Question: Where Does "Sword and Sandals" Come From?
Answer: In Greek mythology, Aegeus of Athens mated with the woman Aethra of Troizen (Troezen) , a Peloponnesian town [see map of the Peloponnese], who also slept with Poseidon on the same night. Before Aegeus left Aethra to return to Athens, he told her that if she gave birth to a boy, when he came of age, she should give him the sword and sandals left for him under a stone.
Aethra obliged, and gave her son, who was the Greek hero Theseus, the sword and sandals left under the stone, which he used on his way to Athens to meet his father. Theseus had plenty of use for his slashing sword even en route to Athens, as well as later. The typical Greek footwear was the sandal. Indeed, another hero was associated with a missing sandal -- Jason. So "sword and sandal" now means an epic movie with lots of fighting between sandalled, toga- or tunic-clad Greeks or Romans.
