MYRMIDONS, MYRMIDONES, in antiquity; a people in the southern borders of Thessaly, who accompanied Achilles to the Trojan war. They received their name from Myrmidon, a son of Jupiter and Eurymedusa, who married one of the daughters of Æolus, son of Helen. His son Actor married Ægina, the daughter of Æsopus. He gave his name to his subjects, who dwelt near the river Peneus in Thessaly. According to some, the Myrmidons received their name from their having arisen from ants or pismires, upon a prayer put up for that purpose by King Æacus to Jupiter, after his kingdom had been dispeopled by a severe pestilence. According to Strabo, they received it from their industry, because they imitated the diligence of the ants, and like them were indefatigable, and were continually employed in cultivating the earth.