HISTORY:HAND OF 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 (hand wise) into
gold. This came to be called the
Golden touch, or the
Midas touch.
[1] The Phrygian city
Midaeum was presumably named after this Midas, and this is probably also the Midas that according to
Pausanias founded
Ancyra.
[2] According to
Aristotle, legend held that Midas died of starvation as a result of his "vain prayer" for the gold touch.
[3] 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 BC, 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 BC, 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.
[4]
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.
[5]
Legends
There are many, and often contradictory, legends about the most 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.
[6] Some accounts place the youth of Midas in
Macedonian Bermion (See
Bryges)
[7] In
Thracian Mygdonia,
[8] 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".
[9] Since Herodotus says elsewhere that Phrygians anciently lived in Europe where they were known as
Bryges,
[10] 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.
[11] 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.
[12]
Since the historical Midas of the 8th century BC 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.
[13]
Myths
Once, as
Ovid relates in
Metamorphoses XI
[14] Dionysus found his old schoolmaster and foster father, the
satyr Silenus, missing.
[15]
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.
[16]
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".
[17]
Midas, now hating wealth and splendor, moved to the country and became a worshipper of
Pan, the god of the fields and satyr.
[18] Roman mythographers
[19] 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 (also see
Marsyas).
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.
[20] 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' ears".
[21]
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.
[22]
Historicity
The King Midas who ruled Phrygia in the late 8th century BC 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
Strabo[23] say that Midas committed suicide by drinking bulls' blood during an attack by the Cimmerians, which
Eusebius dated to around 695 BC and
Julius Africanus to around 676 BC. Archeology has confirmed that
Gordium was destroyed and burned around that time.
[24]
source :WIKIPEDIA
