Editing Adonis (section)

=== Birth ===
While Sappho does not describe the myth of Adonis, later sources flesh out the details.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=95}} According to the retelling of the story found in the poem ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' by the Roman poet [[Ovid]] (43 BC – AD 17/18), Adonis was the son of [[Myrrha]], who was cursed by Aphrodite with insatiable lust for her own father, King [[Cinyras]] of [[Cyprus]],<ref name="OvidMyrrhaAdonis">[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph10.php#anchor_Toc64105571 10.298–355]</ref>{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=75}}{{sfn|Hansen|2004|page=289}} after Myrrha's mother bragged that her daughter was more beautiful than the goddess.<ref name="OvidMyrrhaAdonis"/>{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|page=75}} It was to her nurse that, with much reluctance, Myrrha revealed her shameful passion.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph10.php#anchor_Toc64105572 10.356-430]</ref> Sometime later, during a festival in honour of [[Demeter]], the nurse found Cinyras half-passed out with wine and Myrrha's mother nowhere near him. Thus, she spoke to him of a girl who truly loved him and desired to sleep with him, giving her a fictitious name and simply describing her as Myrrha's age. Cinyras agreed, and the nurse was quick to bring Myrrha to him. Myrrha left her father's room impregnated.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph10.php#anchor_Toc64105573 10.431-502]</ref> After several couplings, Cinyras discovered his lover's identity and drew his sword to kill her; driven out after becoming pregnant, Myrrha was changed into a [[myrrh]] tree but still gave birth to Adonis.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/Latin/Metamorph10.php#anchor_Toc64105574 10.503]</ref>{{sfn|Kerényi|1951|pages=75–76}}{{sfn|Hansen|2004|pages=289–290}} According to classicist William F. Hansen, the story of how Adonis was conceived falls in line with the conventional ideas about sex and gender that were prevalent in the classical world, since the Greeks and Romans believed that women, such as Adonis's mother Myrrha, were less capable of controlling their primal wants and passions than men.{{sfn|Hansen|2004|page=290}}