Midas

King of Phrygia (r. c. 730-c. 709 b. c.e.)

Born: 738 b. c.e.; Anatolia Died: 696/695 b. c.e.; Anatolia Also known as: Mita of Mushki Category: Government and politics

Life Little is known of the historical Midas (MI-duhs). He was apparently king of the Phrygians, a Balkan tribe that settled in Anatolia, part of modern Asia Minor, about the eleventh century b. c.e. According to Assyrian writings, local power was granted to Midas of Phrygia about 730 b. c.e. Midas appears to have opened trade in the region during his reign, as the historian Herodotus refers to Phrygia serving as a trading power during this period. Midas submitted his power to Sargon II of Assyria about 709 b. c.e. ; Sargon’s successor, Sennacherib, occupied the region some years later. Midas may have resisted the occupation, as Assyrian documents refer to fighting with Mita of Mushki—almost certainly Midas. The invasion of Phrygia by the Cimmerians from the west in 700 b. c.e. probably marked the end of Midas’s rule. Whether he committed suicide, as described in one version of events, or married a daughter of Agamemnon, a king of the Cimmerians, is unclear.

Influence Midas is best known as a hero of Greek mythology. According to legend, Midas was granted by Dionysus, god of wine, the “gift” of turning all he touched into gold, which became a destructive curse. The “Midas touch” has come to mean the ability of a person to create wealth.

Further Reading

Brown, Dale. Anatolia: Cauldron of Cultures. New York: Time-Life, 1995. Kealhofer, Lisa, ed. The Archaeology of Midas and the Phrygians: Recent Work at Gordion. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2005.

Midas

Sasson, Jack, ed. Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. New York: Scribner, 1995.

Richard Adler

See also: Herodotus; Mythology.