| More wealth than judgement. |
This proverbially rich King ofPhrygia, who is said to have discovered black and white lead, was the first to place offerings atDelphi, and it is said that he offered the royal seat on which he sat to give judgement. The seat was so marvellous that had he offered his judgement instead, he had lost nothing. |
| His country. |
Midas is also called King of Mygdonia. The Mygdonians were originally a people from Thrace who emigrated to Phrygia, a country with uncertain boundaries, and Mygdonia is also called Lydia, which is a region in western Asia Minor between Caria and Mysia. Midas is the founder of Ancyra, now called Ankara. |
| The Golden Touch. |
When Dionysus 2 was leading his army into India, his adviser and instructor Silenus wandered away and came to King Midas who entertained him generously, and gave him a guide to help him find Dionysus 2. Because of this favor,Dionysus 2 gave Midas the privilege of asking him for whatever he wanted. Midas then asked that whatever he touched should become gold. However when he had been granted this bizarre wish, and came to his palace, he discovered that whatever he touched became gold. In this way he was prevented from eating and now he was being tortured with hunger. So he begged the god to take away the superb gift andDionysus 2 told him to bathe in the Pactolus, a river tributary of the Hermus in Maeonia, and when Midas' body touched the river became golden. However what took place between Midas andSilenus is uncertain, as there are those who say that Midas captured him by mixing wine in a spring called the Spring of Midas. |
| Midas as judge (I). |
Midas acted as judge at the time of the musical contest between Apollo, playing the lyre, andMarsyas, playing the flute. Some say that Tmolus, father of Omphale, the mistress of Heracles 1, gave the victory toApollo. However Midas was of the opinion that it should rather have been given to Marsyas. SoApollo told Midas: "You will have ears to match the mind you have in judging"[Apollo to Midas. Hyginus, Fabulae 191] and so soon as the god said that he caused the king of Phrygia to have the ears of an ass. |
| Midas as judge (II). |
Some say, however, that this contest was betweenApollo's lyre andPan's reeds, and that it was the mountain god Tmolus who decided in favour ofApollo. It is said that Tmolus, after whom the mountain in Maeonia, Asia Minor, north of the river Cayster, is called, was married to Omphale, the mistress ofHeracles 1. All approved Tmolus' judgement, but Midas called it unjust, and then Apollo punished him in that he would wear the ears of an ass. From then Midas was quite concerned in concealing his new condition, and that is why he started to wear a purple turban. However the slave who trimmed his hair discovered his master's new anatomy, and since he was eager to tell it out, but all the same he did not dare to reveal such an embarrassing secret, he dug a hole in the ground and into it he whispered about his master's ears. Then he filled up the hole again, covering the evidence of his voice. But whispering reeds grew up in the spot, and when they came to their full size they betrayed to the wind the condition of Midas' ears. |
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| Behind Tmolus, who applaudsApollo, is King Midas. To the right isPan holding his flute. |
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| Death |
Midas is said to have died after he drank the blood of a bull, at the time of a Cimmerian invasion of Phrygia. |