Synopsis

John Lyly's MIDAS tells the story of King Midas of Phrygia, who wished that everything he touched would turn to gold. He also judged a music contest between two gods and chose the wrong god. “MIDAS is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy written by John Lyly. It is arguably the most overtly and extensively allegorical of Lyly's allegorical plays. … Lyly based his play on the treatment of the Midas story given in Book xi of the METAMORPHOSES of Ovid; he departs from Ovid's version mainly to strengthen the allegorical aspects of the play (see below). He exploits both aspects of the Midas legend in classical mythology – the golden touch and the ass's ears.”