Myrmidons

The Myrmidons (Greek: Μυρμιδόνες Myrmidones) were a legendary people of Greek mythology, native to the region of Thessaly. During the Trojan War, they were commanded by Achilles, as described in Homer's Iliad. According to Greek legend, they were created by Zeus from a colony of ants and therefore took their name from the Greek word for ant, myrmex (Greek: μύρμηξ).

An etiological myth of the Myrmidons was mentioned by Ovid, in Metamorphoses. In Ovid's telling, a terrible plague wipes out the population of the island Aegina.Hera is responsible for the devastating plague, jealous that her husband Zeus named the island after his lover, the nymph Aegina. King Aeacus of Aegina prays to Zeus to repopulate the island, and Zeus responds with a flash of lightning, which Aeacus understands to be an affirmation from the gods. Aeacus then sees a colony of ants covering a tree, so he asks for as many people as there are ants. Overnight, Aeacus has a dream that these ants fall to the ground and are transformed into people. When he wakes the next morning, he finds that his island has been repopulated and that his prayers have been answered. He names the people Myrmidons after the Greek word myrmex (Greek: μύρμηξ), meaning ant.

Hesiod's Catalogue of Women gives a similar myth of the origin of the Myrmidons. In Hesiod's version, Aeacus, the son of Zeus and the nymph Aegina, grows up on the island of Aegina all alone. Aeacus prays to Zeus for company, and as in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Zeus changes ants into men and women for his son to rule over.

The pseudo-Apollodoran Bibliotheca (a collection of myths), gives a different account of their origins: The eponymous ancestor of the Myrmidons was Myrmidon, a king of Thessalian Phthia, who was the son of Zeus and Eurymedousa, a princess of Phthia. Eurymedousa became pregnant with Myrmidon when she was seduced by Zeus in the physical form of an ant, hence their son's name.

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