Lucian of Samosata (c. 120-180+), a satirist from the Roman Empire, endeavored to overly and grandiosely praise the qualities of the common fly in his quirky satirical work, Praise of the Fly. In the piece, Lucian excitedly praised the fly’s persistence and its ability to reside in palaces and eat luxurious meals from the plates of kings and emperors. In addition to this, Lucian created for the fly a mythology story, tying the fly’s creation to the ancient Greek gods. In Lucian’s mind, if the grasshopper had a myth through the story of Tithonus, and the spider had a myth through the story of Arachne, then why should the fly not be provided with a myth, as well. Therefore, Lucian created the tale of Muia (Greek for fly), a persistent chattering girl who had the misfortune of angering the lunar goddess, Selene. As told by Lucian, “long ago there was a girl called Muia: she was extremely pretty, but over-talkative, gossipy, and fond of singing, and she was a rival to Selene for the love of Endymion. She kept disturbing and waking the lad in his sleep with her chattering and singing, so that he got annoyed and Selene in anger turned her into her present form” (Lucian, Praise of the Fly, section 10). Even after that transformation, Muia continued to nag Endymion and other humans with her persistent buzzy behavior. Entertaining tale aside, it should be reiterated that this story about Muia the Fly comes from satire and is not considered an authentic traditional myth, and Muia is usually not listed as a real mythological figure, as opposed to the more attested mythical entities of Selene and Endymion.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Picture Attribution: (cropped peacock and two flies, illustrated by an unknown 17th century artist, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons and the Rijksmuseum).
Sources:
- Lucian, Selected Dialogues, translated by C. D. N. Costa. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford World Classics), 2005, 2006, 2009.
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lucian
