Alexander the Great, on his arrival at Gordium in Phrygia, found in the acropolis there an ox-cart of which the pole was fastened to the yoke by a knot of cornel-bark.

According to legend, in ancient times a Phrygian peasant called Gordius, his wife, and son Midas chanced to arrive in this cart at an assembly of the Phrygians, who had just been told by an oracle that a cart would bring them a king to put an end to the civil disturbances. The Phrygians at once made Gordius king, and he dedicated to Zeus in the acropolis at the town subsequently named Gordium his cart and the yoke to which the oxen had been fastened.
 A further oracle declared that whoever could untie the knot, which had defeated all attempts to undo it, should reign over Asia.

Alexander cut the knot with his sword and applied the oracle to himself. ‘To cut the Gordian knot’ thus signifies drastic action to solve a difficulty.