[1772] κοῦροι Μυρμιδόνων: 'the sons of the Myrmidons' i.e. the Aeginetans. In Hom. (Il. 1. 180) the Myrmidons are dwellers at Phthia in Thessaly (cf. 1. 55), and followers of Achilles against Troy. Another branch of them may have settled in Aegina. As a name of the Aeginetans, Μυρμιδόνες was connected in various ways with μύρμηκες 'ants'; Strab. 322, 47, Μυρμιδόνας δὲ κληθῆναί φασιν, οὐχ ὡς ὁ μῦθος, τοὺς Αἰγινήτας, ὅτι λοιμοῦ μεγάλου συμπεσόντος οἱ μύρμηκες ἄνθρωποι γένοιντο κατ᾽ εὐχὴν Αἰακοῦ, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι μυρμήκων τρόπον ὀρύττοντες τὴν γῆν ἐπιφέροιεν ἐπὶ τὰς πέτρας, ὥστ᾽ ἔχειν γεωργεῖν, ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὀρύγμασιν οἰκεῖν φειδόμενοι πλίνθων. The legend of the ants being turned into men in the reign of Aeacus, son of Zeus and the nymph Aegina, is recounted at length in Ov. Met. 7. 517 sqq.
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Argonautica. Apollonius Rhodius. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912.
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