Leave no stone unturned

Leave no stone unturned is one of the many adages that the medieval scholar Erasmus translated from Greek and Roman sources. It means, of course, to make every possible effort, and has become something of a cliché. In a Greek legend recounted by Euripides, one of Xerxes’ generals, Mardonius, was said to have buried some treasure near his tent. After Mardonius’s defeat at the battle of Plataea in 477 BC, Polycrates of Thebes searched everywhere for the treasure but could not find it. He turned to the Oracle of Delphi, which advised him to move every stone, which Erasmus translated into Latin as ' leave no stone unturned'. Erasmus’ work was translated into English during the 1500s, and this expression dates from that time.