Gordius

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Gordius

(gōr'dē-ŭs),

An old name for the nematode genus Dracunculus, properly applied to members of the phylum Nematomorpha, commonly called the gordian or horsehair worms, hair worms, or hair snakes.

[L., fr. G. Gordios, king of Gordium in Phrygia; an allusion to the knotlike twistings of these worms]

Gordius,

in Greek mythology, a peasant in a cart who became the king of Phrygia after an oracle's prediction; he tied his cart to a pole with a complicated knot which was later severed, legend has it, by Alexander the Great.

Gordius worm - long, thin parasites resembling horse hairs, often existing in an intricately tangled mass. Synonym(s): horse hair worm

References in periodicals archive ?

Siglos despues, segun la leyenda, Alejandro se enfrentaria al dilema del nudo hecho por Gordias (el nudo Gordiano), en Frigia (hoy Anatolia, en Turquia), en donde radicaba la profecia de que quien lo resolviera iba a dominar el Asia: ?Cual fue la solucion de Alejandro?

Significados de la politica en la Grecia clasica

Herodotus employs another, apparently unrelated character called Adrastus, a Phrygian, son of Gordias, son of Midas, in his tale of Croesus and Atys (1.34-45), but like Herodotus' Argive Adrastus, the Phrygian one is polluted and expelled: he is polluted after inadvertently murdering his brother, and has been 'driven out'; he therefore comes to Croesus to be cleansed, but subsequently again kills accidentally.(79)