Myrmex (Attic woman)
InGreek mythology,Myrmex[a](Ancient Greek:Μύρμηξ,romanized:Múrmēx,lit. 'ant'[1]) is a young maiden who became a favourite of the goddessAthena.Her story survives in the works of fifth-century AD Latin grammarianMaurus Servius Honoratus.
Etymology[edit]
The ancient Greek nounμύρμηξmeans 'ant'[1]and is derived from theProto-Indo-Europeanroot*morwi-which means the same thing.[2]
Mythology[edit]
Myrmex was anAtticangirl famed for her cleverness and her chastity, and for this reason she was loved byAthena,the virgin goddess of wisdom.[3]
WhenDemetercreated crops, Athena wished to show the Atticans an effective way of sowing the fields, so she created the plough, with Myrmex by her side. But Myrmex stole some sheaves, and boastfully claimed that she herself had invented the plough, and that only through 'her' invention the crops could be put to use. Athena, heartbroken by the girl's betrayal, hated Myrmex as she had once loved her, and turned her into anant,doomed to only be able to steal crops.[4]Zeusfelt pity for her, so he honoured the ant, and whenAeginaneeded to be repopulated, he created a new race of men, theMyrmidons,out of transformed ants.[5][6]
Due to the language used about Athena loving Myrmex, some have taken it to mean that the myth has homosexual undertones.[7]Robert Gravestheorized that Myrmex could be the name of some ancient Northern Greek mother-goddess who did invent the plough, and archaeology supports a claim for indigenous European invention.[8]
See also[edit]
- Arachne
- Medusa
- Metamorphoses in Greek mythology
- Myrmidons,ants who became people
Footnotes[edit]
- ^Servius spells her name as 'Myrmix', but the ancient Greek word for ant isμύρμηξ,with an eta.
References[edit]
- ^abLiddell & Scotts.v.μύρμηξ
- ^Beekes 2010,p. 982.
- ^Stassinopoulos 1999,p. 53.
- ^Bell 1991,pp.314-315.
- ^Servius,Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid4.402
- ^Smith,s.v.Myrmex
- ^Monaghan 2009,p.423.
- ^Stanley 1995,p.13.
Bibliography[edit]
- Beekes, Robert S. P.(2010). Lucien van Beek (ed.).Etymological Dictionary of Greek.Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series. Vol. ΙΙ. Leiden, the Netherlands:Brill Publications.ISBN978-90-04-17419-1.
- Bell, Robert E. (1991).Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary.ABC-Clio.ISBN9780874365818.
- Maurus Servius Honoratus.In Vergilii carmina comentarii.Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881.Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Liddell, Henry George;Scott, Robert(1940).A Greek-English Lexicon,revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie.Oxford:Clarendon Press.Online version at Perseus.tufts project.
- Monaghan, Patricia (December 18, 2009).Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines: Volume 1.ABC-Clio.ISBN978-0-313-34989-8.
- Smith, William(1873).A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.London:John Murray: Spottiswoode and Co.Online version at the Perseus.tufts Project.
- Stanley, Autumn (1995).Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology.New Brunswick, New Jersey:Rutgers University Press.ISBN0-8135-2197-1.
- Stassinopoulos, Agapi (October 13, 1999).Conversations With the Goddesses.New York, USA: Harry N. Abrams.ISBN9781556709425.
