The Myrmidons were an ancient nation of Greek mythology. In Homer's Iliad, the Myrmidons are the soldiers commanded by Achilles, their eponymous ancestor was Myrmidon, a king of Phthiotis, a son of Zeus and "wide-ruling" Eurymedousa, a princess of Phthiotis. She was seduced by him in the form of an ant. An etiological myth of their origins expanding upon their supposed etymology—the name in Classical Greek was interpreted as "ant-people", from murmekes, "ants"—was first mentioned by Ovid, in Metamorphoses: in Ovid's telling, the Myrmidons were simple worker ants on the island of Aegina. Hera, queen of the gods, sent a plague to kill all the human inhabitants of Aegina because the island was named for one of the lovers of Zeus. King Aeacus, a son of Zeus and the intended target of Hera along with his mother, prayed to his father for a means to repopulate the island; as the ants of the island were unaffected by the sickness, Zeus responded by transforming them into a race of people, the Myrmidons.

They were as fierce and hardy as ants, intensely loyal to their leader. Because of their ant-ish origins, they wore brown armour. After a time, Aeacus exiled his two sons and Telamon, for murdering their half-brother, Phocis. Peleus went to Phthia and a group of Myrmidons followed him to Thessaly. Peleus's son, brought them to Troy to fight in the Trojan War, they feature as the loyal followers of Achilles in most accounts of the Trojan War from Homer to the 2004 film Troy. Another tradition states that the Myrmidons had no such remarkable beginnings, but were the descendants of Myrmidon, a Thessalian nobleman, who married Peisidice, the daughter of Aeolus, king of Thessaly. Myrmidon was the father of Antiphus; as king of Phthia, Actor invited Peleus to stay in Thessaly. 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. "Myrmidon" came to mean "hired ruffian", according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

The Royal Navy has had several ships called HMS Myrmidon."The Myrmidons" was the name adopted in 1865 by a private dining society in Merton College, Oxford. It is thought to be the oldest continuously active dining society in the University of Oxford. Max Beerbohm was a member, the club called "The Junta" that features in his Oxford novel Zuleika Dobson is modeled on the Myrmidons. Other former members include Andrew Irvine. In The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollett, the crew of Commodore Trunnion's garrison were referred to as Myrmidons due to their fierce loyalty. In Grant Morrison's comic book The Invisibles, the humans who serve the Archons and who have given themselves up for modification are known as Myrmidons. In Chonchu, a manhwa, the Mirmidons are a dreadful warrior tribe known for their strength and spirit, they are fierce fighters. In Garth Nix's young adult novel Shade's Children, alien Overlords reconstruct human children into mindless soldiers called Myrmidons. In The Languages of Pao by Jack Vance, a planet's population is artificially divided into three castes by imposing linguistic and cultural barriers.

In Hercules, My Shipmate by Robert Graves, Myrmidons are mentioned quite a few times, as the book is about the story of Jason and the Argonauts. The Myrmidons were depicted twice in the DC Comics book Wonder Woman; the first time was when Wonder Woman astral projected into the mythological past to gain knowledge, the second was in the Artemis/Requiem mini-series. There they are shown to now live in the underworld as keeping guard over the dead. In Jan Morris's novel Hav, first published as Last Letters from Hav in 1985, a second part appears in the 2006 version, entitled Hav of the Myrmidons, it portrays the claim by a post-revolutionary regime to a mythical past derived from the legendary Myrmidons, companions of Achilles. The novel itself blurs the distinction between factual account and fiction, geographical precision and utopian abstraction, to use Myrmidons as a metaphor for domination seeking to legitimate itself through ethnic descent from an ancient tribe; the grotesque "Myrmidonic Tower" in Hav symbolises the instrumental use of ancient legends at the height of modernity.

Josephine Angelini depicts the Myrmidons as ant-human hybridlike creatures created to fight in the Trojan War in Dreamless, the sequel to her novel Starcrossed. In Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash, robotlike hive-minded humans with antennae implanted in their brains are referred to by the antagonist that controls them as Myrmidons; the term myrmidon enjoys widespread use in computer and video games those in the role-playing game genre. It is in common use as a title for character classes or enemies, occasionally used as the name for a piece of equipment or vehicle within a game. Myrmidons at WSU Myrmidons at Timeless Myths Myrmidons at Online Mythology

A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, state or nation, an all-star team or selected as a hypothetical team and never play an actual match. There are several varieties of football, notably association football, gridiron football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby league and rugby union; the number of players selected for each team within these varieties and their associated codes can vary substantially. Sometimes, the word "team" is limited to those who play on the field in a match and does not always include other players who may take part as replacements or emergency players. "Football squad" may be used to be inclusive of these reserve players. The term football club is the most used for a sports club, an organised or incorporated body with a president, committee and a set of rules responsible for ensuring the continued playing existence of one or more teams which are selected for regular competition play.

The oldest football clubs date back to the early 19th century. The words team and club are sometimes used interchangeably by supporters, although they refer to the team within the club playing in the highest division or competition; the number of players that take part in the sport thus forming the team are: Association football: 11Indoor soccer: 6 Futsal, beach soccer, five-a-side football: 5 American football: 11 Arena football: 8 Canadian football: 12 Rugby league: 13 Rugby union: 15 Rugby sevens: 7 Gaelic football: 15 Australian rules football: 18 List of men's association football clubs List of men's national association football teams List of women's association football clubs List of women's national association football teams List of Australian rules football clubs

Ulpius Cornelius Laelianus was a usurper against Postumus, the emperor of the Gallic Empire. His revolt lasted from late February to early June 269. Little is known about Laelianus, he shares the same nomen as a prominent Hispano-Roman family, the Ulpii, that included Trajan among its members, may have been a relative. This is supported by the strong allusion to Hispania on an aureus he struck, which featured the design of Hispania reclining with a rabbit to her side. If he indeed was a relative, this may be the reason Hispania allied itself with Claudius II, after the death of Laelianus without a struggle. Laelianus declared himself emperor at Moguntiacum in February/March 269. After repulsing a Germanic invasion. Although his exact position is unknown, he is believed to have been a senior officer under Postumus, either the legatus of Germania Superior or the commander of Legio XXII Primigenia. Laelianus represented a strong danger to Postumus; the siege of Moguntiacum was fatal for Postumus. Laelianus is listed among the Thirty Tyrants in the Historia Augusta.

Ulpia Aurelius Victor, Liber de Caesaribus Eutropius, Book 9 Historia Augusta, The Thirty Tyrants Southern, Pat. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine, Routledge, 2001 Potter, David Stone, The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180-395, Routledge, 2004 Jones, A. H. M. Martindale, J. R; the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Vol. I: AD260-395, Cambridge University Press, 1971 Michel Polfer, "Laelianus", De Imperatoribus Romanis] Media related to Laelianus at Wikimedia Commons