The New Incurable Wound

who married the fertility goddess Cybele, became king of Phrygia. He then dedicated his chariot to Zeus in the city Gordium and fastened it to a column with a large, complicated knot that became known as the Gordian knot. An oracle predicted that the future king of Asia would be the only person who could disentangle this knot. Many individuals who traveled to Gordium attempted to untie the knot and thereby lay their claim to the throne, but their attempts proved futile. Then the Greek conqueror, Alexander the Great, whose actual name was Alexander III of Macedon, visited the city in 333 bce. He, too, was perplexed as he studied the knot, searching for its hidden ends. Whether prompted by impatience or insight, Alexander unexpectedly unsheathed his sword and sliced through the strands of rope, thereby severing and removing the knot. He subsequently conquered Asia, fulfilling the prophecy. He founded more than 70 cities and created a vast empire across three continents before his death in Babylon in June 323 bce. Alexander’s bold, unexpected resolution gave rise to the oft-repeated saying, “cutting the Gordian knot.” That saying—now ubiquitously and inevitably linked to the shopworn notion of “thinking outside the box”—continues,