Editing Midas (section)

{{Other uses|Midas (disambiguation)|}}
{{Short description|Mythological Greek king able to turn what he touches to gold}}
{{redirect-multi|2|King Midas|Midas Touch}}
[[File:Midas gold2.jpg|thumb|In the [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]] version of the Midas myth, Midas' daughter turns to a golden statue when he touches her (illustration by [[Walter Crane]] for the 1893 edition)]]

'''Midas''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|aɪ|d|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc|Μίδας}}) was a king of [[Phrygia]] with whom many myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house.

His father was [[Gordias]], and his mother was [[Cybele]]. The most famous '''King Midas''' is popularly remembered in [[Greek mythology]] for his ability to turn everything he touched into pure [[gold]] and this came to be called the ''golden touch'', or the ''Midas touch''.<ref>In [[alchemy]], the transmutation of an object into gold is known as ''[[chrysopoeia]]''.</ref> The legends told about this Midas and his adopted father Gordias, credited with founding the Phrygian capital city [[Gordium]] and tying the [[Gordian Knot]], indicate that they were believed to have lived sometime in the 2nd millennium BC, well before the [[Trojan War]]. However, [[Homer]] does not mention Midas or [[Gordias]], while instead mentioning two other Phrygian kings, [[Mygdon of Phrygia|Mygdon]] and [[Otreus]].

[[Midaeum]] was presumably named after him,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Phrygia, Midaeum - Ancient Greek Coins - WildWinds.com |url=https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/phrygia/midaeum/i.html |access-date=2024-04-07 |website=www.wildwinds.com}}</ref> and this is probably also the Midas that according to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] founded Ancyra (today known as [[Ankara]]).<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] 1.4.5.</ref>

Another King Midas ruled Phrygia in the late 8th century BC. Most historians believe this Midas is the same person as the ''Mita'', called king of the [[Mushki]] in Assyrian texts, who warred with [[Assyria]] and its [[Ancient Anatolians|Anatolian]] provinces during the same period.<ref name=":0">See for example Encyclopædia Britannica; also: "Virtually the only figure in [[Phrygia]]n history who can be recognized as a distinct individual", begins Lynn E. Roller, "The Legend of Midas", ''Classical Antiquity,'' '''2'''2 (October 1983):299–313.</ref>  A third Midas is said by [[Herodotus]] to have been a member of the royal house of Phrygia in the 6th century BC.