This comes from a legend about Alexander the Great reaching the city of Gordium, whose ancient founder,
Gordius, had left behind a chariot tied to a pole by means of a complicated knot.
Finding of
Gordius austrinus (Gordiida, Nematomorpha) in the diet of Salmo trutta (Salmoniformes) in Patagonia.
According to ancient mythology, the peasant
Gordius, who married the fertility goddess Cybele, became king of Phrygia.
A poor farmer called
Gordius arrived with his wife in a public square of Phrygia in an oxcart one day.
However, in Oklahoma, the only species of horsehair worms previously reported from the state is
Gordius robustus Leidy (Stillwater, Payne County; Montgomery, 1907).
Which makes me wonder what
Gordius Prudencius Brownius is planning for tomorrow's third and final debate in Birmingham, epicentre of the ...
There is only one brief report of some specimens determined as
Gordius aquaticus Linnaeus, 1758 from Lake Vortsjarv (as lake Wirzjerw) by Muhlen & Schneider (1920).
The husband of this "woman" was Hierocles, a Carian slave, once the favourite of
Gordius, from whom he had learned to drive a chariot'.
The way the story goes is shortly after the citizens of Athens were told by the gods that whoever rode to town on an ox-driven wagon should be crowned king, a gentleman named
Gordius (or his son Midas, some accounts say) pulled into the center of town on exactly the right ride!
Moreover, the knot recalls the knot tied by
Gordius, the legendary King of Phrygia, which could be undone only by the future ruler of Asia.
The expression comes from an ancient Greek tale in which King
Gordius secures his chariot with a knot so complicated that a prophecy arises: Whoever can undo the knot will rule Asia.