English: Giovanni Paolo Panini’s 18th century oil painting, Alexander the Great Cutting the Gordian Knot, is an iconic depiction of the ancient myth. The Gordian Knot, a large and complicated puzzle, was initially tied by the King of Phrygia in the city of Gordium. It was prophesized that the one who could disentangle the knot would be the future king of Asia. As Alexander the Great studied and pondered the puzzle of the knot in 333 BCE, he drew his sword and cut the rope, severing and removing the knot. Subsequently, he conquered Asia, founding more than 70 cities before his death in Babylon, 323 BCE. Alexander the Great’s unorthodox solution to the knot’s riddle gave rise to the saying “cutting the Gordian knot,” which became ubiquitous with the concept of “outside the box” thinking.