Tilting the head backwards can stop a sneeze. Proven methods to reduce sneezing generally advocate reducing interaction with irritants, such as keeping pets out of the house to avoid animal dander; ensuring the timely and continuous removal of dirt and dust particles through proper housekeeping; replacing filters for furnaces and air-handling units; air filtration devices and humidifiers; and staying away from industrial and agricultural zones. Some people, however, find sneezes to be pleasurable and would not want to prevent them. In Ancient Greece, sneezes were believed to be prophetic signs from the gods. In 401 BC, for instance, the Athenian general Xenophon gave a speech exhorting his fellow soldiers to fight against the Persians. A soldier underscored his conclusion with a sneeze. Thinking that this sneeze was a favorable sign from the gods, the soldiers were impressed. Another divine moment of sneezing for the Greeks occurs in the story of Odysseus. His waiting wife Penelope, hearing Odysseus may be alive, says that he and his son would take revenge on the suitors if he were to return. At that moment, their son sneezes loudly and Penelope laughs with joy, reassured that it is a sign from the gods (Odyssey 17: 541-550). It may be because this belief survived through the centuries, that in certain parts of Greece today, when someone is asserting something and the listener sneezes promptly at the end of the assertion, the former responds "bless you and I am speaking the truth", or "bless you and here is the truth", "", "ya sou ki alithia leo", or "", "ya sou ke na ki i alithia"). A similar practice is also followed in India. If either the person just having made a not most obvious statement in Flemish, or some listener sneezes, often one of the listeneners will say "  't is beniesd", literally "It's sneezed upon", as if a proof of truth – usually self-ironically recalling this old superstitious habit, without either suggesting doubt or intending an actual confirmation, but making any apology by the sneezer for the interruption superfluous as the remark is received by smiles. In Europe, principally around the early Middle Ages, it was believed that one's life was in fact tied to one's breath – a belief reflected in the word "expire" (originally meaning "to exhale") gaining the additional meaning of "to come to an end" or "to die".