The Real King Midas
As it turns out, there actually was an 8th century BC king Midas of Phrygia, whom we know of from ancient Greek and Assyrian sources. According to Greek sources, this King Midas married a princess Hermodice, who is credited by some ancient sources with inventing Greek coinage, or money. Thanks to Midas’ wife, Phrygia, as an early adopter of coined money would have probably experienced an economic boom in comparison to her neighbors, who still relied on the more inefficient barter system for trade. So from that perspective, it is not hard to see how the stories of Phrygia’s King Midas having a golden touch got started. Simultaneously, Assyrian tablets from that period refer to a king “Mita” attacking Assyria’s east Anatolian territories.
More Evidence
Further evidence of Midas’ existence emerged in 1957, when archaeologist Rodney Young opened a massive tomb compound near the site of ancient Gordium, in today’s Turkey. Measuring about 900 feet long and 160 feet high, the compound included a royal burial from circa 740 BC, that included the remains of a coffin containing a 5 foot 3 man in his 60s. Accompanying him to the afterlife were ornate tables and bronze vessels containing traces of alcohol – apparently, a final feast for the departed. Young named the tomb the “Midas Mound”, after the legendary king of the golden touch, although later dating indicates that it was probably not the grave of our Midas, but that of his father.
