Greeka team and its community members will be delighted to help you! When Midas woke the next day he reached out to touch his bedside table and it turned to gold. Midas jumped with happiness! This is only evident if you follow the inspired outlines suggested by H. A. Rey and discussed in this previous post (among other posts and also my published books as well). Phrygian culture developed out of the Late Bronze Age collapse that took place around the year 1200 BC, as one of the first cultures to bring civilization back to Anatolia (modern Turkey) after the Hittite Empire was destroyed. Significantly, the above figure from an ancient temple is thought to represent Paris -- the very character responsible for the disastrous judgment that led to the Trojan War! Below is an image of a classic Phrygian cap, for those not familiar with them. The moral in this story is that you should not be greedy and appreciate what you already have, no matter how large or small. A GOLDEN WISH. Dionyssus could do nothing else and promised the king that from that following day everything he touched would turn into gold. In the story of the disastrous request for the gift of the golden touch, several ancient sources tell us that Midas was at first overjoyed at the granting of his request, but soon realized to his horror that he could neither eat nor drink anything without it also turning to gold (a situation which would soon end in his own death as well). For a variety of reasons, I believe it is almost certain that this story of King Midas is founded upon the constellation Perseus, who is presently rising above the eastern horizon in the hours after midnight. When Midas hugged her, she turned into a golden statue! Midas was the King of Phrygia. He first turned some twigs into gold, then stones and corn and apples. We use cookies to offer you a better browsing experience and to analyze site traffic. Here is a star chart with the constellation Perseus outlined in yellow, presented first unlabeled and then below it labeled: Can you see the brilliant arc of the Milky Way band? What is the climax of the story? And, if all of the above discussion does not thoroughly establish that Midas in these myths is associated with Perseus the constellation, there is also the fact that Perseus is almost directly above the constellation Taurus in the sky -- and that the long horns of the constellation Taurus could sometimes in ancient myth be envisioned as the long ears of an ass instead of the long ears of a bull. Unfortunately, his wish was not a blessing, but a curse. The story of King Midas can be shown to relate to very specific constellations in our night sky (and constellations which are in fact visible at this very time of year, during the end of the month of October). The fact that Paris in that beauty contest selects the winner by giving her an apple is extremely interesting -- especially because the mystery initiate Apuleius says that the disastrous choice of Paris brought "damnation upon mankind." I believe that the very same constellations that form the basis for the disastrous golden touch episode also play the main parts in the episode of the Judgment of Midas between the music of the god Apollo and either the satyr Marsyas or the god Pan. In real life, if you go outside into the night sky, you will see this arc going over your head, beginning at the western horizon (on the right side of the image above) and crossing the center of the sky towards the east where you will see Perseus (on the left side of the image above). One day, Dionyssus, the god of wine and revelry, passed through the kingdom of Midas. Full of remorse Midas approached Dionysus and asked that the wish be cancelled. The King asked for the power to turn everything he touched into gold. This connection adds still more weight to the mountain of evidence we have already discovered linking Midas to Perseus, and linking the Midas episodes described above to the region of the sky surrounding Perseus. The king, furious at this treatment, at once frees the satyr and personally delivers him to Dionysus. King Midas is greedy Greek man who took a single wish … Congratulations, communicators: Your wish is granted. The stories of Midas, part of the Dionysiac cycle of legends, were first elaborated in the burlesques of the Athenian satyr plays. Dionysus gave him the gift. Note that the constellation of Perseus, as outlined in the star-charts above and as labeled in the chart below, does indeed feature a tall, peaked cap! Not only is the condition of Lucius when transformed into an ass reminiscent of the fate of Midas who is given long ass-ears for his lack of judgment, but the restoration of Lucius comes not long after a climactic episode in which Lucius witnesses a re-enactment in a Roman arena of the mythical episode of the Judgment of Paris itself! Thereupon, all the things which had been turned to gold by Midas after his terrible choice were restored to their original condition -- and the river Pactolus from then on had golden sands which often yielded up gold flakes or gold nuggets. Below is another example, from the late 1800s: Note in the above image that the pan-pipes are held aloft, in a manner very reminiscent of the way the constellation Andromeda holds up the part of the constellation that I believe can be identified as the pan-pipes in the constellation (when playing the role of the satyr Marsyas or the god Pan). Midas unwisely asks for unlimited riches -- specifically, the power to turn everything he touches into pure gold. That part of the constellation reaches out towards and almost touches the constellation Andromeda, representing a beautiful maiden in many myths: Can you see how the story of Midas touching his daughter can be clearly seen in the above constellations? Why Did King Midas Want the Golden Touch? The ancient myths provide us with powerful teaching to help us to overcome the "Midas condition" and elevate our spiritual awareness, and to put us in touch with the true divine source which we should acknowledge and recognize and revere and uplift. He then touched a chair, the carpet, the door, his bathtub, a table and so he kept on running in his madness all over his palace until he got exhausted and happy at the same time! He was known for being a hedonist. With his wish granted, Midas went away and started trying his new powers. Midas is given a wish by the god Dionysus, and can ask for anything he chooses -- and Midas chooses unwisely. As we know, Paris selected Aphrodite and in doing so launched the Trojan War, because the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, was already married to a king of the Achaeans, and all the other Achaean kings and heroes had previously promised to defend whichever among them would be so fortunate as to have won the right to marry Helen. Midas thinks only of short-term gain: as a mortal he does not have the ability to look ahead and see the inevitable consequences of his wish. He maintained a beautiful rose garden. His avarice was such that he used to spend his days counting his golden coins! Midas was already a symbol of wealth in a fragment of Tyrtaios7. Thus, it can be envisioned as the "upper reaches" of the galactic river -- allegorized in the myth as the upper source of the river Pactolus. Greeka? As a child, King Midas was adopted by Gordias and Cybele. He would often make rash and stupid decisions. Note also that Apollo in this painting exhibits the characteristic of "walking away while looking back" -- a very distinctive feature of the constellation Sagittarius found in countless ancient myths from around the world. On the 11th day, King Midas returned Silenus to Dionysus, who was so grateful he granted King Midas one wish. King Mida’s Ability To Turn Everything Into Gold. Apollo wins the contest but Midas, who has overheard the contest, claims that Pan is much the better musician. This proverbially rich king of Phrygia, who is said to have discovered black and white lead, was the first to place offerings at Delphi, and it is told that he offered the royal seat on which he sat to give judgement.The seat was marvellous, but had he offered his judgement instead, he would have lost nothing. Midas, himself the son of a peasant adopted by the king apparently had some insecurity issues around wealth, because he … This celestial detail should pretty much cement the identification of Midas King of Phrygia with the constellation Perseus in these mythical episodes. Without even thinking, he ate a grape but it also turned into gold! The Kingdom of Phrygia was located northeast of Lydia, west of the Halys River, and north of Cappadocia, with its capital city of Gordium located along the banks of the Sangarius River. Do you like Midas was king of Pessinus, a city of Phrygia. That story was originally called the Metamorphoses (not to be confused with the more famous work of the same title by Ovid), but the Metamorphoses of Apuleius is more commonly known as The Golden Tale of the Ass, or simply The Golden Ass. Midas, a legendary king of Phrygia, was famous for having the “golden” touch. However, he had not thought that this wish was not actually a blessing, but a curse. How does the storyteller draw us into the story? Instead, Solomon asks for wisdom in order to help others: this request is in fact a proper request to make of the divine and the infinite. He told Midas to go to river Pactolus and wash his hands. Google has many special features to help you find exactly what you're looking for. He wanted to be the richest man in the world. This Midas did and the ‘gift’ was washed away. October 22, 2016 Money was his obsession. He told King Midas that he would grant him a wish. This particular aspect of the story does not seem to be present in many of the most ancient accounts, but it is perhaps the most well-known part of the King Midas story today. Look at some of the classical paintings from later centuries shown below, where we can see that the posture and attitude of Midas is very reminiscent of the constellation Perseus with its outstretched arm (sometimes envisioned as a sword or a wand): In the above image, Midas can be easily identified by his pointed ass-ears. The tales are familiar to modern readers through the late classical versions, In fact, in both of the above episodes involving King Midas and his terrible judgment, we can see very clear echoes to two other well known "judgment myths" or sacred stories involving very much the same theme: the famous "Judgment of Paris," which ultimately leads to the Trojan War, and the equally-famous "Judgment of Solomon," in which -- unlike both Midas and Paris -- King Solomon displays right judgment when presented with a very similar choice.In the Judgment of Solomon episode, the most famous aspect of the story involves two mothers and two babies, one of them alive and one of them dead, and Solomon's wisdom in solving the dilemma with which he is faced, in which each of the mothers claim that the living child belongs to her. Do you have a question about Greece and the Greek islands? After his strange experience with the Golden Touch, King Midas did not care for the things in his treasure chests any more, but left them to the dust and the spiders, and went out into the fields, and followed Pan. In almost every ancient version of the story, the detail is included that the king usually tried to hide his deformity beneath a tall cap -- known specifically as a "Phrygian cap" (King Midas, after all, was the King of Phrygia). When it came to the kings attention, Midas released him and treated him with enormous hospitality for many days. He loved fine silk, precious stones and of course gold with a passion. Where to eat? Even though he was very rich, Midas thought that his greatest happiness was provided by gold. In almost every ancient version of the myth, Midas prays to heaven (in some versions to Dionysus, who had originally granted Midas one request, and in other versions to Apollo) to have the curse of the golden touch taken away from him, and is told to go immerse himself at the source of the river Pactolus (which is found at the aforementioned Mount Timolus). He had everything a king could wish for. The god left after telling Midas that when he awoke the next morning his wish would be fulfilled. His people led a prosperous life and when he died, they all mourned for their beloved king. Thus, it would appear that the theme of "judging or discerning rightly or wrongly" is very much central to the tale of Lucius in The Golden Ass -- and that Apuleius himself understood the important thematic connection between the Judgment of Midas (in which King Midas ends up receiving donkey-ears, just as Lucius in the story is turned into a donkey) and the Judgment of Paris (the very episode Lucius sees enacted just before his own restoration, and an episode in which Paris brought "damnation upon mankind" by his desire to possess another man's wife, in the words of Apuleius -- an interesting way of viewing the story of the Judgment of Paris). In some versions of the story, Midas is to immerse his head three times in the river at its source. There, Perseus can be clearly seen to be immersing himself in the river -- or even dunking his head in it! Midas is remembered as a notorious lover of gold. The greedy king lived in the city pf Pessinus in Phrygia in the Asia Minor region. There was little in common between elected and not heriditary Roman rex responsive to the senate and a Egyptian pharaon yet we call the both "kings". Midas wished that everything he touched be turned to gold. The story of King Midas is a myth about the tragedy of avarice and narrates what happens when true happiness is not recognized. We can be very thankful that the god allowed Midas to change his mind and restore all that he had previously turned to gold, by immersing himself in the river! Suddenly, he started to sense fear. As everyone knows, however, he soon came to regret that awful request. I will have to absorb the fragrance without touching the roses, I suppose, he thought in disappointment. We can all probably think of another ancient episode involving an apple (or other unspecified fruit) which was said to have brought damnation upon mankind as well. Midas his choice of anything he chooses -- and Midas chooses unwisely Midas his... 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