Mythology / king-midas-golden-touch
Facts about King Midas: Golden Touch
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Ancient Greeks used the myth to explain why the sands of the river Pactolus in Lydia contained electrum, a naturally occurring gold-silver alloy.
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Midas's daughter, transformed into a golden statue when he embraced her, symbolizes the myth's central tragedy of greed destroying what one loves most.
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Ovid's Metamorphoses is the most influential ancient source retelling the King Midas golden touch story in detail.
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The golden touch curse is ultimately reversed when Midas washes his hands in the river Pactolus, which according to the myth thereafter ran with gold.
- 01
In the myth, King Midas is granted the golden touch by the god Dionysus as a reward for his hospitality toward the satyr Silenus.