Mythological Phrases, where they came from and what they mean today?

Question

1. An Icarian Adventure

2. A task of Sisyphus

3. Janus-faced facts

4. An Augean task

5. The shirt of Nessus

6. Bellerophonic letters

7. The thread of Ariadne

If you could please help me it would be amazing!

Answer 1

All of the phrases are based on ancient Greek myths and they mean.......

1. An Icarian Adventure -- Icarus was the son of Daedalus (the great inventor).  He and his father were held captive at the court of King Minos of Crete.  Daedalus created wings made of feathers and wax to fly away and escape.  But Icarus enjoyed the sensation of flight so much that he fly up into the sky.  He came too close to the sun and it's heat melted the wax.  He fell into the sea and drowned.  So - it's an adventure with a bad ending.

2. A task of Sisyphus - was a king punished in Tartarus by being cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll down again, and to repeat this throughout eternity.  Today, Sisyphean can be used as an adjective meaning that an activity is unending and/or repetitive. It could also be used to refer to tasks that are pointless and unrewarding.

3. Janus-faced facts - In Roman mythology, Janus was the god of gates & doorways, of beginnings, and endings.  Janus was usually depicted with two heads (not faces) looking in opposite directions.  He symbolized change and transitions such as the progression of past to future, of one condition to another.  

4. An Augean task - An impossible task.  The fifth of the Twelve Labours set to Hercules was to clean the Augean stables in a single day. The reasoning behind this was twofold: firstly, it was degrading task to clean up all their p**p AND the amount of dirt and filth amassed in the uncleaned stables made the task absolutely impossible. However, Heracles succeeded by rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to wash out the filth.

5. The shirt of Nessus - a poisoned gift.  It was the poisoned shirt of the centaur Nessus, in the story of Hercules.  Metaphorically, it represents "a source of misfortune from which there is no escape; a fatal present.  A centaur, Nessus, offers to help Heracles's wife across a fast flowing river while Heracles swims it. However, Nessus tries to steal her away.  Angry, Heracles shoots him with arrows dipped in the poisonous blood of the Hydra. Thinking of revenge, Nessus gives the wife his blood-soaked tunic before he dies, telling her it give it as a love charm to Heracles if he ever loves another woman.  Years later, the wife (Deianeira) gives Heracles the blood-stained shirt. However, it is still covered in the Hydra's blood from Heracles' arrows, and this poisons him and Heracles dies.

6. Bellerophonic letters - a message carried that makes the carrier look bad, it's kind of ironic.   Bellerophon was a Greek hero who tames the winged horse Pegasus.  He is a guest in King Proetus's court when the king's wife attempted to seduce Bellerophon -- he rejected her.  So  she accused Bellerophon of attempted rape.  Proetus dared not satisfy his anger by killing a guest, so he sent Bellerophon to King Iobates his father-in-law, bearing a sealed message in a folded tablet: "Pray remove the bearer from this world: he attempted to violate my wife, your daughter."  Before opening the tablets, Iobates feasted with Bellerophon for nine days. On reading the tablet's message Iobates too feared the wrath of the Greek Furies if he murdered a guest; so he sent Bellerophon on a mission that he deemed impossible: to kill the fire-breathing monster the Chimera.  

7. The thread of Ariadne - Ariadne's thread, named for the legend of Ariadne, is the term used to describe the solving of a problem with multiple apparent means of proceeding.  Ariadne fell in love with the Greek her, Theseus.  She helped him by giving him a sword and a ball of the red thread so that he could find his way out of the Minotaur's labyrinth in the court of her father King Minos.