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

Mark Antony (82–30 b.c.) became a member of
the Second Triumvirate, alongside Octavian and
Lepidus, in 43 b.c. and had responsibility for
Rome’s eastern provinces. He repudiated his wife
to join Cleopatra VII (69–30 b.c.), queen of Egypt,
but their joint forces were defeated by Octavian at
actium in 31 b.c., after which Antony committed
suicide having been told (inaccurately) that
Cleopatra was dead. Cleopatra killed herself shortly
afterward, letting a poisonous asp bite her. “Passion
is destructive. It destroyed Antony and Cleopatra,
Tristan and Isolde” (William Somerset Maugham,
<strong>The</strong> Razor’s Edge, 1944).
Anubis (bnoobis) Personifi cation of death. <strong>The</strong>
jackal- headed Anubis was identifi ed in ancient
Egyptian mythology as the son of Osiris and as the
god of the dead who escorted the deceased to
judgment. <strong>The</strong> Greek equivalent was Hermes. <strong>The</strong>
gloom that concealed this melancholy spot might have
been the shadow of Anubis himself.
apartheid (bpahrtid, bpahrtit) Separation of one
section of society from another, especially if offi -
cially sanctioned. Derived from an Afrikaans word
meaning “separateness,” apartheid became notorious
as a policy adopted in 1948 by the Republic of
South Africa against its black population, who
were barred from sharing the privileges of the
country’s white residents. After much internal
unrest and condemnation from outside South
Africa, the system was fi nally abandoned in 1991.
Young people in this country are subject to a kind of
cultural apartheid, which denies them any signifi cant
voice.
Aphrodite (afroditee) A beautiful or sexually
desirable woman. <strong>The</strong> goddess of love in Greek
mythology, Aphrodite was variously described as
having been born from the foam (aphros) of the sea
or, according to Homer, as the daughter of Zeus
and Dione. She was forced to marry the ugly Hephaestus
and was notoriously unfaithful to him,
allegedly possessing a magic girdle (also called the
cestus or, by the Romans, the girdle of Venus)
supposed to have the power to make her sexually
irresistible to any person she might wish to attract.
Her name inspired the word aphrodisiac, which
describes any substance or other infl uence that is
deemed to excite sexual desire. “No, her mood
now was that of Aphrodite triumphing. Life—
radiant, ecstatic, wonderful—seemed to fl ow
from her and around her” (H. Rider Haggard, She,
1887).
Apicius (apishbs) A gourmand. <strong>The</strong> name belonged
to three celebrated Roman epicures, the most
famous of whom was Marcus Gavius Apicius, who
lived in the fi rst century a.d. and was the author of
a book of recipes known as Of Culinary Matters.
When he was faced through fi nancial diffi culty
with having to restrict himself to a plain diet, he
killed himself rather than suffer such privation.
This Apicius dedicated his life to seeking out new taste
sensations in the restaurants and hotels of Manhattan.
apocalypse (bpokalips) A catastrophic or climactic
event involving total destruction. <strong>The</strong> book of
Revelation, in which John reveals how the world
will end, is sometimes referred to as the Apocalypse.
<strong>The</strong> word itself comes from the Greek apokalyptein
(meaning “to disclose”). <strong>The</strong> derivative
adjective is apocalyptic. “<strong>The</strong> events of September
11 were so apocalyptic that it seemed in the
immediate aftermath that the landscape of travel
would be altered forever” (<strong>The</strong> Guardian, September
7, 2002). See also four horse men of the
apocalypse.
apocalypse
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