3. King Midas - All That Glitters

The myths, tales, and concepts of ancient Greece echo and reach into every aspect of modern life. Often misunderstood, frequently romanticised, and sometimes deliberately twisted - to understand their origins and truth is to get a real glimpse into the universal themes that connect us to the past and each other.

Welcome to Podyssey with Alex Andreou. Each week we will take one myth, one concept, person, place, or theme from Ancient Greece, take it apart, figure out its inner workings, trace its influence, juice it for its wisdom, reimagine, update and put it back together - all shiny and new! 

… 

When was it - and why? - that the cautionary tale of King Midas, a myth about the absurdity of excess, the consequences of greed and spectacularly bad judgment, magically transformed into an aspirational example of success? When did we elevate him from lowly figure of fun to a gold penthouse and the Oval Office?

Written and presented by Alex Andreou

Expert contributions by Alexandra Angeletaki-Røe, Debbie Challis, Linda Marric, and Dr Ruth Smith

Exec. Producers Naomi Smith & Kenny Campbell

Music by Marianna Sangita

Artwork by Simona Kanellou

For Cooler Heads, in collaboration with Sandstone Global

NOTES

MUSIC 

MOZART - A Musical Joke - Vienna Konzerthaus Quartet - PRIVATE COLLECTION 

GRIEG - Peer Gynt Suite No.1 “In the Hall of the Mountain King” - Eugene Ormandy - PRIVATE COLLECTION 

BERLIN - After you get what you want you don’t want it - Marilyn Monroe - YOUTUBE 

ROSSINI - Il Barbiere di Siviglia “Largo al factotum” - Rolando Panerai - YOUTUBE  

BORODIN/WRIGHT - Kismet “Baubles, Bangles, and Beeds” - Ann Blyth - PRIVATE COLLECTION 

BERLIN - Call Me Madam “The Money Song” - Dinah Shore - YOUTUBE 

MENOTTI - Amahl And The Night Visitors “All that gold” - Rosemary Kuhlmann - PRIVATE COLLECTION

STRAUSS - Die Liebe der Danae - 1952 Broadcast - PRIVATE COLLECTION  

PUCCINI - Manon Lescaut “In quelle trine” - Renata Tebaldi - PRIVATE COLLECTION 

BERNSTEIN - Candide “Glitter and be gay” - Roberta Peters - YOUTUBE 

BACH - "Geschwinde, Geschwinde, Ihr Wirbelnden Winde", BWV 201 - PRIVATE COLLECTION 

GOUNOD - Faust “Le veau d’or” - Nicolai Ghiaurov - Public Television - YOUTUBE 

All that glitters is not gold - Mildred Bailey - YOUTUBE 

FILM

Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol (2010) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1672218/ 

Wall Street (1987) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/  

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993846/   

Goodfellas (1990) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099685/   

Scarface (1983) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086250/  

Big (1988) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094737/  

Trading Places (1983) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086465/ 

Limitless (2011) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219289/ 

Avengers: Infinity War (2018) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/  

Goldfinger (1964) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058150/ 

ARTWORK 

Silenus riding a donkey 

The Judgment of Midas by Nicolas Mignard, 1667. 

King Midas Judging the Musical Contest between Apollo and Pan, by Filippo Lauri, c1650-1694 

LIFE magazine Goldfinger cover. 

Images of Ancient Gordion 

Midas Gate in Anatolia 

Map of Ancient Anatolia 

Electrum coins 

Gold Croeseid 

Andy Warhol - Dollar Signs 

“Siren” by Marc Quinn (2008) 

“America” by Maurizio Cattelan (2016) 

“Madonna and child” by Sandro Boticelli (1480-81)

“Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” by Gustav Klimt (1907) 

Ceiling Paintings by Gustav Klimt (1894) 

Gold Death Mask (Tomb V, Mycenae) 

Meowdas (fortnite) 

READING

Proust “Mensonges” dedication 

“King Midas” by Howard Moss 

“Mrs. Midas” by Carol Ann Duffy 

Essay on Gold and Melancholy 

John Lyly’s "King Midas"  

“The Reading Mother” by Strickland Gillilan 

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