The Golden Touch of Midas
King Midas is granted the power to turn whatever he touches into gold, only to discover that his miraculous gift is really a curse.
The Story
Midas was king of Phrygia and became famous for a gift that seemed at first to offer unlimited wealth.
In one well-known tradition, Midas treated Silenus, an old companion of Dionysus, with great hospitality.
Dionysus offered the king a reward.
Midas asked that everything he touched should turn to gold.
The god granted the wish.
At first Midas was delighted.
Branches, stones and ordinary objects became precious metal beneath his hands.
But the consequences quickly became clear.
Food turned to gold when he touched it.
Wine hardened before he could drink it.
The gift that promised limitless wealth made ordinary human life impossible.
Midas begged Dionysus to remove the power.
The god instructed him to wash in the river Pactolus.
The power left Midas and passed into the river, providing a mythological explanation for the gold associated with its sands.
Midas escaped the golden touch, but another famous story later connected him with Apollo and Pan.
When Midas judged Pan's music superior to Apollo's, Apollo punished the king by giving him donkey's ears.
Midas tried to hide them beneath a headdress, but the secret eventually escaped.
The stories of Midas repeatedly make the same point: wealth, judgment and desire become dangerous when a king fails to understand their limits.
Key Figures
Why It Matters
Midas is one of mythology's clearest warnings against confusing material wealth with a good life. His golden touch turns the object of desire into the cause of suffering.
Traditions & Variations
Several distinct Midas traditions became attached to the historical and legendary kings of Phrygia. The golden touch and donkey-ear stories were not necessarily parts of one original continuous narrative.