top of page
  • Paul Anthony Jones
    • Apr 15, 2019

Pactolian

(adj.) covered in golden sands


The word pactolian cropped up on HH this week—an adjective describing anywhere covered in golden sands.

The word pactolian name-checks the Pactolus, an ancient river of Asia Minor that flows into the Aegean Sea in what is now modern-day Turkey. According to legend, the sands that line the banks of the Pactolus were once quite literally furnished with gold, washed down from the gold-rich mountains of ancient Lydia.

It was this gold that supposedly earned the legendary King Croesus his wealth (a ruler whose name lives on in the expression as rich as Croesus), and it was in the river Pactolus that King Midas (he of the Midas touch) rid himself of his cursed ability to transform anything into gold with just the touch of his hand.

From the literal gold that once lined the Pactolus’ shores, the adjective pactolian eventually came to be used more figuratively to refer to any lush, rich, sandy beach, or else anything lavish, ostentatious, or displaying great wealth.

Golden sands on a tropic beach, origin of pactolian

Hi! We’re currently updating the HH blog, including all the tags (below). But with over 700 posts to reformat, well—apologies, this might take a while... 

​

For now, you can browse the back catalogue using all the tags from the blogposts we’ve already completed; this list will grow as more blogs are brought up to date.

 

Thanks for your patience in the meantime—and any problems or questions, just let us know at haggard@haggardhawks.com.

bottom of page