Myrmidon (Roman)

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. Juno is responsible for the devastating plague, jealous that her husband Jupiter named the island after his lover, the nymph Aegina. King Aeacus of Aegina prays to Jupiter to repopulate the island, and Jupiter 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'.