Midas - Legends About The Ancient King Midas

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. Some accounts place the youth of Midas in Macedonian Bermion (See Bryges) In Thracian Mygdonia, 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". Since Herodotus says elsewhere that Phrygians anciently lived in Europe where they were known as Bryges, 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. 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. 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.