Editing Cyparissus (section)

===As initiation myth===
[[File:Apollo, Hyacinthus and Cyparissus Making Music and Singing by Alexander Ivanov.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Apollo]], [[Hyacinth (mythology)|Hyacinthus]], and Cyparissus Making Music and Singing'' by [[Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov]], 1831–1834]]
The myth of Cyparissus, like that of [[Hyacinth (mythology)|Hyacinth]]us, has often been interpreted as reflecting the social custom of [[pederasty in ancient Greece]], with the boy the beloved (''[[eromenos]]'') of Apollo. [[Pederasty|Pederastic]] myth represents the process of [[initiation]] into adult male life,<ref>Bernard Sergent, ''Homosexualité dans la mythologie grecque'', 1984 (Chapter 2), with an introduction by [[Georges Dumézil]], whose lead Sergent follows.</ref> with a "death" and transfiguration for the ''eromenos''. "In all these tales", notes [[Károly Kerényi|Karl Kerényi]], "the beautiful boys are doubles of [Apollo] himself."<ref>[[Károly Kerényi|Karl Kerényi]], ''The Gods of the Greeks'' (Thames and Hudson, 1951), p. 140.</ref>

The stag as a gift from Apollo reflects the custom in [[Archaic Greece|Archaic Greek society]] of the older male (''[[Eromenos|erastēs]]'') giving his beloved an animal, an act often alluded to in [[Pottery of ancient Greece|vase painting]].<ref>Gifts of animals from the ''erastes'' are discussed as they appear in Attic vase-painting by [[Gundel Koch-Harnack]], ''Knabenliebe und Tiergeschenke: Ihre Bedeutung im päderastischen Erziehungssystem Athens'' (Berlin 1983).{{Page needed|date=March 2011}}</ref> In the initiatory context, the hunt is a supervised preparation for the manly arts of war and a testing ground for behavior, with the stag embodying the gift of the hunter's prey.<ref>Koch-Harnack, ''Knabenliebe und Tiergeschenke''.{{Page needed|date=March 2011}}</ref>

Similarly, the myth was used to explain the connection of the cypress tree to mourning and sorrow. Forbes-Irving has argued that the cypress as tree of mourning was mostly a Roman tradition, with little evidence of it playing such a role in Greek society.<ref name=":forbs" /> It is possible however that the earlier Greek source of Cyparissus's myth diverged significantly from the surviving later ones, and was originally used to explain the connection of the cypress to Apollo specifically.<ref name=":forbs">{{cite book | title = Metamorphosis in Greek Myths | first = Paul M. C. | last = Forbes Irving | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]] | date = 1990 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=URvXAAAAMAAJ | isbn = 0-19-814730-9 | page = 261}}</ref>