Damocles

Damocles (/ˈdæməkliːz/; Greek: Δαμοκλῆς, Damoklē̂s; literally: "Fame of the People") is a figure featured in a single moral anecdote commonly referred to as "the Sword of Damocles", which was a late addition to classical Greek culture. The figure belongs properly to legend rather than Greek myth. The anecdote apparently figured in the lost history of Sicily by Timaeus of Tauromenium (c. 356–260 BC). The Roman orator Cicero may have read it in Diodorus Siculus. He made use of it in his Tusculan Disputations, V. 61–2, by which means it passed into the European cultural mainstream.