The Facts on File Dictionary of Allusions - Green Valley High School

golden age
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between good and evil. (See also Ezekiel 38–39.)
Statues of Gog and Magog, depicted as giant warriors,
stood for many years outside the Guildhall
in London; these were destroyed by the Great Fire
of 1666 but replaced in 1709 and once more in
1953 after their destruction during the bombing
of London in 1940. “. . . it was shown that likeness
in sound made them impossible: it was a
method of interpretation which was not tested by
the necessity of forming anything which had
sharper collisions than an elaborate notion of Gog
and Magog: it was as free from interruption as a
plan for threading the stars together” (George
Eliot, Middlemarch, 1871–72).
golden age A period of history considered to have
been notably prosperous or creative. <strong>The</strong> golden age
of myth was a legendary era that marked the beginnings
of human history on earth, when humans
lived in idyllic harmony with nature and one
another. (It was followed by the legendary silver
age and the historical Iron Age). Historical periods
commonly referred to as golden ages include that
of Egypt (c. 1312–1235 b.c.), of Assyria (c. 700–
600 b.c.), of Athens (443–429 b.c.), and of Persia
(c. a.d. 531–628). “ ‘I have brought you a book for
eve ning solace,’ and he laid on the table a new
publication—a poem: one of those genuine productions
so often vouchsafed to the fortunate public
of those days—the golden age of modern literature”
(Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, 1847).
golden apple See apple of discord.
golden bowl Life, youth, or anything else that is
fragile or once lost cannot be regained. <strong>The</strong> image
of life as a golden bowl comes from the Bible,
where it appears in Ecclesiastes 12:1, 6–7:
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy
youth, while the evil days come not . . . or ever
the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be
broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain,
or the wheel broken at the cistern. <strong>The</strong>n shall the
dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit
shall return unto God who gave it.” <strong>The</strong> image of
a broken bowl has long been a symbol of death: Its
association here with a cord may suggest that the
bowl in question is part of a lamp, which goes out
when the cord breaks and the bowl falls. <strong>The</strong>
phrase is perhaps best known today as the title of
the Henry James novel <strong>The</strong> Golden Bowl (1904). But
the golden bowl had been broken, and there was no rousing
the girl’s lifeless body.
golden calf Money, riches, or material values.
<strong>The</strong> description of the golden calf comes from the
biblical episode related in Exodus 32:1–14 in
which the Israelites worshiped such an idol, made
by Aaron from golden earrings, in the absence of
Aaron’s brother Moses. In modern usage people
who place undue emphasis on the pursuit of material
values may be accused of worshiping the
golden calf. “<strong>The</strong> golden calf they worship at Boston
is a pigmy compared with the giant effi gies set
up in other parts of that vast counting- house which
lies beyond the Atlantic; and the almighty dollar
sinks into something comparatively insignifi cant,
amidst a whole Pantheon of better gods” (Charles
Dickens, American Notes, 1842).
Golden Fleece Something of great value that is
much sought after but very hard to obtain. In the
Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts, the
Golden Fleece was a ram’s fl eece of pure gold that
hung on an oak tree in a sacred grove in Colchis
until Jason managed to carry it off. Australia is
sometimes referred to as the “Land of the Golden
Fleece” because of its extensive production of