King Midas : between the Balkans and Asia Minor (original) (raw)

Dialogues d'Histoire Ancienne 23/2, 1997, 9-20

KING MIDAS BETWEEN THE BALKANS AND ASIA MINOR

Maya VASSILEVA Sofia

The Phrygian king Midas is one of the famous "Barbarians" in Greek literature. Varied pieces of evidence make him either a very wise man, "the ideal Barbarian", or an embodiment of stupidity and greed. Some texts associate him with Macedonia as well. Recent progress in Phrygian studies1 gives a better opportunity to compare the indigenous epigraphic data, which also attested the name of Midas, with Greek texts.

Apart from the encyclopaedic articles, a complete study of Greek written sources about king Midas could hardly be found2. Single passages usually illustrate a historical reconstruction or archaeological data.

Midas' "golden touch" became proverbial as an imprudent wish, satisfied by the gods. This fabulous image was finally shaped by Ovid3. One of the greatest poets of the time of Augustus turned

Especially Q. BRIXHE, M. LEJEUNE, Corpus des inscriptions paléo-phrygiennes, Paris, T.l-2, 1984. S. EITREM, Midas, in PAULY and WISSOWA (eds.), Realencyclopadie der klassichen Altertumswissenschaft, 15, 1526-1540 ; E. KUHNERT, Midas, in W. ROSCHER, Ausfuhr- liches Lexikon der griechischert und romischen Mythologie, 2, 2956-2963 ; L.E. ROLLER, The legend of Midas, Classical Antiquity, 2, 1983, p. 299-313 ; T.A. MOISSEEVA, Midas as a symbol of wealth in ancient tradition, Journal of Ancient History, 1984, 4, p.12-30 (in Russian). Ovid. Metam. 11, 85-145.