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

(referring to King Merops of Ethiopia). Phaëthon
decided to try his hand at steering his father’s
chariot—the Sun—across the sky and very nearly
set fi re to the Earth by fl ying too close. As it was,
Libya was reduced to a parched desert while the
rest of Africa was similarly scorched. <strong>The</strong> Earth
was saved from further damage when Zeus killed
Phaëthon with a thunderbolt. <strong>The</strong> swan is sometimes
called Phaeton’s bird in commemoration
of Cycnus, son of Neptune, who was inconsolable
after the death of his friend Phaëthon and was
eventually transformed into a swan by Apollo and
placed among the constellations. “From the drawing
room they could distinguish nothing in the
lane, and were indebted to Mr. Collins for the
knowledge of what carriages went along, and how
often especially Miss De Bourgh drove by in her
phaeton, which he never failed coming to inform
them of, though it happened almost every day”
(Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813).
phalanx (faylanks) A closely ranked, unyielding
mass of people; a body of people united in a
common cause. <strong>The</strong> name was originally given to
an ancient Greek and Macedonian battle formation
in which spearsmen sheltered behind a wall
of shields. “I feel that I can face an army with
banners—or all the professors of Redmond in one
fell phalanx—with a chum like Priscilla by my
side” (Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of the Island,
1915).
Pharisee (fairbsee) A self- righ teous or hypocritical
person, especially one who insists on legalistically
and slavishly observing rules, regardless of
the intent behind them. <strong>The</strong> Pharisees (a name
meaning “separated”) were members of a Jewish
sect that emerged in the second century b.c.
“Despite their original emphasis on God’s law, or
Torah, their insistence on equal prominence for
oral law and their emphasis on human behavior
rather than God’s work brought them into confl ict
with Jesus. Jesus accused some Pharisees of being
hypocrites because their teaching was inconsistent
with their actions” (Selman and Manser, <strong>The</strong>
Hearthside Bible Dictionary, p. 184). Jesus denounced
them in the “seven woes” (Matthew 23:1–36).
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
For ye are like unto whited sepulchres,
which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are
within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
Even so you also outwardly appear righ teous
unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and
iniquity” (Matthew 23:27). “But he’s got tongue
enough to speak disrespectful about’s neebors, for
he said as I was a blind Pharisee—a-usin’ the Bible
i’ that way to fi nd nick- names for folks as are his
elders an’ betters!—and what’s worse, he’s been
heard to say very unbecomin’ words about Your
Reverence” (George Eliot, Adam Bede, 1859).
pharos (fairbs) A light house or beacon. <strong>The</strong>
name comes from that of the small island off the
Egyptian coast where Ptolemy II (308–246 b.c.)
built a light house made of white marble, subsequently
included among the seven wonders of the
ancient world. <strong>The</strong> light house was destroyed in an
earthquake in 1375. <strong>The</strong> fl eet was guided by the light
of a pharos marking the entrance to the bay. See also
eighth wonder of the world.
pheasant A long- tailed bird of the family Phasianidae,
the males of which have brightly colored
plumage. <strong>The</strong> bird’s name means “bird of the Phasis,”
the Phasis being the classical name for a river
of Colchis, the present- day Rioni River, which
fl ows into the Black Sea. Legend has it that pheasants
originated from that area and were brought
pheasant
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