Though General David Petraeus, new Commander of forces in Iraq, is the son of Dutch parents, his name is very Greek. In Greek mythology, the name Petraeus comes up in several places. Petraeus is one of the Centaurs, half men/half horses, who was at the wedding of Peirithous, who was marrying Hippodameia. Eris and her twin brother Ares were not invited to the wedding, so they decided to get revenge by getting the Centaurs who were at the wedding drunk. The Centaurs subsequently kidnapped the women at the wedding, including the bride, which started a war between the Lapithae and the Centaurs.
Petraeus is also a surname of Poseidon among the Thessalians, because he was believed to have separated the rocks, between which the river Peneius flows into the sea. But David Petraeus is apropos to a third figure in Greek mythology/history - a friend of Philip V., king of Macedonia, who was sent to Sparta in 220BC, to receive the submission of the Lacedaemonians, and confirm them in their allegiance to Macedonia. He later commands a military force in Thessaly, where he successfully repelled the invasion of Thessaly by the Aetolian general Dorimachus.
Or...a friend of Bush, President of the United States, who was sent to Iraq in 2007AD, to receive the submission of the insurgents, and confirm them in their allegiance to a democratic Iraq. He later commands a military force in Baghdad, where he successfully repelled the invasion of the city by the insurgents. Or maybe not.
Petraeus is also a surname of Poseidon among the Thessalians, because he was believed to have separated the rocks, between which the river Peneius flows into the sea. But David Petraeus is apropos to a third figure in Greek mythology/history - a friend of Philip V., king of Macedonia, who was sent to Sparta in 220BC, to receive the submission of the Lacedaemonians, and confirm them in their allegiance to Macedonia. He later commands a military force in Thessaly, where he successfully repelled the invasion of Thessaly by the Aetolian general Dorimachus.
Or...a friend of Bush, President of the United States, who was sent to Iraq in 2007AD, to receive the submission of the insurgents, and confirm them in their allegiance to a democratic Iraq. He later commands a military force in Baghdad, where he successfully repelled the invasion of the city by the insurgents. Or maybe not.
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