Narcissus (mythology)

Type	Greek
Image
Caption	Narcissus, an oil painting by Baroque artist Caravaggio
Parents	Cephissus and Liriope or Endymion and Selene
Name	Narcissus
Symbol	Daffodil
Abode	Thespiae

In Greek mythology, Narcissus (nɑrˈsɪsəs; «Νάρκισσος») is a hunter from Thespiae in Boeotia (alternatively Mimas or modern-day Karaburun, İzmir), known for his beauty which was noticed by all. According to the best-known version of the story in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Narcissus rejected the advances of all women and men who approached him, instead falling in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. In some versions, he beat his breast purple in agony at being kept apart from this reflected love, and according to Ovid turned into a flower bearing his name.

The character of Narcissus is the origin of the term narcissism, a self-centered personality style. This quality in extreme contributes to the definition of narcissistic personality disorder, a psychiatric condition marked by grandiosity, excessive need for attention and admiration, and an impaired ability to empathize.

Etymology

In his Etymological Dictionary of Greek, R. S. P. Beekes says that "the suffix -ισσος clearly points to a Pre-Greek word."

Family

In some versions, Narcissus was the son of the river god Cephissus and nymph Liriope, while Nonnus instead has him as the son of the lunar goddess Selene and her mortal lover Endymion.

Mythology

*Narcissus*, fresco from the House of M. Lucretius Fronto at Pompeii

Several versions of the myth have survived from ancient sources, one from Pausanias, the Greek traveler and geographer of the second century AD, and a more popular one from Ovid, published before 8 AD, found in Book 3 of his Metamorphoses. This is the story of Echo and Narcissus. In Ovid's narrative, the framing revolves around a test of the prophetic abilities of Tiresias, an individual who has experienced life as both a man and a woman. His sight was taken from him during a dispute between Juno and Jove; siding with Jove led to his blinding by an enraged Juno. In compensation for his lost sight, Jove granted him the gift of prophecy. The prophecy that solidified Tiresias's reputation is the tale of Echo and Narcissus.

Ovid

After being "ravaged" by the river god Cephissus, the nymph Liriope gave birth to Narcissus, who was "beautiful even as a child." As was the custom, she consulted the seer Tiresias about the boy's future, who predicted that the boy would live a long life only if he never "came to know himself". During his 16th year, after getting lost while hunting with friends, Narcissus came to be followed by a nymph, Echo.

Echo

Echo was an Oread (mountain nymph) and, like Tiresias, had a sensory ability altered after an argument between Juno and Jove. Echo had kept Juno occupied with gossip while Jove had an affair behind her back. In another similar version by Ovid, Echo kept the goddess Juno occupied with stories while Zeus's lovers escaped Mount Olympus. As a punishment, Juno took from Echo her agency in speech; Echo was thereafter never able to speak unless it was to repeat the last few words of those she heard. Echo had deceived using gossip; she would be condemned to be only that from then on.

Meanwhile, Echo spied Narcissus, separated from his hunting friends, and she became immediately infatuated, following him, waiting for him to speak so her feelings might be heard. Narcissus sensed he was being followed and shouted "Who's there?" Echo repeated, "Who's there?" While this interaction continued, Echo came close enough so that she was revealed, and attempted to embrace him. Horrified, he stepped back and told her to "keep her chains". Heartbroken, Echo wasted away, losing her body amidst lonely glens, until nothing of her but her chaste verbal ability remained.

Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, heard the pleas of a young man, Ameinias, who had fallen for Narcissus but was ignored and cursed him; Nemesis listened, proclaiming that Narcissus would never be able to be loved by the one he fell in love with.

After spurning Echo and the young man, Narcissus became thirsty. He found a pool of water which, in Ovid's account, no animal had ever approached. Leaning down to drink, Narcissus sees his reflection, which he finds as beautiful as a marble statue. Not realizing it was his own reflection, Narcissus fell deeply in love with it. Thus both Tiresias's prophecy and Nemesis' curse came true in the same instance.

Unable to leave the allure of this image, Narcissus eventually realized that his love could not be reciprocated and he melted away from the fire of passion burning inside him, eventually turning into a gold and white flower.

Versions without Echo

Ovid was probably influenced by an earlier version ascribed to the captive Greek poet Parthenius of Nicaea, composed around 50 BC and rediscovered in 2004 by Dr Benjamin Henry among the Oxyrhynchus papyri at Oxford. This version is very concise and makes no mention of Echo.

A version of the myth by Conon, a contemporary of Ovid, has an even bloodier ending (Narrations, 24), relating how a young man named Ameinias fell in love with Narcissus, who had already spurned his suitors, all of whom were male. Although Ameinias was very persistent, Narcissus spurned him too and gave him a sword, which Ameinias used to kill himself at Narcissus's doorstep after praying to the gods to teach Narcissus a lesson for all the pain he provoked. Narcissus walked by a pool of water and decided to drink some. He saw his reflection, became entranced by it, his first and only love, and killed himself because he could not have his object of desire. Because of this tragedy, the Thespians came to honor and reverence Eros especially among the gods.

A century later the travel writer Pausanias recorded a novel variant of the story, in which Narcissus falls in love with his twin sister rather than himself.

In all versions, his body disappears and all that is left is a narcissus flower.

*Narcissus at the Spring* by Jan Roos depicts Narcissus gazing at his own reflection.

Interpretation

Comparative ancient interpretations

Miyawaki outlines several major ancient versions of the Narcissus myth, each emphasizing different themes. In Ovid’s account, the myth centers on illusion, self-recognition, and the tragedy of unfulfilled desire. Conon’s version includes the rejected suitor Ameinias and frames the story as a moralized tale about cruelty and punishment. Pausanias presents a more psychologically grounded narrative in which Narcissus mourns his deceased twin sister, interpreting the story as an expression of grief rather than self-love.

Psychological interpretations

Modern psychoanalytic scholarship has challenged Freud’s reading of the myth. Javanbakht argues that Narcissus exhibits a conflicted pattern of withdrawal and longing more consistent with schizoid–histrionic dynamics than narcissistic personality disorder. He also notes that Narcissus initially fails to recognize the reflection and that his fixation is a punishment imposed by Nemesis, not an inherent trait.

Influence on culture

The myth of Narcissus has inspired artists for at least two thousand years, even before the Roman poet Ovid featured a version in book III of his Metamorphoses. This was followed in more recent centuries by other poets (e.g. Keats and Alfred Edward Housman) and painters (Caravaggio, Poussin, Turner, Dalí (see Metamorphosis of Narcissus), and Waterhouse).

Literature

Narcissus gazes at the spring. From a 14th Century copy of Roman de la Rose.

The myth had a decided influence on English Victorian homoerotic culture, via André Gide's study of the myth, Le Traité du Narcisse ('The Treatise of the Narcissus', 1891). Oscar Wilde also used the myth within his works. One of his poems from 1894, The Disciple,continues the story of Narcissus after his death,

Before this Wilde published The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890, and used Narcissus as an example of beauty multiple times. In Chapter 1, Lord Henry used the myth to describe the beauty of the man Basil (the protagonist) had painted. Basil explained to Lord Henry he did not want to part with his work because he had put much of himself into it.

...and this young Adonis, who looks as if he was made out of ivory and rose-leaves. Why, my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus, and you—well...

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Chapter 1

Lord Henry

Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist also starts with a story about Narcissus, found (we are told) by the alchemist in a book brought by someone in the caravan. The alchemist's (and Coelho's) source was very probably Hesketh Pearson's The Life of Oscar Wilde (1946) in which this story is recorded (Penguin edition, p. 217) as one of Wilde's inspired inventions. This version of the Narcissus story is based on Wilde's "The Disciple" from his "Poems in Prose (Wilde) ".

Seamus Heaney 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.

Petrarchan poetry, often in the form of a Petrarchan sonnet, has been profoundly impacted by the myth of Narcissus. Most notably, Petrarch's Sonnet 45 contains themes and motifs inspired by the myth of Narcissus when the love interest, Laura, loves her reflection more than the narrator.

Music

In Gilbert and Sullivan's opera Patience, the idyllic poet Archibald Grosvenor calls himself "a very Narcissus" after gazing at his own reflection.
Composer Nikolai Tcherepnin wrote his ballet "Narcisse et Echo, Op. 40" in 1911 for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and was danced by Nijinski.
The fifth of Benjamin Britten's Six Metamorphoses after Ovid for solo oboe (1951) is titled "Narcissus", "who fell in love with his own image and became a flower".