“Cutting the Gordian Knot” is an expression describing the solution of a problem by quick, decisive action.
In ancient Greek mythology, the Gordian knot was devised by Gordius, king of Phrygia, and the ruins of whose capital lie near Ankara in Turkey. He had bound his chariot yoke so tightly and with such intricacy that it was impossible to loosen. An oracle foretold that he who could unite the knot would go on to conquer Asia.
When the Greek king Alexander the great (356-323 B.C.), one of the supreme soldiers and states-men of history, invaded Asia Minor in 334 B.C , with the object of defeating the Persians, he came to the ancient capital of Gordium. According to the story, king Gordius’s chariot still stood with the knot unbroken.
Alexander is said to have resolved the problem in characteristic fashion by drawing his sword and cutting through the Knot at a stroke! The conqueror went on to bring the empire of the Persians, 50 times larger than Greece, under his dominion.