Persian Wars, it's still one of the most important sources on it.
87** ''Literature/TheBible'':
88*** ''Literature/BookOfDaniel'': Set in Babylon during the Captivity, King Belshazzar summons Daniel, a Jewish sage, to interpret some writing that mysteriously appeared on a wall. Daniel reads it warns of the coming of the Persians and that very night Belshazzar is slain and the kingdom is taken by one Darius the Mede. The rest of the book occurs under Persian rule.
89*** ''Literature/BookOfEsther'': Hebrew woman Esther is chosen by King Ahasueres (i.e. Xerxes) to become queen of Persia and thwarts a genocide of her people planned by viceroy Haman after Esther's cousin Mordecai refuses to bow down to him.
90*** ''Literature/TheFourGospels'': the wise men who visit the infant Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew are described as being 'from the East' and specifically referred to as Magi, suggesting that they are Persian astrologers. Other apochryphal materials develop this idea further, and even in orthodox Catholicism, one of the wise men, Melchior, is specifically mentioned as being from Persia.
91** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism The Mysteries of Mithra]] was a religion that was popular in AncientRome from the 1st through 4th century CE purported to be a continuation of the oriental cult of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithra Mithra]] in Persia, although scholars now believe the differences between the two are too big and the cult was actually based on Roman ''perceptions'' of Zoroastrianism cult.
92** ''The Persians'' (or ''Persae'') is an Ancient Greek tragedy that takes place in Susa, one of the capitals of the Persian Empire, during Xerxes' invasion of Greece, where the Queen Mother Atossa awaits news about the war and then summons his dead husband's (Darius) ghost, who condemns the hubris behind his son's decision of invading.
93** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoroaster#In_classical_antiquity Pseudo-Zoroaster]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostanes Ostanes]], in Greece and then Rome, thought to be the father of magic and the one who introduced it to the Greek world, respectively. These were pen-names used by pseudonymous authors that mostly treated topics related to magic, alchemy, necromancy, divination, etc. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vishtaspa#Pseudo-Hystaspes Pseudo-Hystaspes]] was another such name in Greco-Roman literature, the patron of Zoroaster being turned into an apocalyptic prophet and ancient sage of sorts.
94* AndIMustScream: Tityos and Prometheus suffer horrible torture in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]]. Tityos suffers ''forever''; Prometheus is bound forever or for several centuries, DependingOnTheWriter.
95* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: A RealLife custom found in many cultures around the world -- anthropologists call it "marriage by abduction" or "bridal theft". Appears in Literature/TheBible in the abduction of the Shiloh women, and the rape of Dinah in [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis 34]]. The Romans had their Rape of the Sabine Women.
96* AndYourLittleDogToo: Hector killing Patroclus in ''Literature/TheIliad''.
97* AndroclesLion: Literature/AesopsFables; {{Trope Namer|s}}.
98* AngelicAbomination: The Literature/BookOfEzekiel describes angels as wheels with eyes and animal body parts, which was horribly uncomfortable for the human viewer.
99* AngelUnaware: Lot's houseguests in Sodom ([[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis 19]]).
100* AngryGuardDog: The Greek underworld is guarded by the multi-headed Cerberus.
101* AnimalAssassin: The Greek goddess Hera sent two serpents to kill her infant stepson Heracles. It didn't work.
102* AnimalMotifs: The many animal comparisons in Literature/TheBible.
103* AnimateDead: Courtesy of [[Literature/BookOfEzekiel Ezekiel]], under the command of {{God}}, he reanimated an army of skeletons and [[MassResurrection resurrected them]] by a prophecy.
104* {{Animorphism}}: See ForcedTransformation and VoluntaryShapeshifting on this page.
105* AnsweringEcho: Narcissos and Echo, in Ovid's poetry.
106* AntagonisticOffspring: See David and Absalom below.
107* AntagonistInMourning: In Literature/TheBible, [[TheChosenOne King David]] mourns for [[VillainousBreakdown Saul]] and [[AntagonisticOffspring Absalom]], the former of whom tried to kill him before he became king and the latter who overthrew and exiled him. They ''were'' close family, though.
108* {{Anvilicious}}: Some of Literature/AesopsFables.
109* ApocalypseWow: The entirety of the Literature/BookOfRevelation.
110* AppleOfDiscord: How Eris started UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar, and the {{Trope Namer|s}}.
111* {{Arcadia}}: {{Trope Namer|s}} is a region in Greece, held to be the home of Pan, the god of shepherds and the wilderness. Creator/{{Virgil}} celebrates it as a pastoral paradise in his ''Literature/{{Eclogues}}''.
112* ArchangelAzrael
113* ArchangelGabriel: First mentioned in the Literature/BookOfDaniel.
114* ArchangelMichael: First mentioned in the Literature/BookOfDaniel.
115* ArchangelRaphael
116* ArchangelUriel
117* ArrangedMarriage: More the rule than the exception, in many cultures. For example, when it's time for the [[Literature/TheBible biblical]] Abraham's son Isaac to get married, Abraham sends his servant back to the old country to find a nice girl for him. Isaac and Rebecca agree to the match without meeting each other ([[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis 24]]).
118* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: From Literature/TheBible, 1 Peter 4:15: "by no means let any of you suffer as a murderer or thief or evildoer or a troublesome meddler."
119* AscendedFanfic: ''Literature/TheAeneid'' was a fanfic {{continuation}} of ''Literature/TheIliad''.
120* AssInALionSkin: One of Literature/AesopsFables.
121* AssholeVictim: Many characters who die in Literature/TheBible and Myth/ClassicalMythology are depicted by the authors as assholes who deserved to die and shouldn't be mourned: Ouranos, Kronos, Agamemnon, Amnon, Absalom, Jehoram of Judah, the entire populations of Sodom and Gomorrah...
122* AsymmetricMultiplayer: Asymmetric video games are obviously nowhere near this old -- but asymmetric ''board'' games date back at least as far as the first [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafl_games tafl games]], which appeared in the fourth century.
123* AttemptedRape: In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', the giant Tityos is tortured forever in Tartaros for trying to rape the goddess Leto.
124* AuthorAvatar: Cratinus (519-422 BC) himself was the protagonist in his (sadly lost) comedy ''The Wine-Flask''.
125* AuthorFilibuster: The plot of ''Literature/TheGoldenAss'' by Lucius Apuleius Platonicus wraps up early with the last chapter spent talking about how awesome the cult of Isis was, of which Apuleius just happened to be a member.[[note]][[StealthParody Or, Apuleius was making fun]] of the cults as elaborate cons to part gullible persons (like the hero Lucius) from their money.[[/note]]
126* AxCrazy: Referenced by Creator/{{Socrates}}.
127* BadassBookworm: Athena was the Greek Goddess of crafts, knowledge, and warfare, though her domain was more in the strategic aspect of war. As a female deity, she didn't look the part when not wearing her armor.
128* BadassCrew: The Greek Argonauts, who included famous heroes such as Hercules among them.
129* BadassNormal: ''The Iliad'' positively gushes as it describes human warriors without divine ancestry fighting against gods and demigods, and in the case of Diomedes, ''winning''. Most famous is Hector, who could only be defeated in battle by the invulnerable Achilles.
130* BaldnessMockery: ''Literature/TheBible'': A passage in 2 Kings, chapter 2 recounts an incident where the prophet Elisha was taunted by a group of young men for being bald:
131-->23 Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, 'Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!' 24 When he looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number.
132* TheBard: Ancient Greeks had them, and one shows up in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''. He may even be Creator/{{Homer}}'s AuthorAvatar.
133* BargainWithHeaven: This appears in Literature/TheBible repeatedly: in fact, a good third of the Old Testament revolves around it.
134* BarrierMaiden: In the Literature/{{Theogony}}, the god Atlas has to hold up the sky ''forever''.
135* BasiliskAndCockatrice:
136** The basilisk's first appearance in Western tradition is in the writings of the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, who described it as a twelve-inch-long serpent with a white, crown-shaped spot on its head, capable of killing with its gaze. Its poison is so strong that it shatters stones and kills vegetation it slithers by or breathes on, birds fall dead from the sky at its passage and waters that it drinks from become fouled and poisoned. He was also the first to record the story of how, when a knight killed a basilisk with a spear, its poisonous blood ran up his spear and killed him and its horse. The only way to reliably kill it would be to set a weasel on it, as its smell was fatal to basilisks. The part about it being hatched by a cockā€™s egg brooded by a toad or snake first shows up early in the Middle Ages. At some point in its mythological development, the basilisk transformed into a eight-legged lizard with a rooster's head that holds its tail above its body ([[https://weirdimals.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/basilisk_aldrovandi.jpg see here]]). It is likely the result of when early medieval writers somehow confused the creature with scorpions. This version inspired the popular modern depiction in fantasy games of basilisk as multi-legged reptiles.
137** A few verses in the King James Version of ''Literature/TheBible'' mention cockatrices, although this is most likely a BlindIdiotTranslation of an ancient Hebrew word that was just a generic term for any venomous snake.
138* BastardBastard: Abimelech, son of Gideon in the Literature/BookOfJudges 8:29-9:56, was the illegitimate son of Gideon who murdered his 70 legitimate brothers (he had a lot of step-mothers), then conquered his father's kingdom.
139* BattleEpic: ''Literature/TheIliad'' is one.
140* BattleOfWits: Sun Tzu's ''Literature/{{The Art of War|SunTzu}}'' is practically a ''[[StrategyGuide handbook]]'' for these.
141* BeAWhoreToGetYourMan: Delilah and Samson in Literature/TheBible (Literature/BookOfJudges).
142* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]] Tithonos wished for immortality, but both he and his lover Eos forgot to wish for eternal youth. In one of Literature/AesopsFables, a herdsman notices one of his calves missing from the herd. He prays for his patron deities to lead him to whoever stole the missing calf. When he finds the thief, it proves to be a lion.
143* BeamMeUpScotty: Literature/TheBible is probably the most frequently misquoted text in history. Special mention goes to the adage "Money is the root of all evil", a misquote of 1 Timothy 6:10.[[note]]"For the ''love of'' money is the root of all evil." Meaning greed, not money itself.[[/note]]
144* BearsAreBadNews: In Literature/TheBible ([[Literature/BooksOfKings 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.
145* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: Perhaps. It may date back to apocryphal legends from millennia ago about {{Satan}}.
146* BecauseDestinySaysSo: In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]], an oracle warned Pelias that a man with one sandal would be his downfall. Iason/Jason was that man, and the rightful heir of the throne Pelias usurped. Destiny is the plot driver in Virgil's ''Literature/TheAeneid'', because Aeneas is fated to found Rome. The gods like to remind him of he has a destiny.
147* BedsheetLadder: Michal and David in Literature/TheBible ([[Literature/BooksOfSamuel Samuel 19]]).
148* BerserkButton: In ''Literature/TheBible'', do NOT turn God's temple into a marketplace, even twice; or Jesus [[BewareTheNiceOnes won't be amused]].
149* BestHerToBedHer: The Greek myth of Atalanta.
150* BigBad: Hera (for Heracles). Poseidon in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''. {{Satan}} (in parts of Literature/TheBible). Cronos in the first part of Hesiod's Literature/{{Theogony}}.
151* BigHeroicRun: The original Marathon run, 490 BC.
152* BiggerIsBetterInBed:
153** The Literature/BookOfEzekiel in Literature/TheBible.
154** Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Historian'' relate a story from the foundation of the Qin Dynasty based in part on this trope. According to the story, the merchant-turned-Chancellor and regent of Qin LĆ¼ Buwei had been carrying on an affair with the Queen Mother, but wanted to break it off as the king (the future UsefulNotes/QinShihuangdi) approached majority. To persuade the queen, LĆ¼ found a man named Lao Ai, who had a huge penis, and (indirectly) presented him to her as a replacement lover. This worked (after Lao Ai had been plucked of all his hair to pass as a eunuch) insofar as the queen accepted the trade (apparently she bought into the trope), but although it is known that Lao Ai fathered children with the Queen Mother (causing a revolt and the execution of Lao Ai and LĆ¼ Buwei, among many others), it's not clear how much of this is historical fact and how much is Sima Qian embellishing things.
155* {{Biography}}:
156** Plutarch is considered one of the earliest biographers, with his 23 pairs of biographies collectively titled ''[[Literature/ParallelLives Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans]]'', 80 AD.
157** About 150 years before Plutarch, Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Historian'' include 69 "Ranked Biographies", telling the lives of notable figures in pre-Han Dynasty and early Han Dynasty Chinese history. These biographies form the largest section of the ''Records''ā€”42% of the gigantic work.
158* BirdPoopGag: At one point in ''Theatre/TheBirds'', the chorus of birds calls on the jurors of the play contest to award ''The Birds'' the first prize, or else they will be bombarded with bird droppings whenever they wear fine clothes.
159* TheBlacksmith: Hephaestus is an immortal blacksmith. ''Literature/TheIliad'' describes him at work, creating armor and weapons.
160* BlameGame: After [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Adam and Eve]] eat of the ForbiddenFruit, Adam blames Eve because she gave it to him (and indirectly blames God for putting her in the Garden of Eden), and Eve blames the serpent for tempting her to do so. God punishes all three of them.
161* BlameTheParamour: Greek goddess Hera had the tendency to take her anger out on Zeus's many mortal lovers, regardless of consent, because Zeus was too strong to deal with directly.
162* BlessedWithSuck: King Midas in Classical myth turns everything he touches to gold... including his food, his water, his clothes, [[AesopCollateralDamage his daughter]]...
163* BlindSeer: Tiresias in Greek works such as ''Literature/TheOdyssey''.
164* BloodBath: The ancient Christian apologist Prudentius accused the priests of the Magna Mater of bathing in bulls' blood; he may have been exaggerating, but nonetheless the trope appears in his anti-pagan writings.
165* BloodFromTheMouth: Assyrian bas reliefs of lion hunts in the British Museum depict dying lions bleeding profusely from the mouth.
166* BloodKnight: Ares, the Greek God of War -- or rather, bloodlust and slaughter.
167* BloodMagic: In [[Literature/BookOfExodus Exodus]], when the Angel of Death came to kill the firstborn children of Egypt, the Jews painted their doors with lamb blood so the angel would know which babies to spare.
168* BloodOnTheDebateFloor: The RealLife assassination of Julius Caesar in the Theatre of Pompey where the Roman Senate was meeting, 15 March 44 BC.
169* BloodSport: Roman [[GladiatorGames gladiatorial combat]].
170* BloodstainedDefloration: Mentioned in the ''Literature/BookOfExodus''
171* BluffTheImpostor: When Odysseus finally returned home to Ithaca in ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', his wife Penelope tested him with a blatant lie about their bedroom's construction. Odysseus proved his identity by correcting her.
172* BoisterousBruiser: Ajax from [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]].
173* BoltOfDivineRetribution: The Greek god Zeus punished many people with his signature lightning bolt, e.g. Iasion (who slept with Demeter) and Salmoneus (who tried to impersonate Zeus).
174* BornAsAnAdult: In the Literature/{{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 Literature/WorksAndDays, Hephaestus created Pandora, the first mortal woman, in adult form.
175* BoundAndGagged: Odysseus asks his crew to tie him to the mast when his ship sails past the Sirens in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''. The other sailors use his reactions as a gauge for when it's safe to unclog their ears.
176* BountyHunter: Saul from Literature/TheBible, before his HeelFaithTurn into the apostle Paul. He's first depicted in Acts as accepting payment for arresting a follower of Christ.
177* BoyMeetsGirl: Ovid's "Literature/PygmalionAndGalatea," sort of.
178* BrainsVersusBrawn: How Ares and Athena are used with regards to their roles as {{War God}}s; Athena is TheStrategist and provides intellectual insight to her believers whereas Ares is the BloodKnight who focuses more on savagery and destruction in battle.
179* BreadOfSurvival: In the Bible, Jesus performs a miracle by using five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 hungry people and even has twelve baskets full of food left over after everyone has eaten their fill.
180* BreakingTheBonds: The story of Damon and Pythias from Myth/ClassicalMythology, as well as the story of Samson from Literature/TheBible.
181* BreakingTheFourthWall: Ancient Greek playwrights did this all the time... they even did it before the concept of the FourthWall was an accepted universal concept!
182* BreakoutVillain: Satan in [[Literature/TheBible the Jewish Bible]] only appears in the Literature/BookOfJob, in which he's a gadfly to God and not even particularly evil. The early Christians, under the influence of dualistic religions like Zoroastrianism, made him the BigBad and [[CompositeCharacter combined him]] with the snake in [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis]].
183* BreakTheHaughty: The Ancient Greek idea of ''[[{{Pride}} hubris]]'' often includes the gods punishing the prideful mortal.
184* BreakUpBonfire: After Aeneas abandons Dido, Dido in ''Literature/TheAeneid'' orders to build a pyre to burn Aeneas' clothes and weapons, an image of Aeneas and also the bed on which she slept with him, claiming this ritual will heal her of her lovesickness. When the pyre is ready, she stabs herself with Aeneas' sword on it, and is burnt on it.
185* BringMyBrownPants: A regular occurrence in the plays of Creator/{{Aristophanes}}.
186* BringNewsBack: Pheidippides at the Battle of Marathon, who managed to warn Athens that Sparta would not aid them in time for the battle.
187* BrotherSisterTeam: ''Literature/TheIliad'' has twin deities Apollo and Artemis teaming up to slay the children of Niobe. Apollo killed the sons, Artemis the daughters.
188* BrownNoteBeing: See an [[Literature/TheBible Old Testament]] angel would cause people to fall down in fear and trembling. Both the Bible's God and the Greek gods Zeus could cause unshielded viewers to die on the spot. Greek mythical creatures such as Medusa or Gorgon would cause [[TakenForGranite petrification]] to those who viewed them.
189* BuriedAlive: In Sophocles' ''Theatre/{{Antigone}}'', the eponymous heroine is walled up in a crypt to die as punishment. The same punishment supposedly awaited the Roman Vestal Virgins that had broken their vows of chastity.
190* BurningTheShips: After crossing the Huang He into hostile Qin territory in 208 BC, Xiang Yu of Chu supposedly ordered his army to sink the boats, as well as to pack only supplies for three days and to destroy the rest, along with the cooking utensils. This meant that they could neither go back, nor avoid starvation except by conquering the supplies of the enemy. The traditional wording of the order, "Break the kettles and sink the boats!" (ē “é‡œę²‰čˆŸ), are a Chinese idiom.
191* BurnTheUndead: In "Literature/TheGhostOfPhilinnion", the citizens of Amphipolis resolve to burn the body of Philinnion, a young woman who has left her tomb to consort with a young man, to prevent her from coming to life again.
192* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: When the Israelites left Egypt, they took the embalmed body of Joseph with them (Exodus 13:19), fulfilling Joseph's own wish (Genesis 50:25).
193* ButICantBePregnant: Literature/TheBible, namely Abraham and Sarah in the Literature/BookOfGenesis. Subverted with Mary in Literature/TheFourGospels, who's often depicted as knowing why she's pregnant with Jesus.
194* ButLiquorIsQuicker: Literature/TheBible, specifically the Literature/BookOfGenesis. Lot's ''[[ParentalIncest daughters]]'' get him drunk so they can have sex with him.
195* TheCakeIsALie: Several of Literature/AesopsFables feature this. One has a wolf get a bone stuck in his throat, and offer a reward to a crane for plucking it out. After the crane does so, the wolf informs the crane that the "reward" is the wolf not biting his head off the minute he could swallow properly.
196* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: The biblical God wants the prophet Jonah to deliver a warning to Nineveh. Jonah tries to shirk the mission, but God's intervention prevents him from getting away till he agrees to fulfill the mission.
197* CanonDiscontinuity: The apocryphal books of Literature/TheBible. ''Which'' books are apocryphal and which are canon depends on which denomination does the counting.
198* CanonFodder: Notable examples in Creator/{{Homer}}'s works include the fate of Aeneas in ''Literature/TheIliad'', and the specifics of the Fall of Troy.
199* CaptainErsatz: The Greek Aphrodite is almost certainly the same goddess as the Mesopotamian Inanna/Ishtar, with a Hellenized name and new back story, at least in the story of her and Adonis/Attis. He, in turn, is the Phrygian/Greek ersatz of the Mesopotamian Dumuzi/Tammuz, Inanna's husband.
200* CargoEnvy: In Creator/{{Ovid}}'s ''Amores'', he expresses a strong desire to be the ring on his mistresses finger.
201* CarryABigStick: Greek hero Hercules' weapon of choice.
202* TheCassandra: Cassandra herself, in the works of Creator/{{Homer}}.
203* CassandraTruth. Princess Cassandra of Troy is the {{Trope Namer|s}}, thanks to a curse from the god Apollo.
204* TheCasanova: Zeus, king of the Greek pantheon. [[ValuesDissonance Yes, they had very different values from us]].
205* CatchTheConscience. Happens to King David in Literature/TheBible, courtesy of Nathan ([[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 2 Samuel 12]]).
206* CelebrityEndorsement: Ancient Roman gladiators used to do this all the time.
207* CelibateHero: The title character of Creator/{{Euripides}}'s ''Theatre/{{Hippolytus}}''.
208* CelestialParagonsAndArchangels: There are several kinds of angels in Literature/TheBible, some mightier than others.
209* CementShoes: In Literature/TheBible, Jesus says that people who tempt others to sin should ''"be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck".''
210* ChainedToARock: Prometheus in Creator/{{Hesiod}}'s Literature/{{Theogony}} is the {{Trope Maker|s}}.
211* TheChainsOfCommanding: The Sword of Damocles, described by Cicero.
212* CharacterCatchphrase: Literature/TheBible, partly due to its oral origin, has some of these: For example, Jesus uses (depending on the translation) "I tell you the truth," "Verily I say unto thee," or "I tell you solemnly." Angels tend to say "Fear not" when they show up, due to their decidedly ''non''-WingedHumanoid appearances.
213* ChangelingFantasy: Many [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Human Hybrids]] in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]], if their father or mother was a god.
214* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: See BadassNormal on this page.
215* AChatWithSatan: Two such tests of character occur in Literature/TheBible: The serpent's conversation with Eve, and Satan trying to tempt Jesus in the wilderness.
216* TheChessmaster (only the version without chess motifs): ''Literature/{{The Art of War|SunTzu}}'' is a good guide on how to be the Chessmaster (but inspired by {{go}} instead).
217* ChessWithDeath: Some mythical Greek characters challenge gods to contests and end up dead or otherwise badly off. e.g. Marsyas the Satyr, Arachne (in Ovid and Virgil), and Thamyris in Apollodorus and Asklepiades.
218* ChickenAndEggParadox: Creator/{{Aristotle}} formulated the {{Trope Namer|s}} as a thought experiment. Additionally the Rabbinic text ''Literature/PirkeiAvot'' has one of the first recorded non-chicken examples, with a story that [[DivineIntervention God created the first pair of tongs]], on the grounds that one would need to already have a pair of tongs to make another pair.
219* ChocolateBaby: ''Aethiopica'', a Greek romance by Heliodorus of Emesa (c. 3rd century AD), starts with Queen Persinna of Ethiopia giving birth to a white daughter, despite she and her husband being black, which causes her to give the baby away to avoid accusations of adultery. After many adventures, it is revealed that Persinna had been looking at a painting of Andromeda while she conceived, and so Andromeda's white skin "imprinted" on her child.
220* TheChooserOfTheOne: The prophet Samuel chose the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David, in Literature/TheBible, led by God.
221* {{Cincinnatus}}: The Roman position of dictator was created to act as a temporary one-man ruler during a severe crisis, such as during the Second Punic War. The {{Trope Namer|s}}, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, held the position of dictator in 458 BC for sixteen days to deal with stop an invasion and went back to his farm shortly afterward. He was given the position again to stop the plot of Spurius Maelius and again resigned after the latter was killed. Because of this, the Romans considered Cincinnatus to be a paragon of republican values who willingly returned his powers once the crisis was over.
222* CinderellaPlot: Appears to have started with the 1st century Greek story of "Rhodopis", which contains elements such as a footwear-based search for a girl.
223* CityMouse: From Aesop's "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse". {{Trope Namer|s}}.
224* CivilizedAnimal: The ancient Greek ''Literature/{{Batrachomyomachia}}'' is a mock epic parodying works in the genre like the ''[[Literature/TheIliad Iliad]]'' by replacing the heroic figures with talking mice and frogs. They definitely still behave like animals in some respects, but they wear armor, carry tiny spears, and generally act 'civilized' throughout the 300-line poem.
225* TheClan: The ancient Greeks loved genealogy and linked most of their gods together into one huge Badass family.
226* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: The Gospel of Luke in The Bible.
227* TheClimax: In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', for example, the climax comes in Books 21 and 22, when Odysseus strings his bow, reveals himself, and starts killing people. There's not much denouement.
228* ClingyJealousGirl: Greek goddess Hera, though she has reason to be jealous since Zeus is constantly unfaithful.
229* ClingyMacGuffin: The Ring of Polykrates, as recounted by Creator/{{Herodotus}}.
230* ClusterFBomb: Gaius Valerius Catullus' [[Literature/CatulliCarmen16 Carmen 16]].
231* CoinsForTheDead: The proper way to pay respect for a corpse is to place a coin in the mouth or on the eyes. This was a real burial practice among the likes of the ancient Greeks, in ancient Iran, and numerous other areas. %%Please refrain from moving to OlderThanDirt; historical consensus is that coins were only invented around the 7th century BCE, i.e. after the cutoff date for that trope.
232* ColdBloodedTorture: [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]] has Prometheus and Tityos chained up while vultures perpetually eat their regenerating livers. Echetos liked to hack off the body parts and genitals of everyone he met. In RealLife the Persian and Roman Empires executed some people by crucifixion.
233* CombatByChampion: David and Goliath (Literature/TheBible, [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 1 Samuel 17]]). Eteocles and Polyneices ([[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]]) finally agreed to end the war of Thebes this way, but killed each other simultaneously. [[RealLife Republican]] [[AncientRome Roman]] soldiers practiced single combat.
234* ComesGreatResponsibility: Creator/{{Virgil}} used this trope as the [[AncientRome Roman]] ideal. Literature/TheBible has the Parable of the Faithful Servant.
235* ComeToGawk:
236** The title character in Creator/{{Aeschylus}}'s ''Theatre/PrometheusBound'' was ChainedToARock in the middle of nowhere, but he figured this was part of the punishment too -- the play would've been a one-character monologue if nobody had Come to Gawk.
237** In Literature/TheBible the Philistines blinded Samson and put him on display.
238** RealLife Romans publicly displayed crucifixion victims for exactly this purpose.
239* {{Comedy}}: Greek theatre from the 5th century BC onwards, with Creator/{{Aristophanes}} as the most notable author.
240* ComfortingTheWidow: The Widow of Ephesus story in ''Literature/TheSatyricon''.
241* ComicallyMissingThePoint: [[Literature/TheBible The Apostles]] of all people, when they [[SidetrackedByTheAnalogy took a parable too literally]]:
242--> '''Jesus:''' Beware the yeast of the [[CorruptChurch Pharisees]].\
243'''Apostles:''' He's upset that we didn't bring any bread!
244* ConstrainedWriting: The earliest documented lipogram, a hymn to Demeter written by Lasos of Hermione, of which a fragment survives, 6th century B.C.
245* ContrappostoPose: One of the oldest stock poses, used by sculptors in ancient Greece (and later refined by painters in Renaissance Italy).
246* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: In addition to ColdBloodedTorture, [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]] features a variety of less physical torments such as those inflicted upon Tantalos and Sisyphos (in ''Literature/TheOdyssey'') and Atlas (in Literature/{{Theogony}}).
247* CoolHorse: Laomedon and Achilles both own immortal horses in ''Literature/TheIliad''; UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat had the amazing Bucephalus; Helios has fire horses; and Poseidon has half-fish hippokampoi.
248* CoolSword: Perseus's sword was a gift from the gods, according to Creator/{{Aeschylus}} and Apollodorus.
249* CouldSayItBut: This trope was known as "evasio" to Roman rhetoricians like Creator/{{Cicero}}, and it was used in law courts and speeches.
250* CounterEarth: The philosopher Philolaus proposed the idea that there was a second Earth located on the other side of the Sun. The Greeks called this hypothetical planet ''Antichthon''.
251* CountryMouse: From Aesop's "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse". {{Trope Namer|s}}.
252* CourtroomAntics: Aristophanes' ''The Wasps'' is full of courtroom oddities, being about [[OlderThanYouThink Athens' litigious society]].
253* CourtroomEpisode: ''Theatre/{{Eumenides}}'' ends the Oresteia trilogy with Orestes being tried in an Athenian court for killing his mother, with the furies prosecuting him and Apollo and Athena on the defense,
254* TheCreon: Creon of Thebes was a recurring character in early Greek drama, right hand of ''[[Theatre/OedipusTheKing Oedipus Rex]]'' who avowed that he had no intention or desire to become king. He was later forced into the position anyway, much to Thebes' regret.
255* {{Crossover}}: The ''Literature/{{Argonautica}}'' (3rd century BC).
256* CrowdSong: The chorus in Greek drama.
257* CrucialCross: The UrExample being Jesus' cross as described in Literature/TheFourGospels.
258* CryingWolf: [[TropeNamers The original]] is one of Literature/AesopsFables.
259* CunningLikeAFox: In Literature/AesopsFables.
260* CuttingTheKnot: The original Gordian Knot.
261[[/folder]]
262
263[[folder:D-I]]
264* DaddysGirl: According to ''Literature/TheIliad'', 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.
265* DamselInDistress: Andromeda and Hesione in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]], both in the same pickle: their parents pissed off Poseidon, and had to sacrifice them to giant sea monsters to save their kingdoms. Thanks, Mom!
266* DavidVersusGoliath: The {{Trope Namer|s}} is from the Literature/BooksOfSamuel in Literature/TheBible.
267* TheDayOfReckoning: The Literature/BookOfRevelation in Literature/TheBible.
268* DeadPersonConversation: Odysseus converses with several ghosts in Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Odyssey''.
269* DeadlyEuphemism: The Latin term ''proscriptio'' originally just meant "publication", and most commonly referred to written advertisements in public places that such-and-such goods or land were for sale (typically at auction). However, when [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic Sulla]] decided to [[ThePurge purge]] his opponents, he declared them enemies of the state and "proscribed" their property (as forfeited property of traitors, for sale by the Roman state to the highest bidder). The "enemies of the state" were thus often said to have themselves been "proscribed". Since these ''proscripti'' were also usually executed, "proscription" gradually became a term referring to purges, both bloody (like those of Sulla and Augustus) and bloodless, even by the "proscriptors" themselves. A long way from "advertisement."
270* DeathByChildbirth: Likely as old as our species, what with our disproportionately huge heads and tiny, tiny hips. In Literature/TheBible, Jacob's favorite wife Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin.
271* DeathFakedForYou: Faking baby Oedipus' death was what started the whole mess that blew up in ''[[Theatre/OedipusTheKing Oedipus Rex]]''.
272* DeathTakesAHoliday: Sisyphos tied up Thanatos in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]], and nobody could die until Ares rescued him.
273* DecapitationPresentation: David with Goliath's head in Literature/TheBible, Judith with Holofernes' head in the Apocrypha, Salome asking for John the Baptist's head, and Perseus displaying Medusa's head [[TakenForGranite as a weapon]] in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]]. In RealLife, the Galatian noblewoman Chiomara presented her husband with the head of the centurion who raped her, and the Egyptians presented Pompey's head to Caesar (who reportedly turned away in disgust when presented with the gruesome prize).]
274* DecidedByOneVote: Creator/{{Aeschylus}}'s Eumenides has the trial of Orestes, in which the jury is tied on whether to convict him. In ancient Athens, a tie went to the defendant, so Orestes gets to go free.
275* {{Deconstruction}}: Creator/{{Euripides}}'s ''Theatre/TrojanWomen'' and ''Theatre/{{Hecuba}}'' portrayed UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar 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.
276* DemandingTheirHead: In Greek Myth, King Polydectes ordered Perseus to bring him the head of {{Medusa}}.
277* DemocracyIsBad: Creator/{{Plato}}'s ''Literature/TheRepublic'', various ancient Chinese writings.
278* {{Demythification}}: Euhemerus' treatment of Myth/ClassicalMythology is the alternate trope namer.
279* DeniedFoodAsPunishment: In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]] Tantalos killed his son and tried to trick the gods into eating him. Punished after death in Tartaros, he stands forever in a pool of water, surrounded by fruit trees, but whenever he reaches for it the water drains away and the branches blow out of reach.
280* DependingOnTheWriter: ''Literature/TheBible''. The Literature/BookOfGenesis gives two accounts of Creation that some find contradictory, and Literature/TheFourGospels tell of Jesus' life from the slightly differing perspectives of four of the Apostles. Notably, the accounts of Creation differ on whether Male and Female were created at the same time, and whether humans were created before or after animals; the Gospels differ slightly on which people witnessed Jesus' crucifixion, and on which women were present when his tomb was found empty.
281* DepravedDwarf: The UrExample might be found in Myth/ClassicalMythology, specifically in certain depictions of [[FaunsAndSatyrs satyrs]]. These creatures were sometimes drawn with dwarfish proportions in ancient art, and were ''always'' depicted as debauched perverts (a trait that even shows up in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'''s {{Disneyfi|cation}}ed version of the myths). Like TheFairFolk, satyrs weren't strictly ''evil'', but they were wild and uncouth, sometimes dangerously so.
282* {{Determinator}}: Odysseus ''does'' get home... eventually.
283* TheDictatorship: The Roman Republic was the earliest example of a dictatorship and the {{Trope Namer|s}}, where a politician or magistrate would be temporarily appointed as a ''praetor maximus'' or ''dictator'' with the full authority of the state during a time of crisis; as time went by, this term adopted its modern definition of an undemocratic and oppressive place under the control of a single man and/or clique.
284* DiedOnTheirBirthday: Literature/TheTalmud teaches that Moses was both born and died on the 7th of Adar.
285* DifferentForGirls: In ''Literature/TheTrojanCycle'', when Thetis disguised her son Achilles in drag, he completely failed to pull it off -- not that he really ''wanted'' to dodge the draft.
286* DitzyGenius: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theaetetus_(dialogue) Theaetetus]], one of Plato's dialogues, has Socrates explaining that philosophers (which were equivalent to modern day polymaths) were considered "absent-minded" because they didn't care about mundane stuff like gossip or social fads.
287* DontLookBack: In the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Book of Genesis), looking back got Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt. In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]] Orpheus lost his wife Eurydice (again) because he looked back when leading her out of Hades.
288* DontShootTheMessage: Several times in Literature/TheBible, someone complains that God's followers' actions are besmirching God's name.
289* DoubleEntendre: A favorite tactic of Greek comedians. Creator/{{Aristophanes}}'s plays are full of them.
290* DoubleStandard: In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' the nymph Calypso complains about this. She points out that male gods frequently sleep with mortal women, but are "harsh and far too jealous" when goddesses take mortal lovers.
291* DovesMeanPeace: Doves are depicted as God's messenger and manifestations of the Holy Spirit in ''Literature/TheBible''.
292* DownerEnding: Rather common in Myth/ClassicalMythology. ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' has the murder of Agamemnon. The ''[[Literature/TheTrojanCycle Returns]]'' told the deaths of several characters of UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar. The ''Telegony'' has Odysseus killed accidentally by one of his own sons. The Argonauts' story ends with Jason's ignominious death. Greek tragedy almost ''required'' this trope.
293* DownfallBySex: Samson had a lust problem, and the Philistines he tormented used this against him by bribing a prostitute named Delilah to try to learn his secret. He eventually caves, and is captured and humiliated as a result.
294* DraftDodging: Odysseus tried to avoid joining UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar by pretending to be insane, but the other princes called his bluff. Thetis tried to get her son Achilles out of it by dressing him in drag.
295* DragonHoard: The idea that dragons are irrationally driven to guard treasure first appears in Roman literature: In his 13th ''Philippic Speech'', Creator/{{Cicero}} compares a supposedly greedy man to a dragon, and in the BeastFable [[http://www.ciffciaff.org/en/content/book-iv/fox-and-dragon "The Fox and the Dragon"]] by Phaedrus (c. 50 AD), a dragon guarding a gold hoard in a cave freely admits his behavior is absurd, leading to AnAesop about avarice.
296* DreadlockRasta: Technically, since [[Literature/SamsonAndDelilah Samson]] is a sort of an Old Testament proto-monk, which fits the "for religious purposes" connotations of the trope.
297* DreadlockWarrior: Dreadlocks appeared in a wide variety of warrior cultures throughout the world, from Masai to Spartans to Maori and many more. Notably, [[Literature/SamsonAndDelilah Samson]], the [[SuperStrength inhumanly strong]] OneManArmy from the Bible, is specifically stated to wear his hair in dreadlocks in [[Literature/BookOfJudges Judges 16:13]].
298* DressingAsTheEnemy: Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Iliad''.
299* DrivenByEnvy: Cain killing Abel in Literature/TheBible.
300* DrivenToSuicide: King Saul from Literature/TheBible. Queen Iocaste in ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing''.
301* DrivesLikeCrazy: Jehu, son of Nimshi drives his chariot "like a madman" (Literature/TheBible, [[Literature/BooksOfKings 2 Kings 9:20]]).
302* TheDrunkenSailor: In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', 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.
303* DualWielding: Dimachaerii type gladiators in Ancient Roman games.
304* DudeShesLikeInAComa: In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology 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.
305* DueToTheDead: Achilles dragging and abusing Hector's corpse in ''Literature/TheIliad'' exemplifies the evil version. The protagonists in Creator/{{Sophocles}}'s ''Theatre/{{Antigone}}'' and ''Theatre/{{Electra}}'' exemplify the good form.
306* DumbMuscle: Ajax in ''Literature/TheIliad''. Olympic "meatbag" athletes, according to some ancient Greek philosophers. Heracles was portrayed this way in Attic comedy, for example in Creator/{{Aristophanes}}' ''Theatre/TheBirds'' (in the "canonical" myths, he is reasonably clever).
307* DyingCurse: Immediately before Queen Dido of Carthage commits suicide in book IV of ''Literature/TheAeneid'', she prays to the gods that Aeneas' mission may fail, and that the Carthaginians may forever be enemies to the descendants of Aeneas' Trojans and may one day avenge her. While part of the curse comes true, it ultimately fails.
308* {{Dystopia}}: Prophesied in the Literature/BookOfRevelation, as the Beast arises.
309* EarnYourHappyEnding: Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Odyssey'' ends with the protagonist triumphant and the evildoers punished, but boy does Odysseus have to earn it. He goes through TheUnderworld, and 20 years of exile, angst, and heartsickness, to get home. This epic was held up as the prototype of comedy, which originally just meant any story with a happy ending.
310* EatsBabies: In Creator/{{Hesiod}}'s Literature/{{Theogony}}, the Titan Cronus swallowed ''his own'' children, though unlike {{Child Eater}}s he didn't make a habit of seeking out more babies.
311* EatenAlive: Some characters in Greek myth die this way, such as [[Literature/TheOdyssey Odysseus's shipmates]] in Polyphemos's cave. Some gods, such as Prometheus and the siblings of Zeus, suffer this and ''survive'', because Greek gods ''can't'' die.
312* EatingTheEnemy: Naturally ties in with EatenAlive in many cases.
313* {{Egopolis}}: Such as several Alexandrias founded by Alexander the Great.
314* ElCidPloy: Patroclus impersonating Achilles in ''Literature/TheIliad''.
315* ElephantsAreScaredOfMice: Pliny the Elder claimed in his ''Natural History'' (circa 77 CE) that elephants have a greater aversion to mice than to any other animals.
316* ElixirOfLife: Qin Shi Huang is said to have died from drinking elixirs full of mercury in a quest for immortality.
317* EmasculatedCuckold: An ancient trope, but an early example in ''Myth/ClassicalMythology'' comes when Aphrodite, wife of Hephaestus, the crippled and often-ignored smith god, cheats on her husband with the ultimate manly man the bombastic WarGod Ares. In order to regain his honor, Hephaestus gets his revenge by creating an inescapable net that he uses to catch them in bed together and humiliate him.
318* EmergencyCargoDump: a ship on which St. Paul is sailing in ''Literature/ActsOfTheApostles'' in Literature/TheBible encounters a very rough storm, and one of the measures the crew takes to try to survive is to dump the cargo overboard.
319* EmergencyImpersonation: Patroclus impersonated Achilles in ''Literature/TheIliad'', when the latter refused to fight. Unlike in later impersonation stories, Achilles is the protagonist while Patroclus is a side character.
320* EmotionalBruiser: Hector in ''Literature/TheIliad'': mighty warrior, devoted husband and father, and named by Helen as the only one who's nice to her but Priam.
321* EnemiesEqualsGreatness: Literature/TheBible seems to hold that the only reason why people have enemies is because of their choice to follow God. Joseph was hated by his brothers for being favored by Israel, David was resented by King Saul for being the only one to defeat Goliath, and there's Jesus who had set an example to humanity, much to the disgust of the Pharisees.
322* EntitledToHaveYou: Propertius devotes some of his poems to saying he's entitled to have Cynthia.
323* EpicCatalog: The Catalogue of Ships in Book II of ''Literature/TheIliad'' is probably the most famous one in ancient epic poetry.
324* EurekaMoment: {{Trope Namer|s}} is Archimedes in his bath, allegedly.
325* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Narcissus of late Greek and Roman myth.
326* EveryManHasHisPrice: Excessive amounts of bribery were commonplace in UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic.
327* EveryoneIsBi: Most of the Classical pantheon are. Hades and Ares are straight and Athena, Artemis and Hestia are aces, but apart from them, basically everyone else is so casual with sex the idea of heterosexuality is down-right quaint.
328* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Literature/TheBible never specifically states exactly which pharaoh is involved in the Literature/BookOfExodus. Biblical scholars have been trying to identify him for a long time.
329* EverythingsBetterWithRainbows: [[/index]]
330** 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.
331** Rainbows as symbols: In Genesis 9, the rainbow is the sign of God's promise that He will never again destroy the Earth [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial with a flood.]] [[index]]
332* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Dates back to Literature/TheBible, in which the Devil often shown in this fashion, being unable to appeal to anything other than selfish desires when manipulating humans.
333* EvilColonialist: Conquest was one of the four ''original'' HorsemenOfTheApocalypse in the Literature/BookOfRevelation; depictions of the Horsemen only replaced Conquest with the more familiar figure of Pestilence starting around the time of the Black Death. This makes sense, given the amount of oppression that Judaea had endured under Roman rule by the time the Book of Revelation was written.
334* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: [[Literature/TheBible Jesus]].
335* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Deianira in ''Theatre/{{Trachiniae}}'', telling the chorus about the "strange sight" that is the bubbling, disintegrating piece of cloth she used to smear a "love potion" onto a shirt she just gave her husband.
336* FaceHeelTurn: In the back story of Creator/{{Euripides}}'s play ''Theatre/{{Hecuba}}'', Achilles defected to Troy after falling in love with Polyxena, one of its princesses.
337* TheFaceOfTheSun: This type of solar iconography first showed up in Roman and late Greek religious artwork, such as the sides of temples.
338* FacingTheBulletsOneLiner: Jesus has a couple in Literature/TheBible.
339* FairestOfThemAll: The Judgement of Paris in ''Literature/TheTrojanCycle'', when Eris deliberately provoked a fight between goddesses using an AppleOfDiscord inscribed with the words "to the fairest." The resulting fight caused UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar.
340* FakeDefector: In ''Literature/TheAeneid'' and ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' Sinon surrenders to the Trojans, claiming he defected from the Greeks, so he can convince the Trojans that the TrojanHorse is a gift.
341* FakingTheDead: Orestes in ''Theatre/{{Electra}}''.
342* FallenCupid: While the modern idea of Cupid is more of an idea of both {{Flanderization}} and [[{{Bowdlerise}} Bowdlerization]] of the original myth, the Cupid of AncientRome was [[SadlyMythtaken nowhere near as wholesome]], making the modern idea of who Cupid was the ''real'' SubvertedTrope and this trope a DoubleSubversion.
343* FallenHero: Literature/TheBible has numerous instances of good guys turned bad with {{Satan}} as the most famous example.
344* FalseRapeAccusation: In Literature/TheBible, Potiphar's wife, after failing to rape Joseph, tells her husband that Joseph raped her.
345* FamilialCannibalismSurprise: A number of examples from Greek myth. The most famous is probably the story of Atreus (father of [[Literature/TheTrojanCycle Agamemnon and Menelaus]]), who caught his brother Thyestes seducing his wife; he surreptitiously fed Thyestes the flesh of his sons at a banquet as punishment.
346* AFamilyAffair:
347** One of the origins of Zagreus and Melinoe is that Zeus slept with his brother Hades' wife Persephone [[BedTrick by disguising himself as Hades]]. Persephone also [[ParentalIncest happened to be his daughter]].
348** [[WarGod Ares']] favorite consort is Aphrodite, who was married to Hepheastus, blacksmith god and his full brother. While Aphrodite cheated on her UnwantedSpouse [[ReallyGetsAround with a lot of other people]], Ares was the one most well known for it.
349* FanWank: As early as 44 AD, Stoic philosophers were complaining about obsessive fans who argued over literary trivia like "how many rowers did Ulysses have?"
350* FandomRivalry: In Byzantium, brawls between followers of different religious leaders were an everyday occurence, as were running fights between supporters of different chariot racing teams.
351* {{Fanon}}: Literature/TheBible never states that there are three Magi, never even gives a definite number, and doesn't specify that they were male. It also doesn't specify that the fruit Adam and Eve ate was an apple, and doesn't refer to Mary Magdalene as a prostitute.
352* FantasticLegalWeirdness: In [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022&version=NIV Matthew 22:23-30]] and [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+20&version=NIV Luke 20:27-40]] (two versions of what was probably same incident), a group of Saducees ask Jesus a tricky question about a hypothetical woman who has been married multiple times: whose wife is she on Judgement Day? In both gospels, [[TakeAThirdOption Jesus answers that at the resurrection, no one's marital status matters anymore, so the question is moot]].
353* FashionHurts: Creator/{{Plutarch}} mentions painful footwear.
354* TheFatalist: All the time. Thetis warned her son Achilles that two fates awaited him: if he went to Troy, he would die young, but become famous forever. If he stayed home, he would live a long time, but be forgotten. He went to Troy and was not shy about courting death. Hector knew he was fated to die at Achilles's hands, but eventually chose to face him.
355* FatAndSkinny: In 224 AD, Wu Zhi arranged a skit making fun of Cao Zhen (who was known to be fat) and Zhu Shuo (who was skinny). [[RefugeInAudacity At a banquet celebrating Cao Zhen, no less]].
356* FeatherBoaConstrictor: In Myth/HinduMythology, Lord Shiva combines one of these with snake bracelets.
357* FeedTheMole: One of UsefulNotes/TheThirtySixStratagems.
358* FightingForAHomeland: The march of the Ten Thousand, as depicted in Creator/{{Xenophon}}'s ''Literature/{{Anabasis}}''. The Hebrews fighting the Canaanites in Literature/TheBible. The Trojan refugees in ''Literature/TheAeneid''.
359* FireForgedFriends: 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 AxCrazy in a quest for vengeance.
360* FireOfComfort: 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.
361* FixFic: ''Theatre/IphigeniaInTauris'' was written to remove the [[DroppedABridgeOnHim bridge dropped on]] Iphigenia.
362* FlamingSword: According to the Literature/BookOfGenesis, God set up a Cherub with a flaming sword to guard the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve had been cast out from there.
363* {{Flashback}}: Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Odyssey''.
364* FlippingTheTable: Jesus does this with the moneychangers in the temple.
365* FluffyTheTerrible: A nasty-looking dog named "Puppy" in ''Literature/TheSatyricon''.
366* FoodChains: Eating some pomegranate seeds in TheUnderworld forced the Greek goddess Persephone to return there every year. In the Literature/HomericHymns, Hades force-fed her. [[Literature/TheOdyssey Odysseus]] almost loses several men to the lotus-eating addiction.
367* AFoolForAClient: In Ancient Athens, all adult males had to represent themselves in court.
368* ForbiddenFruit: The Adam and Eve story from Genesis is the {{Trope Namer|s}}.
369* ForcedTransformation: Several in Myth/ClassicalMythology: Circe transformed men into animals in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''; various gods transformed Procne and Philomela into birds, and turned some Arcadian guys into werewolves. Zeus turned Io into a cow. Dionysus turned some pirates into dolphins.
370* ForgedByTheGods: Hephaestus forges new armour and shield for Achilles, a knife for Peleus, and the shield and armour of Heracles. The ''[[Literature/TheTrojanCycle Cypria]]'' mentions a spear, created by the Athene, Hephaestus, and Chiron, for Peleus.
371* ForgingScene: The forging of the Shield of Achilles in ''The Iliad''.
372* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology 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 Literature/TheBible, angels occasionally tried to appear in human form, since their true forms look more like bizarre {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.
373* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: In [[Literature/BookOfEzekiel Ezekiel chapter 18]], God has the prophet Ezekiel tell Israel to not use the proverb "The parents ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge" anymore as an excuse for blaming parents or previous generations for the sins they themselves are committing before God.
374* FriendshipDenial: Prophesied by Jesus who tells Peter that he will deny Him [[RuleOfThree three times]] before the rooster crows. Peter assures Him that he will never do that to Him, but, as Jesus was arrested that night, somebody in the crowd asks Peter was he with Jesus. Trying to avoid getting himself into further trouble, Peter responds with "No! I do not know Him!". As the rooster crows and with Jesus looking at him, Peter [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizes that he was wrong]].
375* FromZeroToHero: The story of Jesus Christ follows this plotline, where he started out in humble beginnings and later became known as the "King of Jews" and a symbol of resistance to the empire, and from there, inspired the world's second largest religion with many who worship him devoutly.
376* FrontlineGeneral: In RealLife this is ''at least'' as old as the Roman Republic, moving to OlderThanDirt when it crosses over with RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething. This is because before the invention of radio the general usually had to be in the midst of his men to be able to give orders and have them carried out quickly.
377* FullBoarAction: The Erymanthian Boar and Calydonian Boar from [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]]. Both were monstrous boars that could only be vanquished by great heroes (Hercules and Meleager and Atalanta respectively).
378* FunetikAksent: In Aristophanes's ''Theatre/{{Lysistrata}}'', the Athenians speak normally, but the Spartans have their Doric Greek accent spelled out phonetically. Modern translators may render the Doric (a Greek redneck accent) as Irish, Scottish, or Southern, or may omit it.
379* FunnyForeigner: A staple of ancient Greek and Roman comedy. An example is Triballos, a "barbarian god" serving as an ambassador to Cloudcuckooland in Creator/{{Aristophanes}}' ''Theatre/TheBirds''.
380* FunWithAcronyms: Emergent Greek Christians used a symbol of a fish as a TrustPassword for their faith; this is because the Greek word for "fish", ICTHYS (Ī™Ī§Ī˜Ī„Ī£), was used to stand for Iēsous Christos, Theou Yios, Sōtēr (į¼øĪ·ĻƒĪæįæ¦Ļ‚ Ī§ĻĪ¹ĻƒĻ„ĻŒĻ‚, Ī˜ĪµĪæįæ¦ Ī„į¼±ĻŒĻ‚, Ī£Ļ‰Ļ„Ī®Ļ) -- Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.
381* GambitRoulette: According to some ancient Greek writers, Zeus set up the whole of UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar by manipulating one key goddess as a gambit to reduce the population of demigods.
382* GateOfTruth: Described in TheUnderworld in Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Odyssey'' and Creator/{{Virgil}}'s ''Aeneid''.
383* GenderBender: Tiresias in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]], Iphis and Hermaphroditos in Creator/{{Ovid}}'s ''Literature/TheMetamorphoses'', and Bhangasvana and Shikandin in the Literature/{{Mahabharata}}.
384* GeniusBruiser: Odysseus is a powerful Badass, and also a master of cunning and strategy. Heracles is sometimes depicted this way, too.
385* GeniusCripple: The Greek Hephaestus is a crippled god, yet a brilliant craftsman who created magnificent works, including weapons, armor, and ''robots''. Yes, robots.
386* GenreDeconstruction: See Deconstruction above.
387* GhostlyDeathReveal: When Odysseus descends to the entrance of the Underworld to question the ghost of the seer Tiresias, his sacrifice also attracts the ghosts Odysseus' own mother Anticlea and of Agamemnon, the supreme leader of the Greeks at Troy. Odysseus is distressed because he did not know about their deaths, and learns that Anticlea died of grief, and that Agamemnon was murdered by his wife and her lover Aegisthus (''Literature/TheOdyssey'').
388* GiantSquid: Large squids were first described by Creator/{{Aristotle}}, but Creator/PlinyTheElder is the first to give them more explicitly gigantic proportions (heads "as big as a cask" and 30 ft. arms) in his ''Natural History''. The actual animals are presumably OlderThanDirt.
389* GluttonousPig: The Calydonian Boar of Myth/ClassicalMythology was far bigger than any normal boar, and it ate everythingā€”so much that people starved to death. Eventually over 50 of Greece's greatest heroes, including Jason, Asclepius, and Atalanta, had to team up to kill it.
390* GodIsFlawed: Rather common in this era. For instance, the Greek gods were a bunch of regular {{jerkass}}es. It's been theorized this was a metaphor for how idiotic humans can be.
391* GodTest: Frequently in the [[Literature/TheBible Old Testament]]. Additionally the Gospel of Matthew gives us what may be the oldest subversion: {{Satan}} telling Jesus to prove he's the son of God, and Jesus basically telling him to screw off. Creator/{{Aristophanes}} provides a parody in ''Theatre/TheFrogs'', in which Dionysos completely fails said test, despite being a real deity.
392* GodWasMyCoPilot: In the Literature/BhagavadGita, Arjuna's charioteer is revealed to be the god Krishna.
393* GoingNative: Octavian's propaganda against Mark Antony made the latter out to be the UrExample.
394* GoldFever: Discussed in Book II of the ''Aeneid'', when Aeneas recounts how King Polymestor of Thrace murdered Polydorus, the son of his ally King Priam of Troy, to rob Polydorus' treasure of gold. Aeneas' words ''auri sacra fames'', the "accursed hunger for gold", was a popular quote even in antiquity.
395* {{Golem}}: Talos, a mythical [[UsefulNotes/AncientGreece Greek]] giant automaton made of bronze to protect Europa in Crete from pirates and invaders, may be [[UrExample the oldest example]].
396* GoodCopBadCop: Odysseus and Diomedes in Book 10 of the ''Literature/TheIliad''.
397* GoshDangItToHeck: The third commandment of the Hebrews: "You shall not take the name of Y**H your God in vain, for Y**H will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7, NKJV). Euphemisms for this four-letter word were "the Name" in speech or "Lord" in prayer.
398* GrandTheftMe: 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 Literature/{{Mahabharata}}. His brother Yadu was the ancestor of the Yadavas -- thus the ancestor of Krishna.
399* GratuitousGreek: Several ancient Roman authors often inserted Greek quotations into their works.
400* GreyAndGrayMorality: The Achaeans and Trojans in ''Literature/TheIliad''.
401* TheGrotesque: Myth/ClassicalMythology describes Hephaestus, the resident GeniusCripple of Mount Olympus, as deformed -- which is why [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer the other gods treat him badly]].
402* GruesomeGoat: Literature/TheBible compares sinners to goats, and has goat-like demons, with {{Baphomet}} in particular being depicted with a goat's head.
403* GuileHero: [[Literature/TheOdyssey Odysseus]]. Ruth and Queen Esther in Literature/TheBible. Krishna in the Literature/{{Mahabharata}}.
404* HappinessInSlavery: The biblical instructions for freeing slaves also tell owners what to do in case they have a happy slave who wants to stay...just in case, you know.
405* HateSink: Haman the Agagite, from the Literature/BookOfEsther, is one of the oldest examples of a character whom is supposed to be despised by the audience (due to being a narcissist and genocidal racist), and is one of the rare examples with religious significance.
406* HeadsOrTails: Dates back to Ancient Rome, according to [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]].
407* HeartIsWhereTheHomeIs: In Creator/{{Ovid}}'s ''Literature/{{Heroides}}'', Ithacan/Greek Penelope worries that her --also Ithacan/Greek husband-- will leave her for a more exotic, interesting woman; while she's too "provincial" and plain.
408* HeadTurningBeauty: Helen of Troy, the most beautiful mortal woman in the world.
409* HehHehYouSaidX: Cicero made note of several phrases that unintentionally sounded dirty in his personal correspondences.
410* HealingFactor (Regenerative Immortality): [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek gods]] don't age, can't be killed by ''anything'', and heal very quickly even from massive wounds. Poor Prometheus had his liver torn out every day and grown back by the next morning. The Hydra also had this: whenever Heracles cut a head off, it instantly grew two more. One of its heads was also physically indestructible, which got it buried under a big rock.
411* HealingSerpent:
412** In the Literature/TheBible, when Moses was in the wilderness with the People of Israel, they faced death from getting bitten by poisonous snakes. When Moses inquired to {{God}} about how to treat this, he was told to create an effigy of a snake on a stake and all one needed to do to be healed of the poison was to look at it. The concept was so simple, many didn't believe it would work and didn't bother looking and summarily died. Those who did, found themselves healed, as promised.
413** Myth/ClassicalMythology:
414*** The TropeCodifier Asclepius[[note]] Also known as Asklepios and Aesculapius or Vejovis to the Romans.[[/note]], who was a demigod and [[DeityOfHumanOrigin later god]], was affiliated with healing, medicine, rejuvenation, and physicians. The second part of this trope is found in the snakes[[note]]Supposedly the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculapian_snake Aesculapian snake]] species.[[/note]] that he had help him in healing pilgrims at his temples. Some myths stated that he learned healing from a snake. His symbol, the Rod/Staff of Asclepius or the asklepian, which is a snake coiled around a staff, is still a prominent symbol for medicine and health care around the world.
415*** Hygiene, the daughter of Asclepius, also counts as this, for she is the goddess of good health, cleanliness, and sanitation. She is also affiliated with snakes as the trope requires, often being accompanied by one.
416*** The Gorgons, which were some sort of SnakePeople. Blood taken from the right side of a Gorgon had wondrous healing properties and in some myths could even bring the dead back to life. %% [[AvertedTrope Averted]] with blood taken from the left side of a gorgon though, which was a powerful [[PerfectPoison poison]].
417*** Hermes/Mercury's staff the Caduceus. Much like the Rod/Staff of Asclepius mentioned above, is also a symbol for medicine and health care around the world. This appears to be a case of SadlyMythtaken, though, since Hermes/Mercury and his Caduceus had little if anything to do with healing or medicine.
418* HeavenAbove: Appears both in the Literature/BookOfGenesis (where Nimrod builds a sky-scraping tower to reach God) and Myth/ClassicalMythology (where the gods live in the place in Greece closest to the sky).
419* HeavensDevils: The Literature/BookOfJob casts {{Satan}} as an advisor to God who was given express permission to torment Job to test his faith.
420* HeelFaceTown: The town of Nineveh was a spicy cesspool of wickedness before God sent Jonah to warn them of of what would happen if they did not stop. [[HeelFaithTurn They all repented that day]].
421* HeelFaithTurn: Just for starters, St. Matthew and St. Paul of [[Literature/TheBible the Apostles]]. Matthew was a tax collector, while Paul was a Pharisee-in-training ''cum'' BountyHunter under the name Saul.
422* {{Hell}}: The Christian concepts of {{Heaven}} and Hell go back to the [[Literature/TheBible New Testament]].
423* HellOfAHeaven: Happens in one version of the classic Indian epic Literature/{{Mahabharata}}.
424* HermitGuru: John the Baptist, and the RealLife Pillar Hermits.
425* HeroicAmbidexterity: In ''Literature/TheIliad'', the Trojan Asteropaeus throws both his spears at once, "for both his arms were as his right", and by this feat is the first Trojan to wound Achilles. In a list of famous warriors who served King David, [[Literature/TheBible Chronicles 1,12]] names 23 Benjaminites who "were armed with bows and were able to shoot arrows or to sling stones right-handed or left-handed".
426* HeroicBastard: Almost all of the demigod heroes in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]], such as Heracles. Karna in the Literature/{{Mahabharata}}, and Jephthah in Literature/TheBible.
427* HeroKiller: Typhon in Myth/ClassicalMythology, 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 [[ImplacableMan Mezentius]] or Turnus in ''Literature/TheAeneid''.
428* HitMeDammit: In [[Literature/BooksOfKings 1 Kings 20:35-37]], a prophet of God needs to be beaten and bruised in order to [[ItMakesSenseInContext deliver the message God had for King Ahab]].
429* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Oedipus' 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 Literature/TheBible, hung on the gallows he built for his rival.
430* HolyIsNotSafe: The Greeks believed that seeing the glory of a god would kill you. Likewise the Literature/BookOfExodus has God state that seeing His face would kill Moses, and TheArkOfTheCovenant was an equal-opportunity DoomsdayDevice.
431* HomosexualReproduction: Poseidon and a fellow sea-god Nerites fell in love and their coupling created Anteros, the personification of requited love.
432* HonorBeforeReason: Creator/{{Cicero}} mentions Marcus Atilius Regulus, who had been captured by Carthage in the Punic Wars. He was sent to Rome to negotiate a Roman surrender, with the promise that he would return to Carthage. If he was unsuccessful, the Carthaginians would kill him. Regulus went to Rome, argued AGAINST surrender, and then returned and accepted execution by a Carthaginian sword.
433* HopeSpringsEternal: In Creator/{{Hesiod}}'s story of PandorasBox, hope was in the box (jar) to either help mortals, or deceive them.
434* HopeSproutsEternal: In the Old Testament the olive branch was the sign to Noah that the flood waters were receding.
435* HotLibrarian: The Greek goddess Athena is beautiful ''and'' wise.
436* HumanResources: UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire collected urine in vats and sold it to industries like launderers (who used the ammonia in urine to clean and whiten woollen togas) and tanners. UsefulNotes/{{Nero}} was the first to implement a tax on urine, a policy which the later emperor Vespasian famously reinstituted, giving rise to the proverb "Money does not stink" (''Pecunia non olet'' in the original UsefulNotes/{{Latin|Language}}). To this day, urinals -- especially public ones -- are known by words derived from Vespasian's name in languages like French (''vespasienne'') and Italian (''vespasiano'').
437* HumanPincushion: Saint Sebastian's legend says that his martyrdom had him become this. In a subversion, he [[MadeOfIron actually survived]], so he "had" to be flogged to death.
438* HumongousMecha: Greek mythology features Talos, a gigantic automaton forged either by [[ForgedByTheGods Hephestus]] or [[GadgeteerGenius Daedelus]] (depending on who you ask) that pops up as a GuardianEntity of various people and islands in several different myths. He combines InfernalRetaliation with SecondLawMyAss and returns home after being captured from Minos by the Sardinians.
439* HydraProblem: Heracles fought the {{Trope Namer|s}}. He had to burn the stumps to stop its [[HealingFactor heads from growing back.]]
440* {{Hypocrite}}:
441** Agamemnon in ''Literature/TheIliad''; you go to war over a woman being taken -- that means you shouldn't take another man's woman.
442** In Literature/TheFourGospels, the scribes and Pharisees are called out for their many hypocrisies by Jesus, such as preaching God without loving him.
443* IAmWho: Oedipus, especially in Creator/{{Sophocles}}'s ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing''.
444* IAmXSonOfY: "[[Literature/TheOdyssey I am Odysseus, son of Laertes]]". Commonly used in Literature/TheBible as well.
445* IBangedYourMom: From the Roman joke book ''Literature/{{Philogelos}}'':
446-->A [[DitzyGenius dumb scholar]] is caught sleeping with his own grandmother, and is given a serious thrashing by his enraged father.\
447The scholar retorts "You've been sleeping with my mother for years and I never complained, and now you're angry that I slept with your mother once?"
448* IBelieveICanFly: Icarus, Pegasus, Harpies, Sirens, Hermes and Perseus with winged sandals...
449* IFellForHours: In ''Literature/TheIliad'', when Hephaestus recalls being flung off of Olympus by Zeus he says that he fell all day.
450* IGaveMyWord: In Myth/ClassicalMythology, the oaths of the suitors that required them to follow Menelaus to Troy. Also the Oath of the Styx that Greek gods cannot break, which has gotten Zeus, Helios, and others in big trouble...
451* InMediasRes: The earliest known example is Homer's ''Literature/TheIliad'', which begins towards the end of the ninth year of Troy's ten-year siege.
452* IWantGrandkids: In ''Literature/TheMetamorphoses'', Daphne's father often told her this: "Saepe pater dixit 'Debes mihi, nata, nepotes.'"
453* IWillWaitForYou: Odysseus's wife Penelope and his dog Argos both waited 20 years for him to return. Penelope kept a ton of obnoxious suitors hanging while she waited.
454* IdenticalStranger: In ''Theatre/{{Menaechmi}}'', by the Roman author Creator/{{Plautus}}.
455* IdiotPlot: ''Theatre/{{Menaechmi}}'', in which the characters take way too long to realize both twins are present.
456* IfIWantedYouDead: The biblical David twice gets close enough to kill Saul, but stays his hand. Although not explicit, the message is clear. Saul doesn't get it.
457* IgnoreTheFanservice: Socrates is above such things.
458* ImpossibleTask: Heracles, David, Psyche, and Perseus faced them in stories from this period.
459* ImpoverishedPatrician:
460** The Roman Republic was full of them. One narrates Creator/{{Juvenal}}'s {{Satire}}s.
461** A surviving fragment of Euripides' ''Stheneboea'' discusses this trope.
462* ImprobableAimingSkills: Odysseus shot an arrow through the handle-rings of twelve axes in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''.
463* ImprobableFoodBudget: The seven years of plenty before Joseph's biblical drought.
464* ImprobableWeaponUser: [[Literature/TheBible The biblical]] Samson killed an army of Philistines using a donkey's jaw.
465* InTheNameOfTheMoon: The heroes of Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Iliad'' do this, down to formulaic repetition originally designed to allow extemporaneous reciters of epic poetry to keep to the meter.
466* IndenturedServitude: In RealLife the Athenian lawmaker Draco passed a law that any man who was owed a debt by another could claim the indebted party as a slave until the debt was paid off. This caused such strife that Solon banned the practice--respecting only Athenian citizens--when he was asked to reform the city's laws.
467* InevitablyBrokenRule: An introduced rule will eventually be broken and affect the trajectory of the story.
468* InformationWantsToBeFree: [[Myth/ClassicalMythology The Prometheus myth]]: the secret of fire given to the mortals against the other gods' will. OlderThanTheyThink? Yup.
469* InnOfNoReturn: [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Procrustes' bed]]: Accept hospitality from this man, and he'll kill torture and kill you.
470* InstructionalDialogue: The style of Plato's writings about Socrates.
471* InvisibleJerkass: Creator/{{Plato}}'s ''Literature/TheRepublic'' tells the tale of Gyges, a shepherd who finds a ring of invisibility. Gyges promptly uses its power to seduce the queen, assassinate the king, and become king. Plato's [[AnAesop moral]] is that morality is rooted completely in society, and with anonymity, all morality disappears.
472* InvisibilityCloak:
473** The Cap of Hades, which rendered all wearers invisible; later borrowed by Perseus.
474** Ring of Gyges.
475* IronicHell: Tantalus and Sisyphus in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]] both ended up in versions of Tartarus that fit their crimes.
476* IrrevocableMessage: The execution order in ''Theatre/{{Antigone}}'', by Creator/{{Sophocles}}. The result was death and tragedy, not played for laughs.
477* IrrevocableOrder: In Literature/TheBible, the Medes and Persians had a law that if the king's ring was used to seal a proclamation then it could not be undone, not even if the king changed his mind. This plays a role in the stories of Esther and Daniel.
478* ItWasAGift: Perseus was given his mirror-like shield and winged sandals by the gods Athena and Hermes. In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]], Philoctetes got the famous bow of Heracles at the latter's death.
479[[/folder]]
480
481[[folder:J-P]]
482* JewsLoveToArgue: Parts of the [[Literature/TheBible Old Testament]].
483* JourneyToTheSky: The humans who tried to build the TowerOfBabel to reach the heavens ([[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis 11:1-9]], [[Literature/TheBible Old Testament]]).
484* JudgmentOfSolomon: [[Literature/BooksOfKings 1 Kings 3:16-28]], [[Literature/TheBible Old Testament]]. Solomon did it with a baby.
485* JustTheFirstCitizen: Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome: his official title, ''princeps'', means "first" and is conventionally translated in this context as "First Citizen." He very deliberately avoided titles like "king" or "dictator".
486* KangarooCourt: The trial of Jesus, as depicted in the Gospels.
487* KidHero: David in Literature/TheBible ([[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 1 Samuel]]), specifically his fight with Goliath.
488* KindRestraints: Odysseus was tied to the mast in the Odyssey in order to prevent him from being drawn to the sirens.
489* KingIncognito: Odysseus did it twice: [[Literature/TheTrojanCycle once at Troy]], and [[Literature/TheOdyssey again in Ithaca.]] The prophet Elijah did this among the Israelites, and King Solomon was forced to after being dethroned by an imposter.
490* KlingonPromotion: If you successfully prosecuted a Roman Senator in court, you obtained their rank. Between 235 and 284 AD there were 25 different Roman emperors, mainly because they kept assassinating their predecessors.
491* KneelBeforeFrodo: In the Literature/{{Ramayana}}, after the war against Ravana is won and Sita is rescued, Rama rewards his generals for their courage. When Hanuman walks up, Rama breaks into tears and tells him there's no treasure valuable enough.
492* KnottyTentacles: Myth/ClassicalMythology: When attacked by two snakes, the baby Hercules defeated them by tying them together.
493* KrakenAndLeviathan: The Leviathan in Literature/TheBible ([[Literature/BookOfJob Job 41]]).
494* LadyLand: The Amazons in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]].
495* LadyOfWar: The Greek goddess Athena.
496* LadyMacbeth: Jezebel, wife of King Ahab in the [[Literature/TheBible Old Testament]].
497* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Figures in ''Theatre/TheRecognitionOfShakuntala'', an episode from the Literature/{{Mahabharata}} that was made into a play by Kalidasa: Śakuntalā and Dushyanta get married, but Dushyanta gets cursed with amnesia and completely forgets her, but nothing else. When Śakuntalā finally breaks the spell, all the memories return.
498* LawfulStupid: The [[Myth/HinduMythology Hindu god]] Daksha hated his son-in-law Shiva for living a chaotic lifestyle. Shiva ignores him until his wife commits suicide after Daksha defiles and mocks her beloved. Shiva kills him, then revives him with the head of a goat.
499* LawOfInverseFertility: In "want but can't conceive" form only: Theseus's mortal father Aegeus, and several women in Literature/TheBible.
500* LawProcedural: The ''Literature/ApologyOfSocrates'' by Plato is about the trial of Socrates for corrupting the youth of Athens.
501* LeakingCanOfEvil
502* LetMeTellYouAStory: Jesus's parables are a famous example; the prophet Nathan has an earlier example in Literature/TheBible ([[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 2 Samuel 12]]).
503* LiminalBeing: Tiresias, in ''The Odyssey'', manages to be between two different states in three different ways.
504* LiteralGenie: In a 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.
505* LivingMacGuffin: Helen of Troy from ''Literature/TheIliad''.
506* LivingShadow: Ghosts in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman Mythology]] were usually jet-black, resembling animated shadows, and souls in the afterlife were called ''umbrae'' ("shadows").
507* LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces: Myth/ClassicalMythology features many races: Ordinary mortals, gods (including titans and daimones), nymphs, [[{{Cyclops}} cyclopes]], giants, centaurs, satyrs, fauns, and six-armed Gegenees; plus various bizarre HumanSubspecies: headless Blemmyes, one-eyed Arimaspians, dog-heads, one-legged Skiapodes, four-legged Artabatitai, hermaphroditic Makhlyes, short-lived Kalingoi, mouthless Astomoi, [[TheAgeless ageless Makroboi]], Golden and Silver Men, and more.
508* LoserDeity: Both Ares and Hephaestus were portrayed as losers in the Greek myths, with Ares being divine DumbMuscle and Hephaestus being mocked and ostracized for his looks.
509* LosingYourHead: Orpheus's head continued to sing after his decapitation, according to Creator/{{Ovid}}.
510* LostInImitation: 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 Creator/{{Aeschylus}}'s {{Theatre/Prometheus|Bound}} and Creator/{{Euripides}}'s Theatre/{{Medea}}.
511* LostOrphanedRoyalty: UnbuiltTrope version. Literature/TheHistories of Herodotus report a story like this about UsefulNotes/CyrusTheGreat. In this story, Astyages, King of the Medes, has a PropheticDream that his advisors interpreted as meaning that the son of his daughter Mandane, whom he had married off to King Cambyses of neighboring Persia, would supplant him. Astyages therefore recalled Mandane to his capital at Ecbatana and waited for her to give birth. When she gave birth to a son named Cyrus, Astyages ordered his general Harpagus to kill the newborn. Harpagus couldn't manage this, so he delegated it to one of the royal shepherds, Mithradanes, who couldn't bring himself to do it, either. Instead, Mithradanes, whose wife had conveniently given birth to a stillborn son about the same time as Mandane was giving birth to Cyrus, presented the stillborn child to Astyages as Cyrus, and took Cyrus as his own son. For ten years, Cyrus was raised as a shepherd's son, but eventually Cyrus does something unshephardlike (he orders the son of a noble to be beaten for failing to follow his orders), and the shepherd tells Astyages everything. At this juncture, Astyages realizes YouCantFightFate and sends the boy to live with his parents in Persia. (This is an unbuilt version because Astyages didn't try to kill all the royals or male royals of Cyrus' house; then again, it looks like there were no others, or at least no other males, of his generation besides Cyrus.)
512* LotteryOfDoom: How the Minotaur got fed, according to late Greek writers such as Creator/DiodorusSiculus and Creator/{{Apollodorus}}.
513* LotusEaterMachine: Homer's ''Literature/TheOdyssey''; {{Trope Namer|s}}.
514* LotusPosition: Gautama Buddha did it.
515* LoveAtFirstSight: Myth/ClassicalMythology is full of this: Eros, god of love, can inflict it on anyone whenever he wants, but then he suffered the same with Psyche. Numerous hapless souls fell for Narcissus, only to be callously rejected, and finally the gods made him pine away for his own reflection.
516* LovedByAll: In Myth/ClassicalMythology, Hestia is a person loved and adored by her divine family which ranges from the likes of [[TricksterGod HermĆØs]], [[ReallyGetsAround Zeus]] and [[GodOfChaos Eris]] among others. As demonstrated when [[EveryoneHasStandards they all united]] to beat the crap out of Priapus after he [[NearRapeExperience tried and failed to rape her]].
517* LoverAndBeloved: Common in Ancient Greece; they called this ErastesEromenos.
518* LoveRuinsTheRealm: [[Literature/TheAeneid Dido's fling with Aeneas]] supposedly started the Punic Wars. Prince Paris abducting Helen started UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar. Marcus Antonius allowing Cleopatra to co-rule opened him up to bad PR and ultimately civil war.
519* LuckBasedMission: Keno slips in the Chinese UsefulNotes/HanDynasty, circa 205 BC.
520* LukeIAmYourFather: The story of ''Theatre/OedipusTheKing''.
521* {{Lunarians}}: ''Literature/TrueHistory'' centers around sailors from Earth getting involved in a war between the peoples of the Sun and the Moon over the colonization of Venus, and is itself a response to an even earlier, long lost novel with a similar space travel motif.
522* LyingByOmission: In [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis 37:31-35]], Joseph's brothers [[MadeASlave sell him to slave traders]], then kill a goat and splash its blood over his coat of many colors. They then show the coat to their father and let him draw his own conclusions about what happened to Joseph.
523* LysistrataGambit: The {{trope namer|s}} is ''Theatre/{{Lysistrata}}'' by Creator/{{Aristophanes}}.
524* MachoMasochism: Mucius Scaevola was an ancient Roman who demonstrated his courage and loyalty to the city by thrusting his hand into a flame until it was consumed, when an enemy tried to threaten him.
525* MadeASlave: Joseph was enslaved in Genesis. Heracles was enslaved to Omphale in Myth/ClassicalMythology.
526* MadOracle: The Pythia, a.k.a. the priestess of Apollo's Oracle at Delphi, was occasionally depicted giving prophecies in a state of possessed frenzy. The RealLife version, not so much.
527* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: Medea, in the trope's more general form.
528* MagicalGirlfriend: Greek myth of Pygmalion, the anti-social guy who was so great Aphrodite turned his statue into Galatea, the perfect bride, so he could be happy forever.
529* MagicMusic: In Myth/ClassicalMythology Orpheus could charm wild animals, plants, rocks, and the god Hades with his singing.
530* MagicStaff: Courtesy of Moses in ''Literature/TheBible''. It is powered by God Himself rather than possessing magical power.
531* MagicWand: What Circe uses to turn men into pigs in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''.
532* MagmaMan: Vulcanus is the Roman god of volcanoes. Italy has active volcanoes, and they tended to blame eruptions on this god.
533* MagneticHero: Jesus Christ might be the UrExample, as it was his charismatic preaching that attracted his followers to him.
534* TheMagnificentSevenSamurai: ''Theatre/SevenAgainstThebes''.
535* MakeTheDogTestify:
536** One of the numerous courtroom antics in Aristophanes' ''The Wasps'' is putting a bowl, a pestle, a cheese-grater, a brazier, and a pot on the stand in a lawsuit between two dogs (who look like famous figures of the day and can apparently talk) about the alleged theft of some fine Sicilian cheese. The defendant also brings out his puppies to soften the hearts of the jury.
537** A borderline case is [[/index]]OlderThanDirt[[index]]: Ancient Egyptian myth has the trial of Horus (for sodomy with Set), in which Set and Horus both make their semen testify. However, since this is an explicitly supernatural trial (both parties being gods), it's unclear if it really fits under the trope.
538* TheManBehindTheMan: Some Bible students believe that Isaiah 14:12 (particularly in the King James Version) and Ezekiel 28:12-19 is God talking to [[TheDevil The Man Behind The Kings]].
539* TheManInTheMoon: A [[Literature/TheTalmud Talmudic]] tradition holds that the face of Jacob is engraved upon the Moon.
540* MarkedBullet: The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sling_(weapon) sling bullets]] with "Ī”Ī•ĪžĪ‘Ī™" (''DEXAI'', Greek for "take that") engraved on them.
541* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover: The Classical myth of Jason and the Argonauts: name a Greek hero, he was probably in this one, everyone from Hercules to Oedipus. Many had sons at Troy.
542* MassTransformation: Circe transforming Odysseus's men into pigs, among others.
543* {{Matriarchy}}: The Amazons, first mentioned in ''Literature/TheIliad'', are the sexist variety, supposedly demonstrating why women should never rule.
544* MaternalImpression: A medical theory. Appears in ''Aethiopica'' (a Greek romance from the 3rd century AD).
545* TheMaze: The Labyrinth of Crete from Greek Mythology.
546* MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial: The Greek Literature/{{Theogony}} has men created first, and the woman created later as a ''punishment'' to ruin mortal life.
547* MentorArchetype: In the ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', Athena poses as Mentor, Telemachus's elderly advisor, and convinces him to actively seek information on his missing father, instead of passively waiting.
548* MerlinSickness: The fruit on Anostus causes this in the Roman ''Literature/VariaHistoria'', by Claudius Aelianus.
549* MergerOfSouls: Postulated by the 3rd-century-AD Greek philosopher Plotinus, as "Emanation ''ex deo''" ("out of God"). Basically, in the hierarchy of being, there is The One (who is all good, transcended, and unchanging). The nature of the One is simply that it filters down itself, but the One never loses anything or changes. Next comes the Novus, or Divine Mind, and then bellow that is the Oversoul. From the Oversoul comes individual Human Souls. So what does this have to do with this trope? It's possible for a human soul to reunite with the One again, forever (at least in Neoplatonic tradition).
550* MidasTouch: King Midas in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]].
551* MilesGloriosus: The [[Theatre/MilesGloriosus play of that name]] is the {{Trope Namer|s}}, but ''Literature/TheIliad'''s [[TropeMakers Paris]] beat him to it.
552* MiracleFood: It goes all the way back to Greek mythology and the concept of ambrosia.
553* MistakenIdentity: Goes back at least to Greek theater, potentially further.
554* ModestyBedsheet: Believe it or not, there are numerous Roman wall paintings depicting couples during sex -- with the woman wearing a brassiere, because it would've been considered lascivious for her to show her breasts. To her own husband. During sex.
555* MonkeyMoralityPose: Dates back to the days of Confucius.
556* MoonRabbit: Earliest recorded reference found during the Warring States period of Ancient China.
557* MortonsFork: In [[Literature/TheFourGospels the New Testament]] (Mark 12:13) the Pharisees try to catch Jesus in one by asking if they should pay taxes to Caesar.
558* MosesInTheBulrushes: Moses himself, in the Literature/BookOfExodus. Also Oedipus in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]], Romulus and Remus in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Roman Mythology]], and Karna in the Literature/{{Mahabharata}}.
559* MovingTheGoalposts: Done by Gideon in the Literature/BookOfJudges, when God gives him the requested sign with the fleece the first time. In the story of the Labors of Heracles, King Eurystheus originally sets ten tasks but tacks on two more on the grounds that Heracles had help with the hydra and the Augean stables (respectively his charioteer Iolaus for a second pair of hands, and diverting a river to flood the stables and wash them out).
560* MultipleChoiceFuture: In ''Literature/TheIliad'', Achilles' mother knew that he could either live a brief but glorious life as a hero or a long life of ICouldaBeenAContender. While she tries her best to steer him towards the latter by disguising him as a girl, it doesn't work, and when she sees how easily he takes to the warrior's life she realizes she would rather he be happy rather than miserable for the rest of his days, so she stops trying to keep him safe.
561* {{Multishot}}: Rama, hero of the Literature/{{Ramayana}}, can shoot ''one thousand'' arrows with one draw, and once used such a feat to shoot down a rain of stones aimed at him. He ''is'' an Avatar of Vishnu, after all.
562* MundaneMadeAwesome: Old Greek and Roman poems played up the mediocrity of an event by writing it in epic verse. ''Literature/{{Batrachomyomachia}}'' used epic Creator/{{Homer}}-style poetry to narrate a battle between frogs and mice.
563* MurderTheHypotenuse: King David effects the death of General Uriah, so he can have Bathsheba for himself, in Literature/TheBible ([[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 2 Samuel 10-12]]).
564* MurderWater: The river Skamandros tries to kill Achilles in ''Literature/TheIliad''.
565* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: Plautus's ''Literature/{{Poenulus}}'', in which an incompetent interpreter translates Carthaginian into Latin gibberish.
566* NakedFirstImpression: Mortal men pay dearly for having accidentally seen a Greek goddess bathing.
567* {{Necromancer}}: [[Literature/TheBible The Witches of Endor]], but the book also condemns the very act of inquiring the dead, and the fact the dead knows nothing and will not come back as a ghost. However, [[LoopholeAbuse there's no rule stating that]] one cannot [[BackFromTheDead fully resurrect the dead]], in courtesy of Ezekiel (for being explicitly commanded by {{God}} himself) and UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} (being GodInHumanForm).
568* NephariousPharaoh: Egyptian pharaohs have been portrayed as villains ever since Literature/TheBible.
569* NeutralityBacklash: Seen in "The Bat, The Birds and The Beasts" in Literature/AesopsFables, where a bat refuses to take sides in a war between birds and beasts and is shunned by both sides after the war.
570* NeverAcceptedInHisHometown: Jesus Christ mentions this happening to prophets.
571* NeverFoundTheBody: At least as early as 200 AD, Achilles Tatius' ''Literature/LeucippeAndClitophon''.
572* NewMediaAreEvil: Creator/{{Socrates}}' criticism of ''writing'', which apparently goes back to an old tradition among the Greeks; didn't stop Creator/{{Plato}}, though.
573* NiceJewishBoy: Lots of them in Literature/TheBible.
574* NiceJobBreakingItHerod: The {{Trope Namer|s}} Herod, as well as the UrExample of Pharaoh with Moses from the Literature/BookOfExodus.
575* NiceMice: Found in "The Lion and the Mouse" in Literature/AesopsFables, where a mouse sets a lion free from a trap by gnawing through a hunter's net.
576* NighInvulnerability: Achilles, the Nemean Lion, and Antaeus, all from Myth/ClassicalMythology.
577* NoAnimosityInTheAfterlife: It is one of the characteristics of the Heavenly Kingdom in Christianity, discussed in detail in The Literature/BookOfIsaiah:
578-->The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.
579* NoArcInArchery: Creator/{{Aristotle}}, the poster-boy for ArtisticLicensePhysics, claimed that an arrow would fly in a straight line until its momentum was used up, then drop suddenly to the ground. Never mind the fact that every ''actual'' archer of the time knew he was full of shit.
580* NoFourthWall: Greek theater was not known for firmly dividing the actors from the audience.
581* NoHeroToHisValet: Jesus mentions that [[http://niv.scripturetext.com/luke/4.htm "no prophet is accepted in his hometown."]] for this reason.
582* NoMisterBondIExpectYouToDine: In the Literature/BookOfGenesis, Joseph does this to his brothers in Egypt. {{Subverted|Trope}}, because he actually intends them no harm at all.
583* NoPlaceForMeThere: In Literature/TheBible, Moses could not enter ThePromisedLand 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).
584* NobleFugitive: Exile was a common punishment for higher-ranked individuals in UsefulNotes/AncientGreece. Often, a disgraced individual would willingly choose exile for a stipulated period of years to wait for the feelings against him to die down and/or rally his own forces for a comeback. Democratic Athens famously institutionalized this with its practice of ostracism, in which once a year, the ''ecclesia'' (assembly of free male citizens) could send one person for any reason (or no reason) into exile for ten years. Those exiled tended to be of Athens' aristocratic class (typically being politicians whom public sentiment held had gotten too big for their britches and needed to be cut down to size). Theatre/{{Medea}} is a prominent mythological/literary example, as she fled to Athens after poisoning Jason.
585* NobleSavage: Used by Creator/{{Tacitus}} when describing the Germanic and Caledonian tribes.
586* NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe: 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. Creator/{{Hesiod}}'s myth of the Five Ages explicitly describes the decline of humanity.
587* NotNowWereTooBusyCryingOverYou: In ''Literature/TheBible'', Jesus Christ pulled this on two of his disciples after his own death and resurrection when they think he's still dead.
588* NouveauRiche: ''Literature/TheSatyricon'' (c. 60 AD) has Trimalchio, a freed slave that has come to untold riches and is not afraid to show it off.
589* ObfuscatingInsanity: Odysseus tried this in ''Literature/TheTrojanCycle'', to avoid having to go to Troy. The [[Literature/TheBible biblical David]] did it when in exile before he became king.
590* ObfuscatingStupidity: The original Brutus and the Roman emperor Claudius are two famous TruthInTelevision examples.
591* OCStandIn: Aeneas was a minor character in ''The Iliad'' and the rest of the Trojan Cycle whom Virgil decided to expand upon when making his FanSequel ''The Aeneid''
592* OccupiersOutOfOurCountry: One of the first known examples is that of the Jewish Zealots, of the 1st century BC.
593* OdeToIntoxication: Most notably, Horace's "Ode to a Wine Jar."
594* OffscreenCrash: A deadly one is indicated by a surviving fragment of Creator/{{Aeschylus}}' ''Glaukos of Potniae''.
595* OffTheTable: In Roman legend, the Cumaean sybil visited Tarquin the Elder (the last king of Rome, 6th century BC) and offered him nine books of prophecy for a great price. He refused; she burned three of them and offered the rest at the same price. After repeating this, he finally paid the original price for the remaining three.
596* OhMyGods: God swears by Himself in [[Literature/BookOfJeremiah Jeremiah 22:5]] and UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} does the same thing in [[Literature/TheFourGospels Matthew 28:19]].
597--> "But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, said the LORD, "that this house shall become a desolation."
598* OldRetainer: Odysseus's old nurse in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''; Phoenix to Achilles in ''Literature/TheIliad''.
599* OmniscientMoralityLicense: The Literature/BookOfJob, as well as most of the tests, trials, and commands God gave people.
600* OnlySaneMan: Most prophets. Also Odysseus. Noah and Lot from the Literature/BookOfGenesis -- although "righteous" rather than sane.
601* TheOnlyWayTheyWillLearn: "The Tao which can be explained is not the eternal Tao." Laozi, fifth century BC China.
602* OpinionFlipflop: In the [[UsefulNotes/DynastiesFromShangToQing QĆ­n Dynasty]] of China, one imperial advisor tested the loyalty of courtiers by bringing a deer before the emperor and calling it a horse. Anyone who dared tell the truth was soon vacated from his post.
603* OrAreYouJustHappyToSeeMe: A joke in ''Theatre/{{Lysistrata}}''.
604* OrderedToCheat: Krishna urges Bhima to illegally hit Duryodhana below the belt in the Literature/{{Mahabharata}}, since his AchillesHeel is his thighs.
605* OrganAutonomy: 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. After all, if ''your'' organs did this to you on a regular basis, you might start to lose it after a while.
606* OriginalMan: The subject of how different past humans were from modern humans was the subject of Hebrew, Greek and Hindu philosophy long before the feudal period.
607* OriginalPositionFallacy: Haman in the Literature/BookOfEsther is asked by Ahasuerus Shah how one who served his liege well should be honored, and Haman answers assuming the intended honors are for ''himself'', rather than his hated rival the Jew Mordecai. Similarly in [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 2 Samuel Chapter 12]], the prophet Nathan invokes this on King David after the latter pulled the original UriahGambit so he could have Uriah's wife Bathsheba for himself.
608* OrphansPlotTrinket: In Creator/{{Euripides}}' play ''Theatre/{{Ion}}'', the orphan Ion was raised in Apollo's temple, and the only clue to his true identity is the basket he was found in. His mother conveniently recognizes this basket just in time to prevent him from killing her, after she'd tried to assassinate him.
609* OstrichHeadHiding: Mentioned in Pliny the Elder's ''Natural History''.
610* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Literature/TheBible actually features very few WingedHumanoid Angels. Otherworldly, Lovecraftian EldritchAbomination-looking angels abound. Those in Isaiah and Ezekiel are particularly... awesome. The Cherubim were originally imagined as winged cobras.
611* OurHydrasAreDifferent: Myth/ClassicalMythology:
612** Greek mythology is the TropeMaker through the Lernaean Hydra, a monstrous nine-headed snake that lived in the swamps of Lerna and guarded one of the entrances to the underworld. A creature of poison, its breath and blood were both fatally toxic and, in some versions, even its scent was deadly. The creature was a daughter of the primordial monsters Typhon and Echidna, like many of the other multi-headed or [[MixAndMatchCritters hybrid]] monsters of Classical myth, and was eventually slain by Heracles during his second labor, scorching the stumps of the Hydra's heads to keep them from growing back [[AndIMustScream and burying its last immortal head beneath a rock]]. He then dipped his arrows in the Hydra's blood, turning them permanently poisonous. One interpretation of the original hydra myth was that it served as a symbol of the Lernean swamp itself, where plugging up one spring would cause another to spring up shortly after.
613** Heracles would later encounter Ladon, the dragon of the Hesperides, which was sometimes described as having a hundred heads, though these heads did not regrow after being destroyed.
614* OurSirensAreDifferent: The Sirens and their fatally enthralling voices in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]].
615* {{Ouroboros}}: Adisesha is a [[OurTitansAreDifferent primordial being]] who coils and forms the seat of Vishnu. Adisesha does not actually consume itself and it in fact has thousands of heads but still Adisesha forms a symbol for infiniteness and the endlessness of time.
616* OutOfTheFryingPan: In Literature/TheBible ([[Literature/BookOfAmos Amos 5:19]]), "It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear."
617* OutdoorBathPeeping: David to Bethsheba in Literature/TheBible ([[Literature/BooksOfSamuel Samuel 1]]). Actaeon and Siprotes to Artemis, and Tiresias to Athene, in Myth/ClassicalMythology.
618* OutsourcingFate: Several examples in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]], but probably the best-known is Paris having to choose the most beautiful goddess from among Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite. [[UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar We all know how that ended.]]
619* OverpopulationCrisis: Creator/{{Plato}} and Creator/{{Aristotle}} raised this issue in the fourth century BC when the population of Athens were causing problems -- at a time when there were only around 200 million people on the planet as a whole.
620* TheOwlKnowingOne: Owls are the symbol for the Greek goddess of knowledge Athena.
621* {{Panacea}}: The trope as we know it comes from [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]].
622* PapaWolf: In ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', many of Odysseus' problems are caused by Poseidon's wrath and revenge for the fate of his son Polyphemos, whom Odysseus blinded. Ares, usually not depicted in a favorable light, once killed a son of Poseidon to stop him from raping Ares' daughter.
623* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: In one version of Judeo-Christian mythology (''much'' later described in Milton's ''Literature/ParadiseLost''), Lucifer was a paragon of the angelic hosts before he refused a command from God (either to bow down before humanity, or before UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, reports vary) and rebelled. Interestingly, the Yazidi version of the myth is a subversion: Melek Taus (equated to Lucifer, leading to the false accusation that Yazidis are Satanists) is [[LawfulGood a holy figure who refused the command because it would violate the First Commandment]]. God rewarded the Peacock Angel for not being a YesMan, making him the leader of the Archangels.
624* ParentalAbandonment: A staple of fairy tales.
625* ParanormalInvestigation: the letter ''To Sura'' by Pliny the Younger (62-113 AD) tells of a restless ghost put to rest.
626* ParentalFavoritism: Jacob vs. Esau, Joseph vs. his brothers (Genesis).
627* {{Parody}}: The ancient Greek ''Literature/{{Batrachomyomachia}}'', a parody of the war epic genre depicting a conflict of mice and frogs.
628* PaterFamilicide: The Greek hero Heracles, in a fit of insanity caused by the goddess Hera.
629* PeacockGirl: Hera in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]] sometimes wears a few feathers; the peacock is her sacred bird.
630* ThePearlyGates: The door to Heaven as described in the Book of Revelations.
631* {{Pegasus}}: The {{Trope Namer|s}} shows up first in Creator/{{Hesiod}}'s writing.
632* ThePhilosopherKing: As outlined in Plato's ''Literature/TheRepublic''.
633* PizzaBoySpecialDelivery: A joke about craftsmen going to the home on some pretext for the benefit of insatiable wives appears in ''Theatre/{{Lysistrata}}''.
634* PlagueOfGoodFortune: Creator/{{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 ā€”- he lost everything.
635* PlanetOfHats: The allegorically intended nations of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperborea Hyperborea]] and {{Atlantis}}, among others.
636* PlantPerson: Greek religion has the dryads, the nymphs of trees, groves, woods, and mountain forests. Hamadryads were a type that died when their tree died.
637* PlatonicCave: Creator/{{Plato}}'s philosophy.
638* PleaseShootTheMessenger: In Myth/ClassicalMythology, Iobates was the King of Lycia. His nephew Proetus sent Bellerophon to Iobates with a note that said "Kill the bearer of this message."
639* PleaseSpareHimMyLiege: Large portions of [[Literature/TheBible Numbers]] and Leviticus consist of the Israelites doing something to piss God off, God threatening to wipe them all out, Moses pleading with Him, and then God agreeing to destroy only a few thousand instead.
640* PolarOppositeTwins: The [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek gods]] Artemis and Apollo became this, but only after the Greeks and Romans started regarding them as sun god and moon goddess.
641* PowerIncontinence: King Midas just can't stop turning everything to gold... his food, his water, his daughter...
642* ThePowerOfRock: In the Literature/BookOfJoshua, Joshua destroyed the walls of Jericho with music.
643* PreachersKid (diabolic type): In [[Literature/TheBible Leviticus]] 10:1,2 the very first High Priest, Aaron (the brother of Moses), had two of his sons mess up.
644* ProdigalHero: In Literature/TheBible Moses is exiled for some time, then comes back to free the Israelites from slavery.
645* ThePromisedLand: Canaan in the Literature/BookOfExodus, which is also the {{Trope Namer|s}}.
646* ProngsOfPoseidon: The Greek god Poseidon's trident is the {{Trope Namer|s}}.
647* ProperLady: ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' 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.
648* AProtagonistShallLeadThem: Saul, Moses, David, etc. in Literature/TheBible.
649* ProtectiveCharm: Achilles being dipped in the River Styx to be made invulnerable, Myth/ClassicalMythology, 1st century AD.
650* PsychoExGirlfriend: Euripides's Theatre/{{Medea}}, after Jason dumped her for the princess of Corinth. This did not end well.
651* PublicDomainArtifact: 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 ''Literature/TheTrojanCycle''.
652* PungeonMaster: {{God}} made some puns in Literature/TheBible.
653* PunishedForSympathy: There are multiple incidents in Literature/TheBible where God punishes the Israelites for showing pity to those He commanded to be destroyed. In Creator/{{Sophocles}}' ''Theatre/{{Antigone}}'', after the title character's brother dies an enemy of the state Creon commands that his body be left unburied. Antigone disobeys and is BuriedAlive for her trouble.
654* ThePunishment: In some versions of the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Medusa myth]], Medusa used to be a beautiful nymph. Being a hideous monster, and [[TakenForGranite turning people to stone]], was a punishment from Athene for having sex (or rather, [[JerkassGods getting raped]]) in her temple.
655* ThePurge: The first documented[[note]]Historians and archaeologists suspect earlier purges, but cannot definitively prove anything. This is largely because most of the pre-Greek examples of revolutions and palace coups come from [[UsefulNotes/AncientEgyptianHistory Egypt]], but the Egyptians were big on ''[[{{Unperson}} damnatio memoriae]]'', so it's hard to tell if these political changes resulted in mass purges of officials. The closest thing we have--Horemheb's suppression of the Amarna era--doesn't seem to fit, as while he scratched out a lot of names from inscriptions, there's no clear evidence he killed or fired any officials.[[/note]] political purge happened in [[UsefulNotes/AncientGreece Athens after the Peloponnesian War]]: The victorious Spartans, having installed an oligarchy of "Thirty Tyrants" to govern Athens, left the city to its own devices. The Thirty proceeded to execute or exile the leaders of the former ruling party; then the leaders of the opposition party; and finally anyone they suspect of being able to organize an opposition. Eventually, the Athenians revolted, restored democracy, and issued a general amnesty. However, having learned the value of eliminating ideological enemies, they then proceeded to try, convict, and execute Creator/{{Socrates}}.
656* PurpleIsPowerful: In AncientRome, the Patrician class were the only people allowed to wear Tyrian purple.
657* PurposeDrivenImmortality: Literature/TheBible 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.
658* {{Putto}}: Originating in AncientRome and adopted by the Classicists in UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance.
659* PyrrhicVictory: The {{Trope Namer|s}} is the Greek general and king [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 (better 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. After his third clash with the Romans, Pyrrhus is recorded to have said, "Another victory like this and we are undone."
660[[/folder]]
661
662[[folder:Q-Z]]
663* QueerFlowers: Creator/{{Sappho}}'s poetry using "with violets in her lap" to refer to homosexual romance between women.
664* QuestToTheWest: [[Literature/TheOdyssey Odysseus]] trying to go back to Ithaca after the Trojan War.
665* QuoteToQuoteCombat: UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} versus {{Satan}} in the [[Literature/TheBible Gospels of Matthew and Luke]].
666* RageAgainstTheHeavens: The title characters in The Literature/BookOfJob and Creator/{{Aeschylus}}'s ''Theatre/PrometheusBound''.
667* RagsToRoyalty: UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar went from ImpoverishedPatrician to dictator-for-life of Rome. The [[Literature/TheBible biblical]] Esther went to common Jewish girl to queen.
668* RaisedByWolves: Romulus and Remus by a wolf. Atalanta by a bear, according to late Classical writers. In both cases, it's more that the babies were nursed by wild animals until human foster-parents found them.
669* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In ''Literature/TheBible'', UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, of all people, lays down a few of these, usually directed at the [[CorruptChurch Pharisees]]. He also had a tendency to lambast crowds as he was teaching them, such as this quote from Matthew 21:31 (New American Standard Bible):
670-->''Which of the two did the will of his father?ā€ They said, ā€œThe first.ā€ Jesus said to them, ā€œTruly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.''
671* RecliningReigner: The Roman upper class were well-known to dine on reclining sofas, the better to show off their affluence.
672* RefugeInAudacity: Codefied and Named by Roman Senator and Historian [[http://https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacitus Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus]] ''ā€œCrime, once exposed, has no refuge but in audacity.ā€''
673* ReignOfTerror: The rule of the Thirty in Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War was an UnbuiltTrope form--when the oligarchs installed by Sparta, in search of establishing the "ideal state" (most were aristocratic students of Creator/{{Socrates}}--not LaResistance), executed not only all of the leaders of the former Athenian democracy, but all of the potential democratic leaders and all of the ''suspected'' potential democratic leaders. (This didn't prevent the overthrow of the Thirty and reestablishment of the democracy--which [[AvertedTrope averted]] this by issuing a general amnesty.) Later, the proscriptions of Octavian and Marc Antony in Rome--killing hundreds in the name of the people--fits more closely.
674* ReincarnationRomance: Several examples in Myth/HinduMythology: Sati/Parvati and Shiva; Kama and his wife; etc.
675* ReligionOfEvil: Pre-Christian "pagan" religions accused Judaism of this. Later on Christians accused non-Christian religions of Satan-worship. Nowadays atheists accuse Christians of this. Tomorrow....?
676* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: In Literature/BookOfGenesis, the evil Serpent that persuades Adam and Eve to eat the ForbiddenFruit appears to be a stand-in for Satan.
677* TheResenter: Cain, towards Abel, in [[Literature/TheBible the Torah]].
678* RevengeSVP: The ''[[Literature/TheTrojanCycle 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 led to UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar.
679* ReverseWhodunnit:
680** Literature/{{The Bible}}:
681*** The deuterocanonical (or apocryphal, according to Protestants) extended ''Literature/BookOfDaniel'' has a story of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanna_(Book_of_Daniel) Susanna]], a woman falsely accused of adultery. Daniel proves that Susanna is innocent using detective methods.
682*** In the extended ''Literature/BookOfDaniel'', we have a story of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bel_and_the_Dragon Bel and the Dragon]]. In that story, Daniel exposes the lies of Belā€™s priests. It is one of the earliest examples of LockedRoomMystery.
683** ''Theatre/OedipusRex'' is the UrExample. The audience knows Oedipus killed his own father, but we wait for him to figure it out.
684* RideTheRainbow: Rainbows, the motorized vehicles of Old Olympus.
685* RiddleMeThis: The Sphinx in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]].
686* RiddleOfTheSphinx: The {{Trope Namer|s}} in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]].
687* RiddlingSphinx: Again, [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]].
688* RightBehindMe: Aristophanes' ''The Frogs'' has such a joke with Dionysus bragging about a monster just before it appears.
689* RightWayWrongWayPair: The Literature/BookOfProverbs' first 29 chapters carry the thread of contrasting the wise man and TheFool.
690* RingOfPower: The Ring of Gyges, which made the wearer invisible, but also corrupted him (as told by Creator/{{Plato}} in book II of ''Literature/TheRepublic'').
691* RipVanWinkle: The oldest examples are found in Literature/TheTalmud in the story of the ancient Rabbi and scholar Honi ha-M'agel, and in Diogenes Laertius' biography of the Greek sage Epimenides.
692* RoadTripPlot: ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', the story of Odysseus's 10-year voyage home.
693* RoaringRampageOfRescue: Essentially the entire plot of the Literature/{{Ramayana}} once the demon king Ravana kidnaps Rama's wife Sita, starting a war in the process.
694* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: From [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]]: Achilles avenging Patroclus, Odysseus killing the suitors, and Heracles on several occasions.
695* {{Robot}}: The ''automatones'' created by Hephaestus were machines that moved of their own accord and worked for their maker; some of them had humanoid form.
696* RobotGirl: Hephaestus is served by ''automaton'' maidens made of "living gold" in ''Literature/TheIliad''.
697* RockOfLimitlessWater: Several of these appear in Myth/ClassicalMythology. In addition, Moses creates one with {{God}}'s power in Literature/TheBible.
698* RomanceArc: Literature/BookOfGenesis: God creates Man. Next on the agenda -- Introducing Man's love interest. Myth/ClassicalMythology examples include Venus and Adonis, Jason and Medea, and Myth/CupidandPsyche.
699* RonTheDeathEater: The different versions of myths in Ancient Greece would often favour their patron Gods and heroes and paint the heroes and Gods of their enemies unfavourably.
700* RousingSpeech: Boudicca gave one in her (ill-fated) campaign against the Roman invaders of Great Britain. Pericles' funeral oration in the Peloponnessian War, as depicted by Creator/{{Thucydides}}, has elements of this.
701* RuleOfSeven: Rome was built on seven hills.
702* RuleOfThree: In the [[Literature/TheBible 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.
703* SacredHospitality: An ancient Greek custom, and a plot point in many myths. The gods punish those who violate this rule. Getting rid of [[Literature/TheOdyssey those pesky suitors]] would have been easier were it not for this.
704* SadlyMythtaken: When the Greeks started worshipping the Egyptian child-god Harpokrates (Har pa-Khered), they called him the god of silence because Egyptians usually depicted him holding a finger to his lips. But in Egyptian iconography, this was just a symbol of childhood, like sucking a thumb.
705* SameSexTriplets: [[Myth/ClassicalMythology 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).
706* SatanIsGood: Specifically, the positive and sympathetic portrayal of the god Prometheus in ''Theatre/PrometheusBound'', as compared to earlier depictions, fits this trope fairly well.
707* {{Satire}}: The name of the form comes from the Roman period, being the label given to the works of the poets Ennius, Lucillus, Perseus, Creator/{{Horace}}, and Creator/{{Juvenal}}. The Romans considered satire the only uniquely Roman form of literature, but although the Romans did develop it the furthest, the plays of Creator/{{Aristophanes}} were earlier and were definitely satirical. (Some surviving Ancient Egyptian works can be interpreted satirically, but these can [[/index]][[PoesLaw also be read seriously]][[index]].)
708* SavedFromTheirOwnHonor: God stops Abraham from ritually sacrificing Issac after he was ordered to by God.
709* ScaledUp: [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek mythology]] example: the river god Achelous turns into a serpent to fight Hercules for the hand of a princess called Deianeira. He loses, and in one version Hercules rips off one of his horns, which was used by the nymphs to make the Horn of Plenty.
710* SchmuckBait: [[/index]]
711** "Do not under any circumstances bring [[TrojanHorse this horse]] into your city, because then us Greeks will never ever be able [[Literature/TheTrojanCycle to conquer Troy."]]
712** 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."
713** PandorasBox (actually a jar), with Pandora intentionally set up to peek. [[index]]
714* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Happened more and more towards the end of UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic.
715* ScyllaAndCharybdis: [[Literature/TheOdyssey Odysseus]] lost several men to the TropeNamers.
716* SealedEvilInACan: PandorasBox, filled with all the miseries and evils that now make humanity miserable, as told by Creator/{{Hesiod}}.
717* SealedGoodInACan: Several examples predate feudalism. Creator/{{Hesiod}}'s Literature/{{Theogony}} did it twice: [[/index]]
718** 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.
719** Pandora managed to shut the box before Hope got away. [[index]]
720* SeaMonster: Charybdis and Leviathan are just a couple of many sea monsters found in early myths.
721* SeaSerpents: In ''Myth/ClassicalMythology'', Scylla is a many-headed, sharp-toothed serpentine beast that guards a narrow strait in the ocean (with her counterpart Charybis which is a monster in the center of a giant vortex, pulling nearby ships into her hungry maw). Multiple characters in various myths have to pass through the narrow channel and pick one of the two to deal with, which gave birth to the idiom ''between Scylla and Charybdis'' (= between a rock and a hard place).
722* SeductionLyric: Creator/{{Catullus}} wrote some overtly seductive poems, and the trope may well go back further.
723* SeeYouInHell: According to the Roman biographer Suetonius, a certain actor implied this in a farce during Emperor Nero's bloody reign.
724* SelfFulfillingProphecy: The Greek god Cronos, whose brutal efforts to prevent his children from overthrowing him directly motivated them to do exactly that. Oedipus, fleeing his adoptive parents to avoid killing Dad and marrying Mom, came to Thebes where his real parents lived.
725* SerpentStaff:
726** ''Literature/TheBible'':
727*** [[Literature/BookOfExodus Exodus 7:12]] provides us with the TropeMaker in the Aaron's staff which can transform into a snake to demonstrate the power of God. When the Pharaoh's priests perform the same feat, Aaron one-ups them by having his snake eat their snakes.
728*** Some retellings of the above story have Moses be the one who changes his staff into a serpent.
729*** A lesser-known association of Moses with serpents is the Brazen Serpent or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehushtan Nehushtan]], a bronze serpent on a pole that was created to protect the Israelites against the bites of "fiery serpents". In the Literature/BooksOfKings, King Hezekiah orders the destruction of the Nehushtan, since the people had begun making offerings to it.
730** Myth/ClassicalMythology: The Caduceus is a staff mounted by wings and entwined with two serpents, used as a symbol of the god Hermes/Mercury. It is often confused with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_of_Asclepius Rod of Asclepius]], which only has one snake, and is a symbol of medicine.
731* SexualEuphemism
732* SexualExtortion: Testament by Joseph featuring Potiphar's Wife, mentioned in the Literature/BookOfGenesis. Also the story of Bellerophon.
733* ShamingTheMob: The Gospel according to John 8:1-11, [[Literature/TheBible New Testament]].
734* ShapeshiftingSeducer: [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek god Zeus]] used the usual form for a BedTrick with Alcmene, mother of Heracles. But he has also gone after mortal women as a bull, a swan, and a "shower of gold."
735* SharedDream: In Matthew 2:1-12 of Literature/TheBible, the Magi are all warned in a dream about Herod's malicious intentions while they're traveling to meet the baby Jesus.
736* SharkPool: Pliny the Elder, Seneca and Cassius Dio report the fact that [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedius_Pollio Vedius Pollio]] (who died in 15 BC) had his slaves fed to lampreys when they displeased him.
737* ShootTheDog: Fairly common early in [[Literature/TheBible the Old Testament]].
738* ShieldSurf: According to Plutarch's ''[[Literature/ParallelLives Life of Marius]]'', during the war between the Romans and the Cimbri, the Cimbri showed off their toughness and audacity by climbing up naked to snowy peaks of the Alps and then sliding down from there on their shields.
739* SidetrackedByTheAnalogy: Happens every so often when when one of [[Literature/TheBible Jesus's parables]] falls flat. See ComicallyMissingThePoint above.
740* SignatureItemClue: In ''Literature/TheBible'', Potiphar's wife gets hold of Joseph's cloak as he [[GivingThemTheStrip runs away from her]]. She later produces the cloak to support her claim that he tried to rape her.
741* SimpleCountryLawyer: Creator/{{Cicero}}, in his ''In Verrem'' speeches, emphasized his background as a non-patrician from the Italian town of Arpinium.
742* SinisterMinister: Diotrephes and Ciaphas in the [[Literature/TheBible New Testament]].
743* SinsOfOurFathers: In Literature/TheBible, 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 jerkass.
744* SleepingDummy: In [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 1 Samuel 19]] in ''Literature/TheBible'', David's wife Michal disguises a statue as David and hides it in a bed, giving David time to escape from King Saul.
745* TheSmartGuy: 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.
746* SmartPeopleBuildRobots: The legend of the Golem, originally found in the Talmud. It was said that those who made golems were wise Rabbis with thorough knowledge of the nature of God.
747* SmashingHallwayTrapsOfDoom: The Argonauts had to pass their ships through the maritime version in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]].
748* SmiteMeOMightySmiter: One of the Ajaxes in ''Literature/TheIliad'' curses the gods until Poseidon and Zeus both smite him.
749* SnakesAreSexy: Depending on the source, [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Medusa of the Greek Mythology]] can count. Instead of being horrifyingly butt-ugly, some stories depict Medusa to be [[GorgeousGorgon extremely beautiful]] regardless of the snake hair, [[SoBeautifulItsACurse so beautiful that]] people [[TakenForGranite turn to stone anyway]] out of the sheer beauty.
750* TheSociopath: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcibiades Alcibiades of Athens]]. The nephew of Pericles, he was brilliant, charismatic, and excelled at virtually everything he applied himself to, from soldiery to statecraft to seducing women (and men). He was also inconstant, fickle, capricious, impulsive, and felt lasting affection for few if any people -- except, perhaps, for his purported friendship with Creator/{{Socrates}}. He was as good at making bitter enemies as he was at making superficial friends, and for this reason he changed sides a dizzying number of times during UsefulNotes/ThePeloponnesianWar; a war that he had helped to reignite, for no other reason (according to Creator/{{Thucydides}} and Creator/{{Plato}}) than his own ambition. In ''The Mask of Sanity'', psychiatrist Hervey M. Cleckley writes that Alcibiades "had the gift of every talent except that of using them consistently to achieve any sensible aim or in behalf of any discernible cause."
751* SoiledCityOnAHill: The state of the world just before TheGreatFlood occurred, and of Sodom and Gomorrah. Atlantis in Myth/ClassicalMythology, and Dvārakā in the Literature/{{Mahabharata}}, both sank into the seas for this reason.
752* SolarPoweredMagnifyingGlass: Used to light the Olympic torch in ''Theatre/TheClouds''. Greek historian Lucian claimed that Archimedes built a giant bronze mirror and set fire to ships attacking Syracuse, but the story is hard to believe.
753* SonOfAWhore: In the ''Chandagoya Upanishad'', the sage Satyakama Jabala was the son of a prostitute who did not know who Satyakama's father was. As only boys of Brahmin parentage were allowed to study the Veda, this could have excluded Satyakama from higher learning; but when the boy Satyakama applied to be taught by the sage Haridrumata, he told Haridrumata the full truth about his parentage. Haridrumata opines that only a Brahmin could speak so honestly, and agrees to teach Satyakama.
754* TheSonsAndTheSpears: The oldest known version is by Creator/{{Plutarch}}.
755* SorcerersApprenticePlot: Creator/{{Lucian}}'s ''Literature/{{Philopseudes}}'', 150 AD.
756* SpeculativeFictionLGBT: Lucian's ''Literature/TrueHistory'' is a satire on his predecessors' works (like ''Literature/TheOdyssey'') being treated as factual when they really weren't, by having a soldier get transported to the moon where he meets aliens, fights the Sun, and marries a prince.
757* SpeechCentricWork: This was a popular format for philosophical works in Ancient Greece. For example, Creator/{{Plato}}'s works are presented as conversations between two parties.
758* SpontaneousChoreography: The Greek chorus did this on stage, as evidenced in the terms ''strophe'' and ''antistrophe'' (referring to dancing), though the actual dance steps are lost.
759* StandardHeroReward: The Greek seer Melampos "won" a princess for a bride by performing heroic feats.
760* StarScraper: The Tower of Babel in [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis 11:1-9]] was envisioned as being tall enough to reach heaven, but God put a stop to it.
761* StarsAreSouls: In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]], most of the northern hemisphere constellations were supposed to be the souls or images of people placed in the sky by the gods -- sometimes to reward or memorialize a hero, sometimes to humiliate (?) somebody they hated.
762* TheStarscream: This could sum up the Roman Empire in the 3rd and 4th centuries CE. One series of these after another. Almost every Emperor was a military general who betrayed his Emperor and seized power for himself, only to have the exact same thing happen to him.
763* StealthInsult: [[Literature/TheBible "Rex Iudaeorum"]], coming from a Roman, was not an honorific...
764* StereoFibbing: Literature/TheBible, specifically the story of Susannah and the Elders in the Apocrypha.
765* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Odyssey''.
766* StrawCharacter: Creator/{{Plato}} regularly used strawmen as opponents to Creator/{{Socrates}} in his Socratic dialogues.
767* StrawFeminist: The Amazons in Myth/ClassicalMythology, all-female warriors who either [[{{Gendercide}} killed their sons]] or enslaved them.
768* StrawNihilist: Achilles goes on a rant about the meaninglessness of the heroic values and how they're all doomed to obscurity in ''Literature/TheIliad''.
769* StreisandEffect: A Chinese proverb from the 4th century BCE translates as, "The desire to conceal something brings more attention to itself."
770* StylisticSuck: Eumolpus in ''Literature/TheSatyricon'', an absolutely awful poet who is nevertheless convinced he is a genius philosopher. We hear plenty of his bad poetry throughout his sections of the story, and it is so bad that other people usually pelt him with rocks to make him stop.
771* SuddenlySuitableSuitor: In the classical Sanskrit play ''Theatre/TheRecognitionOfShakuntala''.
772* SufferTheSlings: Courtesies of [[Literature/TheBible David and the Israelites]], essentially [[LethalJokeItem the ancient counterpart of pistols]].
773* SupernaturalAid: Gods granted Perseus the use of winged sandals and the Cap of Hades (which rendered all wearers invisible) so he could slay Medusa.
774* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Greek myths include Sisyphos, who talked his way out of Tartaros. His son Sinon convinced the Trojans to bring the TrojanHorse into their city. Apparently lying is genetic.
775* {{Superweapon}}: The UrExample exists in the Literature/{{Mahabharata}} in the form of the 'Brahmastra' -- Divine weapons that [[AlwaysAccurateAttack always hit their target]] and [[PhlebotinumBomb completely annihilate their enemies]].
776* SupportingTheMonsterLovedOne: The Minotaur, son of the Queen and stepson of the King, was kept in the Labyrinth and fed sacrifices by his stepfather.
777* SweetSheep: Sheep are very prominent in ''Literature/TheBible'' (notably in the New Testament) who serve as symbols of peace, gentleness, innocence. Especially in numerous Parables of Jesus such as "Parable of the Lost Sheep", "The Sheep and the Goats", and The Nativity of Jesus a.k.a "The Nativity Scene". Since [[PassionPlay Jesus' sacrifice]], sheep (especially lambs) quickly become very important animals in major religions such as Christianity, Judaism, and Catholicism.
778* SweetsOfTemptation: In Myth/ClassicalMythology, Hades falls in love with Persephone and kidnaps her, but she refuses all of his romantic advances. Finally, at his urging, she eats six sweet, juicy pomegranate seeds. When her uncle Zeus comes to take her back, the rules of the Underworld state that Persephone is bound to it since she has eaten food from there, but Zeus compromises by declaring that Persephone will spend six months of every year with her mother Demeter and the remaining six months in the Underworld with Hades, one for each seed she ate. So, when Persephone and her mother are together, Demeter is happy and blesses the earth with spring and summer, [[JustSoStory but when she has to return to the Underworld, Demeter's sadness creates fall and winter]].
779* SwordsToPlowshares: A prophecy in The ''Literature/BookOfIsaiah'' mentions that in the world to come people will [[TropeNamers beat their swords into plowshares]], spears into pruning hooks, and eschew the ways of war forever.
780* TagTeamSuicide: The tale of Pyramus and Thisbe from ''Literature/TheMetamorphoses'' by Ovid, the inspiration behind ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''.
781* TakeThat: Literature/TheBible includes several passages that amount to insults directed at enemies of ancient Israel, such as saying that the people of Moab and Ammon were descended from the products of ParentalIncest. Creator/{{Euripides}}'s ''Theatre/{{Electra}}'' mocks a plot development in Creator/{{Aeschylus}}'s ''Oresteia''. There's also Creator/{{Catullus}} and his entire genre of invective poems, writings meant to take potshots at personalities of his era- such as Julius Caesar and Cicero.
782* TakeThatAudience: Most surviving Ancient Greek comedies featured a ''parabasis'', in which the actors suddenly halted the plot to spend several minutes insulting random spectators. Creator/{{Aristophanes}}' characters also insulted the audience in their dialogue.
783* TakenForGranite: Everybody who ever looked at a Greek Gorgon. Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt in the Literature/BookOfGenesis 19.
784* TakingYouWithMe: Literature/TheBible -- post TraumaticHaircut Samson and the Philistines, specifically.
785* TalkingYourWayOut: Sisyphos did this to escape TheUnderworld after he died.
786* TastesLikeChicken: The First Century BCE Roman poet Horace ridiculed the habit of serving peacocks during Roman feasts, saying the birds tasted no different from chicken.
787* TellMeAboutMyFather: Telemachos in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''.
788* TemptingFate: Capaneus of the Theatre/SevenAgainstThebes, and the companions of Diomedes after UsefulNotes/TheTrojanWar.
789* ThanatosGambit: Several examples (as detailed on the [[ThanatosGambit Trope Page]]), although the one with the most lasting influence makes up the bulk of the [[Literature/TheFourGospels Gospels]]: Jesus Christ's entire ''life''.
790* ThickerThanWater: When Theseus comes to Athens, his step-mother, Medea, tries to poison him, but Aegeus recognized [[AncestralWeapon the tokens]] he had left for Theseus, saves him, and exiles Medea -- although he had never even seen his son before.
791* ThisBedOfRoses: In Literature/TheBible, in the second chapter of [[Literature/BookOfJoshua Joshua]], the prostitute Rahab houses and protects two spies sent by Joshua, and she is commended in the book of Hebrews (11:31).
792* ThisIsAWorkOfFiction: Though the phrase isn't directly used, the 2nd Century AD novel ''Literature/TrueHistory'' has a lengthy preface/introduction in which the author explains that everything in the book is completely made up.
793* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch: Courtesy of King Saul:
794--> "You '''son of a perverse, rebellious woman'''! I know that you side with the son of Jesseā€”to your shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness!"
795* {{Thoughtcrime}}: AsTheGoodBookSays (specifically in [[Literature/TheFourGospels Matthew 5:28]]), "...whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."
796* TestAndTrialTropes: Heracles/Herucles, Theseus, Odysseus, Jason, Oedipus,... all have to fulfill impossible tasks and quests.
797* TokenHeroicOrc: Or token heroic [[OurCentaursAreDifferent centaur]], in the case of Chiron from Myth/ClassicalMythology.
798* TornApartByTheMob: Dates back at least as far as the myth of Orpheus who was ripped apart by Maenads: frenzied female followers of Dionysus.
799* TotalitarianUtilitarian: Karl Popper (somewhat persuasively) reads Plato's ''Republic'' as advocating this: [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans the means are horrifying]], but (theoretically) the society is perfectly just and everyone's as happy as can be.
800* {{Tragedy}}: Greek theatre, starting in the late 6th century BC.
801* TragicIntangibility: Used by Homer in ''The Iliad'' and ''The Odyssey'', inspiring two episodes of ''The Aeneid''.
802* TragicMistake: Used by the Greek playwrights and codified by Aristotle.
803* TrailOfBreadCrumbs: Theseus, on Ariadne's advice, used a ball of twine this way in the Cretan Labyrinth.
804* {{Transflormation}}: Several of the TransformationFiction stories mentioned below involved the transformed character becoming a flower or other plant.
805* TransformationFiction: Very popular in Myth/ClassicalMythology, with stories from ''Literature/TheMetamorphoses'' being some of the more noticeable examples.
806* TranslatorMicrobes: In the Acts of the Apostles, the Holy Spirit blessed Jesus's Disciples so that when they preached, anyone could understand their words, regardless of language barriers.
807* TraumaticCSection: Agamemnon wants to do this to pregnant Trojan women in ''Literature/TheIliad''.
808* TraumaticHaircut: Samson suffers this in the Literature/BookOfJudges.
809* TreatedWorseThanThePet: Discussed in Literature/TheBible. In the parable of the prodigal son, after taking his share of the inheritance and ditching his family, he [[AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted blows through his newfound wealth]] and ends up a starving farmhand. He observes that the pigs he tends are fed better than him, and returns home because he knows his father would never treat a servant that poorly.
810* TrickingTheShapeshifter: Greek god Zeus learned that his wife Metis would bear a son who would overthrow him, so he tricked her into shapeshifting into a fly, and swallowed her whole. Thus he tricked Fate as well.
811* TheTrickster: Hermes is a famous example in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]]. As a newborn, he stole Apollo's cattle. The Homeric Hymn to Hermes describes him as "a son, of many shifts, blandly cunning, a robber, a cattle driver, a bringer of dreams, a watcher by night, a thief at the gates". Eris has a similar role in the ''[[Literature/TheTrojanCycle Cypria]]''.
812* TrojanHorse: The {{Trope Namer|s}}.
813* TrojanPrisoner: Jesus at Golgotha, on a spiritual level.
814* TrollBridge: The Angel of Death in Literature/TheBible.
815* TurnTheOtherCheek: Jesus advocates and names this trope in the [[Literature/TheBible New Testament]].
816* TurtleIsland: Creator/PlinyTheElder 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.
817* TwentyBearAsses: In the [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 1st Book of Samuel]], King Saul demands of David to bring him one hundred Philistine foreskins as a condition for letting him marry his daughter Michal. David brings two hundred foreskins.
818* TwoLinesNoWaiting: ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' has Odysseus attempting to get home, and Odysseus's son Telemachos's attempts to find his father.
819* TwoTimingWithTheBestie: After discovering his wife Aphrodite was having an affair with his brother Ares, Hephaestus started up a relationship with Aglaia, one of the Graces and Aphrodite's friend. In versions where Hephaestus divorces Aphrodite, he and Aglaia even get married and have a much happier life together.
820* UglyGuyHotWife: Hephaestus and Aphrodite in ''Literature/TheIliad''.
821* UnaccustomedAsIAmToPublicSpeaking: Creator/{{Socrates}} at his trial, according to Creator/{{Plato}}.
822* UnderdressedForTheOccasion: Appears in [[Literature/TheFourGospels Matthew 22]].
823* UndersideRide: Odysseus and his crew escape from Polyphemus's cave by tying themselves to the underside of sheep in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''.
824* TheUnfavourite: Ares in ''Literature/TheIliad'', 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 chews him out for being a violent bully.
825* {{Unicorn}}: Greek writers first mention them in the 5th century BC.
826* UnicornsPreferVirgins: The earliest known example is the story of the ascetic One-Horn, written in the ''Literature/{{Mahabarata}}''.
827* UriahGambit: [[TropeNamers Named after]] a biblical story of King David.
828* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Creator/{{Plato}}'s ''[[Literature/TheRepublic Republic]]'' institutes a rigorous discipline on its citizens that seems rather harsh to modern readers and would have even seemed so to most Greeks (although perhaps not the Spartans). Additionally, when queried as to how this ideal state might be established in reality, Plato's Socrates replies that the only way to do it would be to find an existing city and exile everyone over the age of ten. (Some scholars think that Plato was using this as an indication that the ideal state was impossible, but others aren't so sure.)
829* VerbalWeakness: Springing from Myth/HinduMythology
830* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: 'The Education of Cyrus'' by Creator/{{Xenophon}} only resembles the life of its supposed subject UsefulNotes/CyrusTheGreat in the BroadStrokes: He was the son and heir of the king of Anshan and a Mede princess; he had to fight a war against the Medes (led by his grandfather); he beat the Medes, then conquered the rest of the Middle East, and is generally considered to have ruled wisely and justly. The rest, however, is entirely made up; in particular, the constitution and educational system of Anshan that Xenophon describes more closely resembles that of Sparta than anything you'd find in Persia. Xenophon didn't really care, and neither did his readers, since it was obvious that Xenophon was writing a "mirror-of-princes" intended to instruct the education of wise rulers rather than a straight biography of the Persian king. (In particular, Xenophon seems to model his Cyrus on the [[Creator/{{Socrates}} Socratic]] ideal of a philosopher-king.)
831* VillainousLineage: Original Sin in the Literature/BookOfGenesis.
832* VirileStallion:
833** ''Literature/TheBible'': Ezekiel 23:19-20 references this trope with the following passage:
834-->"Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses."
835** ''Myth/ClassicalMythology'':
836*** Centaurs were originally characterised as amorous warriors who were seen as wild, lawless, and inhospitable beings who were slaves to their "animal passions" (with wise MentorArchetype Chiron being a rare exception).
837*** [[FaunsAndSatyrs Satyrs]] were originally depicted by the Greeks as hairy men with the ears and tails of horses or donkeys and permanently-erect {{Gag Penis}}es (which may or may not have been equine in appearance, DependingOnTheWriter) who spent all their time engaging in BlackComedyRape against whatever crossed their paths. It wasn't until the rise of the Roman empire when they became associated with fauns that they gained their more well-known half-human/half-goat appearance.
838* VoiceOfTheLegion: Daniel experiences it in Literature/TheBible.
839* VoluntaryShapeshifting: In "[[Literature/PrinceKhaemwaseAndSiOsiri 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.
840* VowOfCelibacy: RealLife's Vestal virgins, acolytes of the Roman goddess Vesta who were required to remain virginal and were severely punished for violating this.
841* WackyWaysideTribe: Much of ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' is taken up by Odysseus and his men encountering Wacky Wayside Tribes during their 10-year journey home: {{Cyclop|s}}es, Lotus-Eaters, Aeolus and his family, Circe and her "animals," the Laestrygonians, the Cicones, Calypso...
842* WalkOnWater: Jesus Christ and Apostle Peter both did it in the [[Literature/TheBible New Testament]]. Ancient Greeks credit Orion with the ability.
843* WarElephants: Encountered by Alexander the Great when invading India; also famously used by Hannibal in the Second Punic War.
844* WarriorPoet: King David slew giants, won wars... wrote poetry, and once danced naked to celebrate the return of the Ark.
845* WeakToFire: In the legend of Hercules, the only thing that would stop the Hydra regrowing its heads after one was cut off was to quickly cauterize the stump with fire.
846* WeaselMascot: Pliny the Elder suggested a weasel (most likely a least weasel) in regards on dealing with [[BasiliskAndCockatrice Basilisks]].
847* WeedingOutImperfections: ''Literature/TheFourGospels'': In the Parable of the Tares, Jesus tells a story about a man who sowed wheat seed in his field, but an enemy came in the night and planted weeds. When the man's servants learned what had happened, they offered to pull out the weeds, but the man refused as the weeds and wheat look similar and thus the servants might accidentally pull out the wheat as well. He thus orders the men to leave both types of plants to grow together, and when the harvest time comes they will separate the wheat from the weeds and take one for harvest and another to be burned. When Jesus's disciples ask for an explanation, he explains that this is a metaphor for the coexistence of good and evil people in the world and the judgment that will come at the end of time.
848* WeHaveBecomeComplacent: Croesus and Solon, as described in Herodotus' ''Literature/{{Histories}}''.
849* WelcomeBackTraitor: Literature/TheBible.
850* WellIntentionedExtremist: Creon or Antigone or both of them in ''Theatre/{{Antigone}}'', depending on interpretation. To audiences at the time it was written, Creon was ''not'' considered an obvious villain, though his actions do conflict divine law.
851* WerewolfThemeNaming: In Greek mythology, King Lycaon of Arcadia was turned into a wolf as punishment for serving Zeus human meat. Lycaon's name already contains "lykos", the Greek word for "wolf".
852* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Several examples in Myth/{{Classical|Mythology}} and [[Literature/TheBible Judeo-Christian stories]], ranging from Aeneas after evading Achilles in ''Literature/TheIliad'' to Jesus Christ's stepfather Joseph after [[Literature/TheFourGospels Luke 2:41-51]]. See [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse the trope page]] for details.
853* WhatYouAreInTheDark: The Chinese proverb for this trope[[note]]"Heaven knows. Earth knows. You know. I know."[[/note]] dates back to the Han Dynasty.
854* WhosOnFirst: [[Literature/TheOdyssey Odysseus]] telling Polyphemus that his name was "Nobody," leading to Polyphemus screaming to the other Cyclopes that "Nobody has blinded me!" Naturally, they saw no need to go help him.
855* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The message is already implied in the [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek myth]] of Tithonos, who wished for immortality but forgot to ask for eternal youth, and now ages ''forever''.
856* WickedStepmother: In [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]], Hera reacted to her husband Zeus' constant infidelity by harassing or trying to kill her stepchildren, such as Apollo, Artemis, and Heracles. There is also a poem in the ''Anthologia Palatina'' where a warning says that stepmothers bring bad luck
857* WigDressAccent: A minor prophet in [[Literature/BooksOfKings 1 Kings 20]] disguises himself by pulling his headband down over his eyes.
858* WingedUnicorn: The Roman writer Pliny described a kind of winged horses with antelope-like horns that lived in mountain ranges south of the Sahara, which he named Pegasoi Aithiopikoi -- "Aethiopian pegasi". These creatures would go on to feature in Medieval bestiaries for quite some time after that.
859* WizardDuel: In "[[Literature/PrinceKhaemwaseAndSiOsiri Prince Khaemwase and Si-Osiri]]" the story-within-the-story features a duel between an Egyptian wizard and an Ethiopian wizard at the royal court in Memphis. Though Egyptian, this tale is only from the 1st century AD.
860* AWolfInSheepsClothing: One of Literature/AesopsFables.
861* WonderChild: Isaac in Literature/TheBible.
862* WorldOfHam: Happens in Literature/TheBible.
863* WretchedHive: Sodom and Gomorrah from Literature/TheBible.
864* WringEveryLastDropOutOfHim: Creator/{{Virgil}}'s version of ''Literature/TheAeneid'' prolongs Queen Dido's death in a tragically beautiful way.
865* {{Xenofiction}}: The Latin novel ''Metamorphoses'' (also known as ''The Golden Ass''), written in the 2nd century AD, is narrated by a man who was changed into a donkey. His experiences cover the whole spectrum of an animal's life.
866* YearOutsideHourInside: According to ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'' and other texts from Myth/HinduMythology, King Kakudmi a.k.a. Raivata went to Brahma to ask for advice on to whom he should marry his daughter. After waiting for what seemed to be short time, Brahma informed him that 108 ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuga yugas]]'' had already passed on earth, and all the candidates that Raivata had considered suitable son-in-laws had died long ago.
867* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Creator/{{Homer}}'s ''Odyssey''.
868* YouHaveWaitedLongEnough: Poor Penelope has to put up with this for ''years'' in ''Literature/TheOdyssey''.
869* YouMakeMeSick: A surviving fragment of Creator/{{Plautus}}' lost play ''Frivolaria''.
870* YoungestChildWins: [[/index]]
871** Zeus, king of the Greek gods, is the youngest of his siblings according to Creator/{{Hesiod}}. His father Cronos, previous king of the gods, was also the youngest son. Creator/{{Homer}}, however, makes Zeus the eldest son of Cronos.
872** Also a remarkably popular trope in Literature/TheBible: Abel, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Moses were all favored younger sons. (In most cases, parental favoritism led to big trouble...) [[index]]
873* ZeroEffortBoss: Emperor Claudius vs. Beached Killer Whale.
874[[/folder]]
875
876[[/index]]
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