TWG-17
John Jenkins Designs
The Myrmidons were an ancient Thessalian Greek tribe. In Homer’s Iliad, the Myrmidons are the soldiers commanded by Achilles, and were known for wearing black armour.
Their eponymous ancestor was Myrmidon, a King of Phthiotis who was a son of Zeus and Eurymedousa a princess of Phthiotis. She was seduced by him in the form of an ant. Their name in classical Greek was interpretated as “ant-people”. This was first mentioned by Ovid in Metamorphoses where the Myrmidons were described as simple worker ants on the island of Aegina.
The Myrmidons of Greek myth were known for their loyalty to their leaders, so that in pre-industrial Europe the word "myrmidon" carried many of the same connotations that “robot” does today. According to the Oxford English Dictionary Myrmidon later became to mean “hired ruffian”.