This article is about literary use of the phrase. For 1917 painting by Paul Klee, see Ab ovo (painting). For biological alternative to spontaneous generation, see Omne vivum ex ovo.
Leda and the Swan, a painting depicting Helen's unconventional birth, by Cesare da Sesto (c. 1506–1510, Wilton) after a lost painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Helen and Clytemnestra are shown emerging from one egg; Castor and Pollux from another.
Ab ovo is Latin for "from the beginning, the origin, the egg". The term is a reference to one of the twin eggs from which Helen of Troy was born. The eggs were laid by Leda after Zeus, disguised as a swan, either seduced and mated with or raped her, according to different versions. Had Leda not laid the egg, Helen would not have been born, so Paris could not have eloped with her, so there would have been no Trojan War.[1]
^Helen of Troy: From Homer to Hollywood. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.
Abovo is Latin for "from the beginning, the origin, the egg". The term is a reference to one of the twin eggs from which Helen of Troy was born. The eggs...
practice ovo vegetarianism are called ovo-vegetarians. "Ovo" comes from the Latin word for egg. Ovo vegetarianism was know to be first used in 1952. Ovo comes...
lit. "into the middle of things") opens in the midst of the plot (cf. abovo, ab initio). Often, exposition is bypassed and filled in gradually, through...
flight training. In literature, a story told ab initio is told from the beginning; Horace called this method abovo ('from the egg'). This is as opposed to...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
guests was so common for wealthy Romans, they even had a saying for it, "abovo usque ad mala", meaning "from eggs to apples", or from the beginning of...
Nargaroth is often seen as a black metal band. While interviewed by "Magacinum abovo", Wagner said he sees Nazism as a mental restriction and that he had no...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
Straight man Supporting character Title character Tritagonist Villain Plot Abovo Action Backstory Origin story Chekhov's gun Cliché Cliffhanger Conflict...
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