Myia_(mythology)
Myia (mythology)
Mythological figure who became a fly
In Lucian of Samosata's works, Myia (Greek: Μυῖα, translit. Muîa, lit. "fly") is a young girl who fell in love with Endymion and was transformed by the lunar goddess Selene into a fly, a small insect bearing her name.
The ancient Greek noun μυῖα translates to 'fly',[1] and is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *mus-ih2, thus being cognate with the Latin musca.[2]
In his satirical second-century work Praising a Fly (Latin: Muscae Encomium, Ancient Greek: Μυίας ἐγκώμιον), author Lucian of Samosata (modern Samsat) related the—otherwise unattested—myth of Myia, an exceedingly fair but also very chatty young maiden who fell in love with Endymion, a very handsome mortal man who had been granted immortality via eternal slumber.[3] With her endless chatter Myia would wake up Endymion, irritating him and enraging the moon goddess Selene, his lover.[4] Selene then transformed the talkative girl into a fly, who annoys sleeping people to this day, in memory of her love and her deeds in her previous life.[5][6][7][8] An ancient Greek proverb was μυίης θάρσος (literally 'the fly's boldness'), said for those who were of excessive boldness.[1]
Similarly to the myth of the boy Alectryon (also surviving in the works of Lucian) Myia's story is an aetiological myth which nonetheless does not link its protagonist to a specific Greek place or lineage, with a starting point in another, more popular myth, rather than an animal-based cult.[7] Likewise, it is impossible to say whether the myth is just an invention of Lucian's or a genuine popular fable about animals.[7]
- Liddell & Scott 1940, s.v. μυῖα.
- Beekes 2010, p. 976.
- Hünemörder, Christian (2006). "Fly". In Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.). Brill's New Pauly. Translated by Christine F. Salazar. Hamburg: Brill Reference Online. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e412950. Retrieved September 30, 2023.
- Wright, M. Rosemary. "A Dictionary of Classical Mythology: Summary of Transformations". mythandreligion.upatras.gr. University of Patras. Retrieved September 30, 2023.
- Lucian 2022, p. 13.
- Forbes Irving 1990, p. 315.
- 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. ISBN 978-90-04-17419-1.
- Forbes Irving, Paul M. C. (1990). Metamorphosis in Greek Myths. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-814730-9.
- 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.
- Lucian (March 19, 2022). Florilegium of Lucian's Philosophical Finesse and Irreverent Wit. Philaletheians UK.
- Lucian, The Fly in Phalaris. Hippias or The Bath. Dionysus. Heracles. Amber or The Swans. The Fly. Nigrinus. Demonax. The Hall. My Native Land. Octogenarians. A True Story. Slander. The Consonants at Law. The Carousal (Symposium) or The Lapiths. Translated by A. M. Harmon. Loeb Classical Library 14. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913.
- Lucian; C. D. N. Costa (2005). Lucian: Selected Dialogues. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-925867-3.