Editing Narcissus (mythology) (section)

== Mythology ==
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 (mythology)|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 (mythology)|Echo]] and Narcissus.

After being "ravaged" by the river god [[Cephissus (mythology)|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 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, it Echo kept the goddess Juno occupied with stories while Zeus's lovers escaped Mount Olympus.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |date=March 5, 2023 |title=Narcissus |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Narcissus/ |access-date= |website=World History Encyclopedia}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stone |first=Greg |date=2016 |title=The Myth of Narcissus as a Surreptitious Allegory about Creativity |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/628756 |journal=Philosophy and Literature |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=273–284 |doi=10.1353/phl.2016.0021 |issn=1086-329X}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bergmann |first=Martin S. |date=1984 |title=The Legend of Narcissus |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26303609 |journal=American Imago |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=389–411 |jstor=26303609 |issn=0065-860X}}</ref> 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 (mythology)|Nemesis]], the goddess of revenge, heard the pleas of a young man, [[Ameinias (mythology)|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.<ref name="litteraturbanken.se">
{{cite web |last=Vinge |first=Louise |date=1967a |title=The Narcissus Myth in Western Literature up until the Early 19th Century |website=litteraturbanken.se |publisher=Gleerups |url=https://litteraturbanken.se/f%C3%B6rfattare/VingeL/titlar/TheNarcissusTheme/sida/16/faksimil }}</ref>{{efn|
Narcissus is in danger when he sees the image but not, because of that, lost. He is lost when he recognizes himself in the image. It is not until then that death becomes the only possible solution. Narcissus dies when he loses the illusion but cannot escape from the feeling that it has aroused; he dies when there is no hope left that the passion can be satisfied. — {{harvp|Vinge|1967a}}<ref name="litteraturbanken.se"/>
}}{{efn|
Finally, Narcissus realises that he has an insoluble problem and gives it a concise formulation: [Ovid writes] ''"Quod cupio, mecum est: Inopem me copia fecit."''
:: [Translation: "What I desire is with me: Abundance made me destitute."]
At this point [continues Vinge] Schickel makes an important comment: "Er durchschaut wen er im Wasser vor sich hat; weder liebt er sein Spiegelbild, wie ein Leser dem andern nachirrt, noch treibt er 'Narzissmus,' wie man seit Freud missversteht."
:: [Translation: "He sees through who he has in front of him in the water; he neither loves his reflection, like one reader follows another, nor does he practice 'narcissism', as has been misunderstood since Freud"]49.
 — {{harvp|Vinge|1967a}}<ref name="litteraturbanken.se"/>
}}
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.<ref name="greekmyths-greekmythology.com">{{cite web |url=http://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph3.htm#476975716|title=The myth of Narcissus}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=John |last=Tzetzes |url=http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html#9 |title=Chiliades, 1.9 |at=lines&nbsp;235–238 }}</ref>

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]].<ref name="WBHenry">{{cite web | last=Henry | first=W. B. | title=New Light on the Narcissus Myth | website=The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, [[Oxford University]] | url=https://oxyrhynchus.web.ox.ac.uk/article/narcissus-myth | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250115013243/https://oxyrhynchus.web.ox.ac.uk/article/narcissus-myth | access-date=2025-02-26| archive-date=15 January 2025 }}</ref><ref name=DavidKeys>{{cite magazine |first=David |last=Keys |date=May 2004 |title=Ancient manuscript sheds new light on an enduring myth |magazine=BBC History Magazine |volume=5 |number=5 |page=9 |url=http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/POxy/news/narcissus.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124091056/http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/POxy/news/narcissus.html |via=Papyrology / [[University of Oxford]] |access-date=2025-02-26|archive-date=24 November 2010 }}</ref> This version is very concise and makes no mention of Echo.<ref name="WBHenry"/>
{{quote|He had a cruel heart, and hated all of them, till he conceived a love for his own form: He wailed, seeing his face, delightful as a dream, within a spring; he wept for his beauty. Then the boy shed his blood and gave it to the earth... to bear.}}

A version of the myth by [[Conon (mythographer)|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.<ref name="WBHenry"/>  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, and killed himself because he could not have his object of desire. Because of this tragedy, the [[Thespiae|Thespians]] came to honor and reverence [[Eros]] especially among the gods.<ref name= Topos>{{Cite web|url=https://topostext.org/work/489#24|title=ToposText|website=topostext.org|access-date=2019-11-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322161405/https://topostext.org/work/489#24|archive-date=22 March 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="greekmyths-greekmythology.com" />

A century later the travel writer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] recorded a novel variant of the story, in which Narcissus falls in love with his twin sister rather than himself.<ref name= Topos/><ref>{{cite book |first=Mario |last= Jacoby |year=1991 |title= Individuation and Narcissism: The psychology of self in Jung and Kohut |edition= 1st |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 978-0415064644 }}</ref>

In all versions, his body disappears and all that is left is a [[Narcissus (plant)|narcissus flower]].
[[File:Jan Roos - Narcissus at the Spring.jpg|thumb|''Narcissus at the Spring'' by [[Jan Roos (painter)|Jan Roos]] depicts Narcissus gazing at his own reflection.]]