King Midas
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2023
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As Shirley Bassey once said, "He's the man. The man with the Midas touch." But who was the man that's inspired stories from Greek myths to Bond bangers?
In this episode, Tristan Hughes is joined by archaeologist and classicist Professor Brian Rose to discuss the real King Midas, ruler of the Phrygian Kingdom in West Central Turkey between 740 and 700 BCE. They delve into the two sides of Midas: the historical and the mythical, explaining the origins of the both the Golden Touch myth, and why Midas is sometimes depicted with donkey's ears, and what we know about the real man and his kingdom based on Rose's excavations at the site of Gordian.
The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie
Script written by Andrew Hulse
Voice over performed by Lucy Davidson
The Assistant Producer was Annie Coloe
Edited by Joseph Knight
If you enjoyed this episode, you might also enjoy other episodes in the series: Zeus: King of the Gods, Hera: Queen of the Gods, Hephaestus: God of Fire, Aphrodite: Goddess of Love, Ares: God of War and Athena: Goddess of Wisdom
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Sing, Muses. Sing to me a story of Olympus and the deathless gods who govern Earth, sea, and sky. |
| 0:26.0 | That is what the craftsman asks as he kneels with his young son upon the banks of the river Pactose. |
| 0:34.0 | Together they are panning the riverbed. |
| 0:38.0 | The sun scoops wet-heaps onto the metal dish while the craftsman gently nervously swirls the mixture. |
| 0:49.0 | His motion forces it to separate. Water, sand, silt. |
| 0:56.0 | The craftsman sighs and chucks it away. |
| 1:00.0 | And so the process begins again. |
| 1:04.0 | Scoop, swirl, separate, silt. |
| 1:14.0 | Scoop, swirl, separate, sigh. Water, sand, silt. |
| 1:23.0 | Scoop, swirl, separate, smile. |
| 1:30.0 | For this time something glitters amidst the sand and the silt. Gold. |
| 1:38.0 | Gold so fine it could fill an hourglass and measure minutes in luxury. |
| 1:45.0 | The sun shrieks in delight. The gods have answered their wishes. |
| 1:51.0 | But the craftsman shushes him, scolds him, for he knows how fickle wishes of gold can be. |
| 2:00.0 | Is not the river Pactolus the result of such a folly? The story of King Midas and his golden touch. |
| 2:15.0 | It's the engines on History Hit. I'm Justin Hughes your host. |
| 2:20.0 | And in today's episode, well this weekend it's coronation weekend in the United Kingdom, |
| 2:25.0 | the crowning of King Charles III. |
| 2:28.0 | And so in today's episode we've got a royal theme on the engines. |
| 2:33.0 | We're talking all about King Midas, renowned from Greek mythology as the man with the Midas touch, |
| 2:41.0 | whatever he touched turned to gold. |
| 2:44.0 | But did you also know that Midas was actually a historical figure? |
... |
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