Any cool Greek sayings/battle cries?

['o Skoteinos]

*looks at his sig*

"CHoorei 's ten naun* 'o CHaroon se kalei, su de kooluein anagesthai" (Lysistrata, verse somewhere around 600 IIRC)

"Go to the ship, Charon calls you, but you prevent him from going" Well that's a really bad translation, so I hope someone will correct me...simply said, it means: "die."

From a translation I've found:

from http://www.tkline.freeserve.co.uk/Webworks/Website/LYSISTRATA.htm
605 Lysistrata: Need anything else? No? Well? Hop on the boat, then!

(Puts hand to her ear)

Hear that? It’s Charon calling you. Go on! Hop it! What’s holding you back? Cark it, you old kook!

 

[D'karr]

You Forgot

SPOON!!!!


Oops, sorry I thought you said geek battle cries.

 

[trimeulose]

Bree Yark- goblin for hey stupid

Ok you can die

I fart in your general direction

Your mother was a hampster and your father smelt of elder berries

as to not offend anyone, S*** it

Cocked locked and ready to rock

ASDF!!!!!!!!!

 

[Henrix]

Your mother was a hampster and your father smelt of elder berries

Is that greek? I thought it was french!

 

[Heretic Apostate]

I presume that's "Never leave your buddies behind". Unless you're referring to the famous "Legion of Love" (can't recall which city-state they came from - Thespis, maybe?) which consisted only of homosexuals, and encouraged pairs of lovers to join, since the assumption was that you were really interested in protecting your partner. And considering that they were a remarkably effective fighting force, obviously never leaving your buddy's behind worked there

And in keeping with the above, here is the famous battle-cry of Hector, which was unfortunately cut from the Iliad due to Greek censorship:

"I got your Trojan right here!"

Not quite accurate. It's the Sacred Band of Thebes. Pretty much, yes, it was a homosexual organization. The city wasn't gay. The people in the band were gay. The idea was that you'd be ashamed to retreat, when your lover was watching.

Yadda yadda yadda. 'nuf said.

 

[Strider The Ranger]

Cool threats

Hey these aren't greek, one's Roman and the other is from The Three Musketeers

1. "Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal." The caution given by the Praetorian Guard to Julius Caesar if I'm correct.

2. Cardinal's Men (Gentlemen of the Sword): "Drop your weapons, and perhaps we'll let you live"
Athos: "Impossible"
Porthos: "Unthinkable"
Aramis: "Unlikely"

The second I love...its especially great when the PCs are good roleplayers and have that swashbuckling flair!

 

[Klaus]

The following is still engraved at the Thermopylae, in Greece, and is still quite legible to this day:

O xein angellein Lakedaimoniois hoti tede
keinetha tois keinon rhemasi peithomenoi.

Which roughly translates to:

Tell the Spartans, o strangers that walk by,
That here, obedient to their laws, we lay.

These are the verses composed by the greek poet Simonides on the day a memorial was held in honor of the 300 Spartans that fell with King Leonidas while facing the Persians.

It's still chilling after 2,500 years, and it can be found in the awesome novel Gates of Fire, by Steven Pressfield. Highly recommended.

From another Greek, Alexander the Great, upon taking Egypt. He faced the heavens and proclaimed:
"See my work, o Mighty One, and despair."

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

From another Greek, Alexander the Great, upon taking Egypt. He faced the heavens and proclaimed:
"See my work, o Mighty One, and despair."

Ooh, man, that's good. I might have to borrow that one for myself!


Wulf

 

[Darklance]

"Hannibal at portas"
Whats this translate into?

Great thread!

 

[mmadsen]

From another Greek, Alexander the Great, upon taking Egypt. He faced the heavens and proclaimed:
"See my work, o Mighty One, and despair."

I can't let that one go by without bringing out everyone's favorite poem:

Ozymandias
Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear --
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.'