Silenus

Silenus, the old companion and former tutor of Dionysus, strayed from the god’s drunken procession as it travelled from Thrace into Boeotia. He reached the rose gardens of King Midas and fell asleep there. The gardeners found him, bound him with garlands of flowers, and brought him before the king. Silenus told Midas strange tales about a vast continent beyond the Ocean stream, separate from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Midas was fascinated by these stories and treated his guest with great kindness.

Midas entertained Silenus for several days, then ordered a guide to escort him to Dionysus’s headquarters. Dionysus had been anxious about Silenus and was grateful when the old satyr was returned safely. He offered Midas any reward he wished. Midas immediately asked that everything he touched should turn to gold. Dionysus granted the request.

The power worked on everything Midas touched. Stones, flowers, and the furnishings of his house became gold. When he sat down to eat, the food turned to gold in his hands. The water he drank changed in the same way. Midas soon realised that he could neither eat nor drink, and he was close to death from hunger and thirst. He begged Dionysus to release him from the gift.

Dionysus told Midas to go to the source of the river Pactolus near Mount Tmolus and wash himself in its water. Midas obeyed and was freed from the golden touch. The power passed into the river, whose sands were thereafter said to contain gold. The accounts place Midas in different lands and give different lengths for his hospitality, but they agree that his treatment of Silenus led to Dionysus granting and then removing the golden touch.