Narcissus
A Boeotian hero whose archaic myth was a cautionary tale warning boys against being cruel to their lovers.

In Greek mythology, Narcissus or Narkissos (Greek: Νάρκισσος), was a hero of the territory of Thespiae in Boeotia who was renowned for his beauty. Several versions of his myth have survived: Ovid's, from his Metamorphoses; Pausanias', from his Guide to Greece, (9.31.7); and one found among the Oxyrhynchus papyri. Narcissus may mean either: Narcissus in Greek mythology the Narcissus flower and plant Narcissus, freedman and secretary to the Roman emperor Claudius Narcissus, murderer of the Roman emperor Commodus HMS Narcissus, a name borne by six ships of the Royal Navy Narcissus, a JavaScript engine Narcissus, a piano piece by... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x2454, 335 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Narcissus (mythology) Narcissus (Caravaggio) ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x2454, 335 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Narcissus (mythology) Narcissus (Caravaggio) ... The bust of Zeus found at Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican) Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the Ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. ... Heroine (female hero) redirects here. ... Thespiae (Greek Θεσπιαι, Thespiai) was an ancient Greek city in Boeotia. ... Boeotia or Beotia (//, (Greek Βοιωτια; see also list of traditional Greek place names) was the central area of ancient Greece. ... Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC – Tomis, now ConstanÅ£a AD 17), a Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women and mythological transformations. ... // Cover of George Sandyss 1632 edition of Ovids Metamorphosis Englished The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a poem in fifteen books that describes the creation and history of the world in terms according to Greek and Roman points of view. ... Pausanias (Greek: ) was a Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ... Oxyrhynchus (Greek: Οξύρυγχος; sharp-nosed; ancient Egyptian Per-Medjed; modern Egyptian Arabic el-Bahnasa) is an archaeological site in Egypt, considered one of the most important ever discovered. ... Blank papyrus. ...

Pausanias locates the spring of Narcissus at Donacon 'Reed-bed' in the territory of the Thespians. 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.

As Pausanias also notes, yet another tale is that the narcissus flower was created to entice Demeter's daughter Persephone away from her companions to enable Hades to abduct her. Ceres (Demeter), allegory of August: detail of a fresco by Cosimo Tura, Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, 1469-70. ... Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1874) (Tate Gallery, London In Greek mythology, Persephone (Greek Περσεφόνη, Persephónē) was the Queen of the Underworld of epic literature. ... Hades, Greek god of the underworld, enthroned, with his bird-headed staff, on a red-figure Apulian vase made in the 4th century BC. For other uses, see Hades (disambiguation). ...

Archaic Version

There is an older version than the one related by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, which 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 adolescent boys. Until recently, the only source for this version was a segment in Pausanias (9.31.7), about 150 years after Ovid. A very similar account was discovered among the Oxyrhynchus papyri in 2004, however, an account that predates Ovid's version by at least fifty years. Pederastic courtship scene Athenian black-figure amphora, 5th c. ...

In this story, Ameinias, a young man, loved Narcissus but was scorned. To tell Ameinias off, Narcissus gave him a sword as a present. Ameinias used the sword to kill himself on Narcissus' doorstep and prayed to Nemesis that Narcissus would one day know the pain of unrequited love. This curse was fulfilled when Narcissus became entranced by his reflection in the pool and tried to seduce the beautiful boy, not realizing it was himself he was looking at. He only realized that it was his reflection after trying to kiss it. Completing the symmetry of the tale, Narcissus took his sword and killed himself from sorrow. His corpse then turned into a flower.[1]

Narcissus died because he could only love his image at the expense of himself.

Influence

The myth of Narcissus has been a rich vein for artists to mine for at least two thousand years, beginning with the Roman poet Ovid (book III of Metamorphoses).This was followed in more recent centuries by other poets (Keats), and painters (Caravaggio, Poussin, Turner, Dalí, and Waterhouse). In Stendhal'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: Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC – Tomis, now ConstanÅ£a AD 17), a Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women and mythological transformations. ... // Cover of George Sandyss 1632 edition of Ovids Metamorphosis Englished The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a poem in fifteen books that describes the creation and history of the world in terms according to Greek and Roman points of view. ... John Keats (31 October 1795 – February 23, 1821) was one of the principal poets of the English Romantic movement. ... Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (September 28, 1573 – July 18, 1610), usually called Caravaggio after his hometown near Milan, was an Italian Baroque painter, whose large religious works portrayed saints and other biblical figures as ordinary people. ... Les Bergers d’Arcadie, set in Ancient Greece. ... J. M. W. Turner, English landscape painter The fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, painted 1839. ... Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquis of Pubol (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989), was a Spanish surrealist painter. ... John William Waterhouse. ... Stendhal. ... Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix commemorates the July Revolution 1830 (MDCCCXXX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

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 homoerotic culture, via the influence of Andre Gide's study of the myth Traite du Narcisse ('The Treatise of the Narcissus', 1891), and the influence of Oscar Wilde. Also, many characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's (19th-Century Russian Writer) writings are lonely Narcissus-types, such as Yakov Petrovich Golyadkin in "The Double" (Published 1846). In the late twentieth century, male homoeroticism flourished in the visual arts. ... Andr Paul Guillaume Gide (November 22, 1869 - February 19, 1951) was a French author and spokesman for gay rights. ... Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and short story writer. ... Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (Russian: Фёдор Миха́йлович Достое́вский, IPA: , sometimes transliterated Dostoyevsky,Dostoievsky, or Dostoevski  ) (November 11 [O.S. October 30] 1821 – February 9 [O.S. January 28] 1881) is considered one of two greatest prose writers of Russian literature, alongside close contemporary Leo Tolstoy. ...

In addition, Bob Dylan's song "License to Kill" the last verse hints at a reference to Narcissus. "Now he worships at an altar of a stagnant pool /And when he sees his reflection, he's fulfilled."

The Narcissus flower

The Narcissus flower is named after Narcissus. [2] Species See text. ...

Further reading, and listening

• Louise Vinge. (1967). The Narcissus Theme in Western Literature up to the Nineteenth Century. (The classic in-depth study).

Ogg is an open standard for a free container format for digital multimedia, unrestricted by software patents and designed for efficient streaming and manipulation. ... Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso (Sulmona, March 20, 43 BC – Tomis, now Constanţa AD 17), a Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women and mythological transformations. ... Pausanias (Greek: ) was a Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century A.D., who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. ...

See also

• Narcissism
• Pygmalion
• Echo (mythology)

This article is about narcissism as a word in common use. ... Étienne Maurice Falconet: Pygmalion & Galatee (1763) Pygmalion is a fictional character from the Roman poet Ovid, found in the tenth book of his Metamorphoses. ... Echo and Narcissus, by John William Waterhouse. ...

External links

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Narcissus (mythology)

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