Many common sayings predate Shakespeare

As it turns out, Shakespeare (who inhabited the Earth sometime after the ancient Greeks) is not the only source of some everyday expressions. A few that originated with the Greeks:

• Biting the dust: From Homer's The Iliad. Zeus is beseeched not to “let the sun go down” until the Trojans “(f)all headlong in the dust and bite the earth.” The English phrase “to bite the dust” is said to have originated in an 1870 translation.

I'm also listening to Arrian's "Anabasis of Alexander the Great" right now and I didn't realize that an ancient Persian saying was "Eat, drink, and "play" for nothing else in life is worth that." If you enjoyed this post, never miss out on future posts by following me by email!