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Narcissus or Narkissos in Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
 was a hero
Hero

A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, the offspring of a mortal and a deity,their Greek hero cult being one of the most distinctive features of Religion in ancient Greece....
 from the territory of Thespiae
Thespiae

Thespiae was an ancient Greece polis in Boeotia. It stood on level ground commanded by the low range of hills which runs eastward from the foot of Mount Helicon to Thebes, Greece....
 in Boeotia
Boeotia

Boeotia, Beotia, or B?otia , formerly Cadmeis, was a region of ancient Greece, north of the eastern part of the Gulf of Corinth. It was bounded on the south by Megaris and the Kithairon mountain range that forms a natural barrier with Attica, on the north by Opuntian Locris and the Euripus Strait at the Gulf of Euboea, and on the...
 who was renowned for his beauty. In the various stories, he became obsessed with his own reflection in a pool, and for one reason or another, dies because of it.






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Narcissus or Narkissos in Greek mythology
Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
 was a hero
Hero

A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, the offspring of a mortal and a deity,their Greek hero cult being one of the most distinctive features of Religion in ancient Greece....
 from the territory of Thespiae
Thespiae

Thespiae was an ancient Greece polis in Boeotia. It stood on level ground commanded by the low range of hills which runs eastward from the foot of Mount Helicon to Thebes, Greece....
 in Boeotia
Boeotia

Boeotia, Beotia, or B?otia , formerly Cadmeis, was a region of ancient Greece, north of the eastern part of the Gulf of Corinth. It was bounded on the south by Megaris and the Kithairon mountain range that forms a natural barrier with Attica, on the north by Opuntian Locris and the Euripus Strait at the Gulf of Euboea, and on the...
 who was renowned for his beauty. In the various stories, he became obsessed with his own reflection in a pool, and for one reason or another, dies because of it. Several versions of his myth have survived: Ovid
Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso was a Roman Empire poet known as Ovid to the English language-speaking world, who wrote about love, seduction, and Roman mythology transformation....
's, from his Metamorphoses
Metamorphoses (poem)

The Metamorphoses by the Ancient Rome poet Ovid is a Narrative poetry in fifteen books that describes the Creation myth and history of the world....
; Pausanias
Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Roman Greece traveller and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius....
', from his Guide to Greece, (9.31.7); and one found among the Oxyrhynchus papyri
Oxyrhynchus Papyri

The Oxyrhynchus papyri are a very numerous group of manuscripts discovered by archaeologists at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt....
.

Hellenic version

This is a moral tale in which the proud and unfeeling Narcissus is punished by the gods for having spurned all his male suitors. It is thought to have been intended as a cautionary tale addressed to young men. Until recently, the only source for this version was a segment in Pausanias
Pausanias

Pausanias *Pausanias , lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's Symposium*Pausanias , Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC...
 (9.31.7), about 150 years after Ovid
Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso was a Roman Empire poet known as Ovid to the English language-speaking world, who wrote about love, seduction, and Roman mythology transformation....
. A very similar account was discovered among the Oxyrhynchus papyri
Oxyrhynchus Papyri

The Oxyrhynchus papyri are a very numerous group of manuscripts discovered by archaeologists at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt....
 in 2004, an account that predates Ovid's version by at least fifty years and is thought to have been recorded by Parthenius
Parthenius

The name Parthenius may refer to one of several persons:* Parthenius of Nicaea, the Greek grammarian and poet* the Armenians Saint Parthenius...
.

In this story, Ameinias, a young man, loved Narcissus but was scorned. As a way of rebuffing Ameinias, Narcissus gave him a sword, which Ameinias used to kill himself on Narcissus' doorstep; he prayed to Nemesis
Nemesis (mythology)

Nemesis , also called Rhamnousia/Rhamnusia , at her sanctuary at Rhamnous, north of Marathon, Greece, in Greek mythology was the spirit of divine punitive justice against those who succumb to hubris, vengeful fate personified as a remorseless goddess....
 that Narcissus would one day know the pain of unrequited love. This curse was fulfilled when Narcissus became entranced by his own reflection in a pool. Completing the symmetry of the tale, overcome by repentance, Narcissus took his sword and killed himself.

Roman version

In the tale told by Ovid, Echo
Echo (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Echo was an Oread who loved her own voice. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and visited them on Earth often. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mount Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs....
, a nymph, falls in love with a vain youth named Narcissus, who was the son of the blue Nymph Liriope
Liriope

Liriope has two distinct meanings:*Liriope in mythology was the mother of Narcissus , by the river-god Cephissus, according to Ovid's Metamorphoses ....
 of Thespia
Thespiae

Thespiae was an ancient Greece polis in Boeotia. It stood on level ground commanded by the low range of hills which runs eastward from the foot of Mount Helicon to Thebes, Greece....
. The river god Cephisus had once encircled Leirope with the windings of his streams, and thus trapping her, had seduced the nymph, who gave birth to an exceptionally beautiful boy. Concerned about the welfare of such a beautiful child, Lirope consulted the prophet Teiresias regarding her son's future. Teiresias told the nymph that Narcissus would live to a ripe old age, as long as "he never knew himself."

When he had reached "his sixteenth year," (fifteen years of age, by modern reckoning) every youth and girl in the town was in love with him, but he haughtily spurned them all.

One day when Narcissus was out hunting stags, Echo
Echo (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Echo was an Oread who loved her own voice. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and visited them on Earth often. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mount Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs....
 stealthily followed the handsome youth through the woods, longing to address him but unable to speak first. When Narcissus finally heard footsteps and shouted "Who's there?", Echo answered "Who's there?" And so it went, until finally Echo
Echo (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Echo was an Oread who loved her own voice. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and visited them on Earth often. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mount Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs....
 showed herself and rushed to embrace the lovely youth. He pulled away from the nymph and vainly told her to leave him alone. Narcissus left Echo
Echo (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Echo was an Oread who loved her own voice. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and visited them on Earth often. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mount Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs....
 heartbroken and she spent the rest of her life in lonely glens, pining away for the love she never knew, until only her voice remained
Echo (phenomenon)

In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a Reflection of sound, arriving at the listener some time after the direct sound. Typical examples are the echo produced by the bottom of a well, by a building, or by the walls of an enclosed room....
.

Nemesis
Nemesis

Nemesis was the ancient Greek goddess of retribution.In Modern English, the word commonly refers to an archenemy.Nemesis may also refer to:...
 heard this prayer and sent Narcissus his punishment. He came across a deep pool in a forest, from which he took a drink. As he did, he saw his reflection for the first time in his life and fell in love with the beautiful boy he was looking at, not realizing it was himself. Eventually, after pining away for a while, he realized that the image he saw in the pool was a reflection of himself. Realizing that he could not act upon this love, he tore at his dress and beat at his body, his life force draining out of him. As he died, the bodyless Echo came upon him and felt sorrow and pity. His soul was sent to "the darkest hell" and the narcissus flower grew where he died.

It is said that Narcissus still keeps gazing on his image in the waters of the river Styx
Styx

Styx may refer to:* Styx , the river that forms the boundary between the Greek underworld and the world of the living, as well as a goddess and a nymph that represent the river....
.

Pausanias' version

Pausanias
Pausanias

Pausanias *Pausanias , lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's Symposium*Pausanias , Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC...
 locates the spring of Narcissus at Donacon 'Reed-bed' in the territory of the Thespians
Thespiae

Thespiae was an ancient Greece polis in Boeotia. It stood on level ground commanded by the low range of hills which runs eastward from the foot of Mount Helicon to Thebes, Greece....
. Pausanias finds it incredible that someone could not distinguish a reflection from a real person, and cites a less known variant in which Narcissus had a twin sister. Both dressed similarly and hunted together. Narcissus fell in love with her. When she died, Narcissus pined after her and pretended that the reflection he saw in the water was his sister. Some Greek tales suggest that he was sexually attracted towards his sister
Incest

Incest refers to any sexual activity between closely related persons that is illegal or socially taboo. The type of sexual activity and the nature of the relationship between persons that constitutes a breach of law or social taboo vary with culture and jurisdiction....
, and when she was alive made love to her.

As Pausanias also notes, yet another tale is that the Narcissus flower was created to entice Demeter
Demeter

File:Demeter in horse chariot w daughter kore 83d40m wikiC Tempio Y di Selinunte sec VIa.JPGDemeter , in Greek mythology, is the Goddess of cereal and fertility, the pure....
's daughter Persephone
Persephone

In Greek mythology, Persephone was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Greek Underworld, the kore , and the parthenogenesis daughter of Demeter and, in later Classical myths, a daughter of Demeter and Zeus....
 away from her companions to enable Hades
Hades

Hades refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive case , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"....
 to abduct her.

Influence

The myth of Narcissus has been a rich vein for artists to mine for at least two thousand years, even before the Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 poet Ovid
Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso was a Roman Empire poet known as Ovid to the English language-speaking world, who wrote about love, seduction, and Roman mythology transformation....
 featured a version in book III of his Metamorphoses
Metamorphoses (poem)

The Metamorphoses by the Ancient Rome poet Ovid is a Narrative poetry in fifteen books that describes the Creation myth and history of the world....
). This was followed in more recent centuries by other poets (e.g. Keats
John Keats

John Keats was an England poetry who became one of the principal poets of the English Romanticism movement during the early nineteenth century....
) and painters (Caravaggio, Poussin
Nicolas Poussin

Nicolas Poussin was a French Painting in the Classicism style. His work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color....
, Turner, Dalí
Salvador Dalí

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dal? i Dom?nech, 1st Marquis of P?bol was a Spain Catalonia surrealist painter born in Figueres.Dal? was a skilled Technical drawing, best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealism work....
 , and Waterhouse
John William Waterhouse

John William Waterhouse was an England Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Painting most famous for his paintings of female Fictional character from mythology and literature....
). Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky "An Honest Thief"* "Elka i svad'ba" ; English translation: "A Christmas Tree and a Wedding"* Belye nochi ; English translation: White Nights ...
 used lonely Narcissus-type characters in his poems and novels, such as Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin in "The Double
The Double: A Petersburg Poem

The Double: A Petersburg Poem is a novella written by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The novella was first published in 1846. The Double deals with the internal psychological struggle of its main character, Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin....
" (1846).In Stendhal
Stendhal

Henri-Marie Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century France writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme ....
's novel Le Rouge et le Noir(1830), there is a classic narcissist in the character of Mathilde. Says Prince Korasoff to Julien Sorel, the protagonist, with respect to his beloved:

She looks at herself instead of looking at you, and so doesn't know you.
During the two or three little outbursts of passion she has allowed
herself in your favor, she has, by a great effort of imagination, seen in
you the hero of her dreams, and not yourself as you really are.
(Page 401, 1953 Penguin Edition, trans. Margaret R.B. Shaw).


The myth had a decided influence on English Victorian
Victorian era

The Victorian Era of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the period of Victoria of the United Kingdom reign from June 1837 to January 1901....
 homoerotic
Homoeroticism

Homoeroticism refers to the representation of same-sex love and desire, most especially as it is depicted or manifested in the visual arts and literature....
 culture, via Andre Gide
André Gide

Andr? Paul Guillaume Gide was a France author and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1947. Gide's career ranged from its beginnings in the Symbolism movement, to the advent of Anti-imperialism between the two World Wars....
's study of the myth, Traite du Narcisse ('The Treatise of the Narcissus', 1891), and the work of Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish people playwright, Irish poetry and author of numerous short stories and one novel. Known for his biting wit, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest Celebrity of his day....
.

In 20th century pop culture, Bob Dylan's song "License to Kill" refers indirectly to Narcissus: "Now he worships at an altar of a stagnant pool /And when he sees his reflection, he's fulfilled."

"Supper's Ready
Supper's Ready

Supper's Ready is a song by the band Genesis . A recorded version appeared on their 1972 album Foxtrot , and the band performed the song regularly on stage for several years following this....
" by Genesis (ca. 1972), a near-23-minute epic song laden with religious and mythological imagery, refers to the myth of Narcissus as follows: "A young figure sits still by a pool / He's been stamped "Human Bacon" by some butchery tool / (He is you) / Social Security took care of this lad. / We watch in reverence, as Narcissus is turned to a flower. / A flower?" The movement is titled "How Dare I Be So Beautiful?".

Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist....
's The Alchemist also starts with a reference to Narcissus.

Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney is an Irish people poet, writer and lecturer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. He currently lives in Dublin....
 references Narcissus in his poem "Personal Helicon" from his first collection "Death of a Naturalist":
"To stare, big-eyed Narcissus, into some spring
Is beneath all adult dignity."


Although never published, the lyric to the Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins

Cocteau Twins was a Scottish band active from 1979 to 1997....
 'b-side' "Mud and Dark" is a telling of Echo and Narcissus' story.

See also

  • Malignant Narcissism
    Narcissistic personality disorder

    Narcissistic personality disorder is a personality disorder defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the diagnostic classification system used in the United States, as "a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and a lack of empathy." ...
  • Echo (mythology)
    Echo (mythology)

    In Greek mythology, Echo was an Oread who loved her own voice. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and visited them on Earth often. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mount Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs....
  • Pygmalion
    Pygmalion (mythology)

    Pygmalion is a legendary figure of Cyprus. Though Pygmalion is the Greek version of the Phoenician royal name Pumayyaton, he is most familiar from Ovid's Metamorphoses , in which Pygmalion is a sculptor who falls in love with a statue he has made....


Spoken word versions


Modern sources

  • *

External links