That is, an ant. An Attic maiden of the name of Myrmex, it is said, was beloved by Athena; and when the goddess had invented the plow, Myrmex boastfully pretended to have made the discovery herself, whereupon she was metamorphosed into an ant. But when afterwards Zeus made his son Aeacus king of Thessaly, which was not inhabited by human beings, he metamorphosed all the ants of the country into men, who were thence called Myrmidons.
- Hyginus. Fabulae, 52.
- Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.
- Strabo. Geography viii, p. 375; ix, p. 433.
- Virgil. Aeneid iv, 402, with the note of Servius.
This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.