0666ANCIENTScylla_Aldobrandini

0691ANCIENTMyrrha_Aldobrandini

Fresco depicting Myrrha, a figure from Greek mythology, in a pink gown and golden drapery, with an expression of distress.

Ovid may not tell a more sordid tale of incestuous love than Myrrha's. The fact that he tells it at such length is doubly remarkable. As told in Metamorphoses 10, the narrative bridges the space between the stories of Pygmalion and Galataea and of Venus and Adonis.

Myrrha's father, Cinyras is grandson (by Paphos) of Pygmalion and his creation. He is the king of Cyprus.

Myrrha (aka Smyrna), as Ovid tells the story, is afflicted with lust for her father. She nearly hangs herself because of the shameful feelings she experiences. With the help of a meddlesome nurse, she relieves her lusty desires by lying with the enebriated Cinyras night after night. She conceives a child, Adonis, though she does not bear the child while still a human. Rather, Myrrha is transformed into the myrrh and the child is cut from her trunk.

Catullus 95 praises the Smyrna by his friend Cinna the Poet. How welcome would that poem now be to scholars of Latin literary history.