Midas

Midas is the name of at least three members of the royal house of Phrygia.
The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold. This came to be called the Golden touch, or the Midas touch.In alchemy, the transmutation of an object into gold is known as chrysopoeia. The Phrygian city Midaeum was presumably named after this Midas, and this is probably also the Midas that according to Pausanias founded Ancyra,Pausanias 1.4.5. modern Ankara, Turkey. According to Aristotle, legend held that Midas died of hunger as a result of his "vain prayer" for the gold touch.Aristotle, Politics, 1.1257b. The legends told about this Midas and his father Gordias, credited with founding the Phrygian capital city Gordium and tying the Gordian Knot, indicate that they were believed to have lived sometime in the 2nd millennium BCE well before the Trojan War. However, Homer does not mention Midas or Gordias, while instead mentioning two other famed Phrygian kings, Mygdon and Otreus.
Another King Midas ruled Phrygia in the late 8th century BCE, up until the sacking of Gordium by the Cimmerians, when he is said to have committed suicide. Most historians believe this Midas is the same person as the Mita, called king of the Mushki in Assyrian texts, who warred with Assyria and its Anatolian provinces during the same period.See for example Encyclopedia Britannica; also: "Virtually the only figure in Phrygian history who can be recognized as a distinct individual", begins Lynn E. Roller, "The Legend of Midas", Classical Antiquity, 22 (October 1983):299-313.
A third Midas is said by Herodotus to have been a member of the royal house of Phrygia and the grandfather of an Adrastus who fled Phrygia after accidentally killing his brother and took asylum in Lydia during the reign of Croesus. Phrygia was by that time a Lydian subject. Herodotus says that Croesus regarded the Phrygian royal house as "friends" but does not mention whether the Phrygian royal house still ruled as (vassal) kings of Phrygia.Herodotus I.35.
==Legends about the ancient King Midas==
There are many, and often contradictory, legends about the more ancient King Midas. In one, Midas was king of Pessinus, a city of Phrygia, who as a child was adopted by the king Gordias and Cybele, the goddess whose consort he was, and who (by some accounts) was the goddess-mother of Midas himself."King Midas, a Phrygian, son of Cybele" (Hyginus, Fabulae 274). Some accounts place the youth of Midas in Macedonian Bermion."Bromium" in Graves 1960:83.a; Greek traditions of the migration from Macedon to Anatolia are examined— as purely literary constructions— in Peter Carrington, "The Heroic Age of Phrygia in Ancient Literature and Art" Anatolian Studies 27 (1977:117-126). In Thracian Mygdonia,Mygdonia became part of Macedon in historical times. A wild rose garden at the foot of Mount Bermion was called by Herodotus "the garden of Midas son of Gordias, where roses grow of themselves, each bearing sixty blossoms and of surpassing fragrance".Herodotus, Histories 8.138.1 Since Herodotus says elsewhere that Phrygians anciently lived in Europe where they were known as Bryges,Herodotus 7.73 the existence of the garden implies that Herodotus believed Midas lived prior to a Phrygian migration to Anatolia.
According to some accounts, Midas had a son, Lityerses, the demonic reaper of men, but in some variations of the myth he instead had a daughter, Zoë or "life".
Arrian gives an alternative story of the descent and life of Midas. According to him, Midas was the son of Gordios, a poor peasant, and a Telmissian maiden of the prophetic race. When Midas grew up to be a handsome and valiant man, the Phrygians were harassed by civil discord, and consulting the oracle, they were told that a wagon would bring them a king, who would put an end to their discord. While they were still deliberating, Midas arrived with his father and mother, and stopped near the assembly, wagon and all. They, comparing the oracular response with this occurrence, decided that this was the person whom the god told them the wagon would bring. They therefore appointed Midas king and he, putting an end to their discord, dedicated his father's wagon in the citadel as a thank-offering to Zeus the king. In addition to this the following saying was current concerning the wagon, that whosoever could loosen the cord of the yoke of this wagon, was destined to gain the rule of Asia. This someone was to be Alexander the Great.Arrian, Alexandri Anabasis, B.3.4-6 In other versions of the legend, it was Midas' father Gordias who arrived humbly in the cart and made the Gordian Knot.
Herodotus says that a "Midas son of Gordias" made an offering to the Oracle of Delphi of a royal throne "from which he made judgments" that "was well worth seeing", and that this Midas was the only foreigner to make an offering to Delphi before Gyges of Lydia.Herodotus I.14. Since the historical Midas of the 8th century BCE and Gyges are believed to have been contemporaries, it seems most likely that Herodotus believed the throne was donated by the earlier, legendary King Midas. However, some historians believe this throne was donated by the later, historical King Midas.See for example Encyclopedia Britannica, notes to Penguin edition of Herodotus.
==Myths about King Midas==
Once, as Ovid relates in Metamorphoses XIOn-line text at Theoi.com Dionysus found his old schoolmaster and foster father, the satyr Silenus, missing.This myth appears in a fragment of Aristotle, Eudemus, (fr.6); Pausanias was aware that Midas mixed water with wine to capture Silenus (Description of Greece 1.4.1); a muddled version is recounted in Flavius Philostratus' Life of Apollonius of Tyana, vi.27: "Midas himself had some of the blood of satyrs in his veins, as was clear from the shape of his ears; and a satyr once, trespassing on his kinship with Midas, made merry at the expense of his ears, not only singing about them, but piping about them. Well, Midas, I understand, had heard from his mother that when a satyr is overcome by wine he falls asleep, and at such times comes to his senses and will make friends with you; so he mixed wine which he had in his palace in a fountain and let the satyr get at it, and the latter drank it up and was overcome".
The old satyr Silenus had been drinking wine and had wandered away drunk, later to be found by some Phrygian peasants, who carried him to their king, Midas (alternatively, he passed out in Midas' rose garden). Midas recognized him and treated him hospitably, entertaining him for ten days and nights with politeness, while Silenus delighted Midas and his friends with stories and songs.Aelian, Varia Historia iii.18 relates some of Silenus' accounts (Graves 1960:83.b.3).
On the eleventh day, he brought Silenus back to Dionysus in Lydia. Dionysus offered Midas his choice of whatever reward he wished for. Midas asked that whatever he might touch should be changed into gold.
Midas rejoiced in his new power, which he hastened to put to the test. He touched an oak twig and a stone; both turned to gold. Overjoyed, as soon as he got home, he ordered the servants to set a feast on the table. "So Midas, king of Lydia, swelled at first with pride when he found he could transform everything he touched to gold; but when he beheld his food grow rigid and his drink harden into golden ice then he understood that this gift was a bane and in his loathing for gold, cursed his prayer" (Claudian, In Rufinem). In a version told by Nathaniel Hawthorne in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys (1852), Midas found that when he touched his daughter, she turned to gold as well.
Now, Midas hated the gift he had coveted. He prayed to Dionysus, begging to be delivered from starvation. Dionysus heard his prayer, and consented; telling Midas to wash in the river Pactolus. Then, what ever he put into the water would be reversed of the touch.
Midas did so, and when he touched the waters, the power flowed into the river, and the river sands turned into gold. This explained why the river Pactolus was so rich in gold, and the wealth of the dynasty claiming Midas as its forefather no doubt the impetus for this aetiological myth. Gold was perhaps not the only metallic source of Midas' riches: "King Midas, a Phrygian, son of Cybele, first discovered black and white lead".Hyginus, Fabulae274
Midas, now hating wealth and splendor, moved to the country and became a worshipper of Pan, the god of the fields and satyr.This myth puts Midas in another setting. "Midas himself had some of the blood of satyrs in his veins, as was clear from the shape of his ears" was the assertion of Flavius Philostratus, in his Life of Apollonius of Tyana (vi.27), not always a dependable repository of myth. (on-line) Roman mythographersCicero On Divinationi.36; Valerius Maximus, i.6.3; Ovid, Metamorphoses, xi.92f. asserted that his tutor in music was Orpheus.
Once, Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and challenged Apollo, the god of the lyre, to a trial of skill. Tmolus, the mountain-god, was chosen as umpire. Pan blew on his pipes and, with his rustic melody, gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower, Midas, who happened to be present.
Then, Apollo struck the strings of his lyre. Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and all but one agreed with the judgment. Midas dissented, and questioned the justice of the award.
Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and said,"Must have ears of an ass!"and caused them to become the ears of a donkey.Hyginus, Fabulae 191. The myth is illustrated by two paintings, "Apollo and Marsyas" by Palma il Giovane (1544–1628), one depicting the scene before, and one after, the punishment.
Midas was mortified at this mishap. He attempted to hide his misfortune under an ample turban or headdress, but his barber of course knew the secret, so was told not to mention it. However, the barber could not keep the secret; he went out into the meadow, dug a hole in the ground, whispered the story into it, then covered the hole up. A thick bed of reeds later sprang up in the meadow, and began whispering the story, saying "King Midas has an ass's ears".The whispering sound of reeds is an ancient literary trope: the Sumerian Instructions of Shurppak (3rd millennium BCE) warn "The reed-beds are ..., they can hide (?) slander". (Instructions of Shuruppak, lines 92-93).
Sarah Morris demonstrated (Morris 2004) that donkeys' ears were a Bronze Age royal attribute, borne by King Tarkasnawa (Greek Tarkondemos) of Mira, on a seal inscribed in both Hittite cuneiform and Luwian hieroglyphs: in this connection, the myth would appear for Greeks, to justify the exotic attribute.
In pre-Islamic legend of Central Asia, the king of the Ossounes of the Yenisei basin had donkey's ears. He would hide them, and order each of his barbers killed to hide his secret. The last barber among his people was counselled to whisper the heavy secret into a well after sundown, but he didn't cover the well afterwards. The well water rose and flooded the kingdom, creating the waters of Lake Issyk-Kul.The legend is related in Ella Maillart, Dervla Murphy, Turkestan solo: a journey through Central Asia (1938) 2005:48f; a wholly separate origin uncontaminated by the legend of Midas is not likely.
==Possible connection to Biblical Madai==
The Biblical Madai, son of Japheth, might have originally been a reference to Midas and the Phrygians. In the Book of Jubilees, when the world was divided among Noah's sons and grandsons, Madai initially received the region east of "Lud" (Lydia) and north of Tubal (Tabal, corresponding to Lycia and western Pamphylia). However, Madai then decided he did not like the area and asked the sons of Shem to let him resettle in Medea, which was in their region. This tale might have been intended only to explain why Madai was the only son of Japheth whose descendants, the Medes, did not live in Anatolia, the islands near it, or the South Caucasus. Or, the tale of Madai's original inheritance in Phrygia might preserve an older tradition of identifying Madai with Midas and the Phrygians.
==Historical King Midas==
The King Midas who ruled Phrygia in the late 8th century BCE is known from Greek and Assyrian sources. According to the former, he married a Greek princess, Damodice daughter of Agamemnon of Cyme, Aeolia, and traded extensively with the Greeks. Some historians believe this Midas donated the throne that Herodotus says was offered to the Oracle of Delphi by "Midas son of Gordias" (see above). Assyrian tablets from the reign of Sargon II record attacks by a "Mita", king of the Mushki, against Assyria's eastern Anatolian provinces. Some historians believe Assyrian texts called this Midas king of the "Mushki" because he had subjected the eastern Anatolian people of that name and incorporated them into his army. Greek sources including StraboStrabo I.3.21. say that Midas committed suicide by drinking bulls' blood during an attack by the Cimmerians, which Eusebius dated to around 695 BCE and Julius Africanus to around 676 BCE. Archeology has confirmed that Gordium was destroyed and burned around that time.Encyclopedia Britannica.
==Tumulus popularly ascribed to Midas==
In 1957, Rodney Young and a team from the University of Pennsylvania opened a chamber tomb at the heart of the Great Tumulus (in Greek, Μεγάλη Τούμπα)—53 metres in height, about 300 metres in diameter—on the site of ancient Gordion (modern Yassihöyük, Turkey), where there are more than a hundred tumuli of different sizes and from different periods.Rodney Young, Three Great Early Tumuli: The Gordion Excavations Final Reports, Volume 1, (1981):79-102. They discovered a royal burial, its timbers recently dated as cut to about 740 BCE complete with remains of the funeral feast and "the best collection of Iron Age drinking vessels ever uncovered". This inner chamber was rather large; 5.15 metres by 6.2 metres in breadth and 3.25 metres high. On the remains of a wooden coffin in the northwest corner of the tomb lay a skeleton of a man 1.59 metres in height and about 60 years old. In the tomb were found an ornate inlaid table, two inlaid serving stands, and eight other tables, as well as bronze and pottery vessels and bronze fibulae.Young (1981):102-190. Although no identifying texts were originally associated with the site, it was called Tumulus MM (for "Midas Mound") by the excavator. As this funerary monument was erected before the traditional date given for the death of King Midas in the early 7th century BCE, it is now generally thought to have covered the burial of his father.
The identification of the tumulus as a "tomb" has been challenged; another interpretation is that it was a religious site dedicated to Cybele.
==Notes==
==References==
*Graves, Robert, 1960. The Greek Myths, rev. ed., 83.a-g.
*Sarah Morris, "Midas as Mule: Anatolia in Greek Myth and Phrygian Kingship" (abstract), American Philological Society Annual Meeting, 2004.
*(University of Pennsylvania) "The Funerary feast of King Midas" "Tomb of Midas" report
*Calos Parada, "Midas" Separating historical Midas from mythical Midas.
*Herodotus on Midas
*Theoi.com Classical references to Midas, in English translations.
*"Reconstruction of King Midas" Reconstruction of "King Midas" by Richard Neave
Category:Greek Mythology