To Cut The Gardian Knot - Greek story

Today to say someone cut the Gordian Knot means that the person made a quick, decisive move or took drastic action.

The origin of this story begins with:

An oracle had told a troubled town in Phrygia, was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia in what is now modern-day Turkey, that their civil unrest would end when their new king arrived riding on an oxcart. When Gordius, his wife, and his son, Midas, arrived on such a cart, the people of the city proclaimed Gordius king. In gratitutde, Gordius dedicated his cart to Zeus, perhaps, and tied it with a knot that is called Gordian. Another oracle foretold that the one who undid the Gordian Knot would rule Asia. When Alexander the Great came to the city in Phrygia named Gordium in honor of this ancient king, he determined to undo the knot. However, instead of trying to pry one end, Alexander used a quick, decisive move. Normally, it is said that Alexander sliced the knot with a sword, but an equally probable method attributed to Alexander, is removing the pin around which the knot was bound.

From Alexander Slashing the Gordian Knot. 1692-1700, by Augsburg Marx Weinold, silver repoussé. At Warsaw National Museum