page_title: Myrrha
section_title: Ovid's version
hierarchical_section_title: Myrrha / Myth / Ovid's version
context_page_description: Myrrha, also known as Smyrna, is the mother of Adonis in Greek mythology. She was transformed into a myrrh tree after having had intercourse with her father, and gave birth to Adonis in tree form. Although the tale of Adonis has Semitic roots, it is uncertain from where the myth of Myrrha emerged, though it was likely from Cyprus.
  The myth details the incestuous relationship between Myrrha and her father, Cinyras. Myrrha falls in love with her father and tricks him into sexual intercourse. After discovering her identity, Cinyras draws his sword and pursues Myrrha. She flees across Arabia and, after nine months, turns to the gods for help. They take pity on her and transform her into a myrrh tree. While in plant form, Myrrha gives birth to Adonis. According to legend, the aromatic exudings of the myrrh tree are Myrrha's tears.
  The most familiar form of the myth was recounted in the Metamorphoses of Ovid, and the story was the subject of the most famous work of the poet Helvius Cinna.
context_section_description: Published in 8 A.D. the Metamorphoses of Ovid has become one of the most influential poems by the Latin writers. The Metamorphoses showed that Ovid was more interested in questioning how the laws interfered with people's lives than in writing epic tales like Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Odyssey. The Metamorphoses is not narrated by Ovid, but rather by the characters inside the stories. The myth of Myrrha and Cinyras is sung by Orpheus in the tenth book of Metamorphoses after he has told the myth of Pygmalion and before he turns to the tale of Venus and Adonis. As the myth of Myrrha is also the longest tale sung by Orpheus (205 lines) and the only story that corresponds to his announced theme of girls punished for forbidden desire, it is considered the centerpiece of the song. Ovid opens the myth with a warning to the audience that this is a myth of great horror, especially to fathers and daughters:
  The story I am going to tell is a horrible one: I beg that daughters and fathers should hold themselves aloof, while I sing, or if they find my songs enchanting, let them refuse to believe this part of my tale, and suppose that it never happened: or else, if they believe that it did happen, they must believe also in the punishment that followed.
  According to Ovid, Myrrha was the daughter of King Cinyras and Queen Cenchreis of Cyprus. It is stated that Cupid was not to blame for Myrrha's incestuous love for her father, Cinyras. Ovid further comments that hating one's father is a crime, but Myrrha's love was a greater crime. Ovid therefore blamed it on the Furies.
  Over several verses, Ovid depicts the psychic struggle Myrrha faces between her sexual desire for her father and the social shame she would face for acting thereon. Sleepless, and losing all hope, she attempted suicide; but was discovered by her nurse, in whom she confided. The nurse tried to make Myrrha suppress the infatuation, but later agreed to help Myrrha into her father's bed if she promised that she would not again try to kill herself.
  During the Ceres' festival, the worshiping women (including Cenchreis, Myrrha's mother) were not to be touched by men for nine nights; wherefore the nurse told Cinyras of a girl deeply in love with him, giving a false name. The affair lasted several nights in complete darkness to conceal Myrrha's identity, until Cinyras wanted to know the identity of his paramour. Upon bringing in a lamp, and seeing his daughter, the king attempted to kill her on the spot, but Myrrha escaped.
  Thereafter Myrrha walked in exile for nine months, past the palms of Arabia and the fields of Panchaea, until she reached Sabaea. Afraid of death and tired of life, and pregnant as well, she begged the gods for a solution, and was transformed into the myrrh tree, with the sap thereof representing her tears. Later, Lucina freed the newborn Adonis from the tree.
caption: Myrrha's flight from her father
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