MIDAS  , the name of several Phrygian

kings . The first of these was said to have been the son of Gordius and Cybele, whose first priest he was, and in whose honour he founded a temple at Pessinus . Having taken the drunken Silenus back to his youthful charge Dionysus, he was rewarded by the god with the power of transforming everything he touched into gold . Finding himself in danger of starvation, even his food and drink being changed by his touch, Midas entreated Dionysus to take back the gift . By the command of the god he bathed in the river Pactolus, which henceforth became auriferous (Ovid, Melon. xi . 85–145; Hyginus, Fab . 191) . Another story connects him with the musical contest between Apollo and Marsyas (or Pan) . Having decided against the god, his ears were changed into those of an ass . He concealed them under a Phrygian cap; but the secret was discovered by his barber, who, being unable to keep it, dug a hole in the ground and whispered into it " Midas has the ears of an ass." He then filled up the hole, thinking his secret safe; but the reeds which grew up over the spot proclaimed it to all the world . Midas with the ass's ears was a frequent subject of the Attic satyr-drama . There is no doubt that Midas was the name of one or more real persons around whom religious legends have grown up .

The name " Midas the

king " occurs on a very ancient tomb in the valley of the Sangarius, the legendary seat of the Phrygian kingdom . The Phrygian monarchy was destroyed by the Cimmerians about 67o B.C., and the name Midas became in Greek tradition the representative of this ancient dynasty . On the connexion between Midas and the Attic story see J . G . Frazer, The Golden Bough, ii . 134 .