Hermodike I has been attributed with inventing the Greek written script, i.e. the transfer of earlier technical knowledge from

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

into ancient Greek society through

Aeolis Aeolis (; ), or Aeolia (; ), was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islands (particularly Lesbos), where the Aeolian Greek city-states w ...

. She is referred to by

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

. The same name was given as Demodike by Pollux. Academics state that Aristotle and Pollux, though ancient commentators, were not historians and so their unsubstantiated opinions may be misleading. Other historians have given the name as Hermodice or Damodice. Hermodike I was the daughter of a dynastic Agamemnon of Cyme and became the wife of

Midas Midas (; ) was a king of Phrygia with whom many myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house. His father was Gordias, and his mother was Cybele. The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek m ...

, king of Phrygia, who came to the throne in 738 BCE, or alternatively

Gyges of Lydia Gyges (reigned c. 680–644 BC) was the founder of the Mermnad dynasty of Lydian kings and the first known king of the Lydian kingdom to have attempted to transform it into a powerful empire. Gyges reigned 38 years according to Herodotus. At ...

, who was referred to as King Midas (680–644 BCE) after giving the Oracle at

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...

six gold bowls (extracted from the

Pactolus Pactolus (), also called Chrysorrhoas (Χρυσορρόας), the modern Sart Çayı , is a river near the Aegean coast of Turkey. The river rises from Mount Tmolus, flows through the ruins of the ancient city of Sardis, and empties into the Ged ...

river). She is described as "a woman distinguished by beauty and wisdom". She is the ancestor of

Hermodike II Hermodike II has been attributed with inventing coinage by Aristotle.Aristotle, fr.611,37 ed. V.Rose Other historians have translated the name as Hermodice, Damodice or Demodike as translated by Julius Pollux.Pollux, Onamastikon IX.83 Hermodi ...

, who has been attributed with inventing Greek coinage.

Linguistic history

Most specialists believe that the

Phoenician alphabet The Phoenician alphabet is an abjad (consonantal alphabet) used across the Mediterranean civilization of Phoenicia for most of the 1st millennium BC. It was one of the first alphabets, attested in Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions fo ...

was adopted for Greek during the early 8th century BC, perhaps in

Euboea Euboea ( ; , ), also known by its modern spelling Evia ( ; , ), is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by ...

. The earliest known fragmentary Greek inscriptions date from this time, 770–750 BC, and they match Phoenician letter forms of c. 800–750 BC. The oldest substantial text known to date is the

Dipylon inscription The Dipylon inscription is a short text written on an ancient Greek pottery vessel dated to . It is famous for being the oldest, or one of the oldest, known samples of the use of the Greek alphabet. The text is scratched on an ''oenochoe'', whic ...

. Hermodike I was the royal link between Phrygia and Aeolia and the conduit of knowledge that influenced the Greeks into adopting the Phrygian invention of letters.

From Aeolic Cyme a king Agamemnon married his daughter Hermodice to a Midas ruler of Phrygia… some sort of Phrygia-Aeolia-Euboea link from an early period seems almost certain.

Evidence of a link between Phrygia and Greece has been attributed by Y. Tzifopoulos to the similarities of their alphabets. The Greek alphabet is thought to be derived from the Phrygian alphabet.

Tradition recounts that a daughter of a certain Agamemnon, king of Aeolian Cyme, married a Phrygian king called Midas.Panhellenes at Methone: Graphê in Late Geometric and Protoarchaic Methone, edited by Jenny Strauss Clay, Irad Malkin, Yannis Z. Tzifopoulos, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2017, p. 154 This link may have facilitated the Greeks "borrowing" their alphabet from the Phrygians because the Phrygian letter shapes are closest to the inscriptions from Aeolis.

The role of Hermodike I was to communicate that technical information into Greek society as per D. Macpherson's observation,

...it is more likely, that what the Greeks called invention, was rather the introduction of the knowledge… from countries more advanced in civilization.Annals of Commerce, Manufactures, Fisheries, and Navigation, with Brief Notices of the Arts and Sciences Connected with Them. Containing the Commercial Transactions of the British Empire and Other Countries ... with a Large Appendix ... with a General Chronological Index ... 1805 ... by David Macpherson. In Four Volumes. Vol. 1.(-4.), Volume 1, pg 16

Hermodike I was the conduit of the phonetic alphabet into the roots of all western culture. Ancient Greek written language subsequently influenced the rest of the western world.

References

{{authority control Ancient Greek inventors