MYRRHA

Myrrha was the mother of the Greek hero Adonis. The story of how she came to be pregnant with her son is a sad one. It was the result of a divine punishment and involved an incestuous relationship with her father.

Several versions of the story of Myrrha exist, although the variations in detail are minor. All agree that Myrrha lived somewhere in a land in western Asia known for its sweet-smelling incense and perfumes. That the story originated in this region is suggested by its reference to the myrrh tree. Arabic was widely spoken in western Asia, and the word myrrh comes from the Arabic word for “bitter.” The tree grows naturally in western Asia, as well as in parts of northern Africa.

According to one account, the Greek goddess Aphrodite punished Myrrha because Myrrha’s mother boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than Aphrodite. In revenge, Aphrodite made the girl have a sexual desire for her father, who was King Theias of Assyria (which covered present-day northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey).

With the help of her nurse, Myrrha managed to deceive her father. Instead of visiting his mistress, as was his custom, Theias visited his daughter. On 12 successive nights the two were lovers. On the last night Theias discovered the trick and was so filled with revulsion that he chased his daughter with a sword, intending to kill her.

The gods took pity on Myrrha, however, and transformed her into a myrrh tree. Nine months later the bark of the tree split open and the infant Adonis emerged. He later became the object of the affections of both Persephone, the underworld goddess, and Aphrodite.

Myrrha in the Metamorphoses

In the Metamorphoses, Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE—17 CE) set the story of Myrrha on the island of Panchaia in the Arabian Sea and identified the girl’s father as Cinyras, a king of Cyprus. Ovid attributed Myrrha’s desire for her father not to Aphrodite but to one of the Furies, female

Above: This illustration by Bernard Picart (1673—1733) from an edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses shows Myrrha changing into a tree and the birth of Adonis.

Spirits whose responsibility it was to secure love between children and their parents. According to Ovid, Myrrha’s devotion went too far. She refused to choose among the many suitors who came to woo her and instead doted on her own father.

The pain of Myrrha’s unfulfilled desires proved to be too much, and she began to make preparations to hang herself. Her nurse, upon discovering Myrrha’s plans, pleaded with her to share the cause of her unhappiness. The nurse then understood that, to live, Myrrha had to satisfy her passion. During a festival in which the girl’s mother was otherwise occupied, the nurse told Cinyras that a young girl was interested in him, without revealing who the girl was.

The story ends as the previous version does, with the father pursuing his daughter angrily and the girl throwing herself on the mercy of the gods.

Even after her transformation, Myrrha’s tears continued to fall in a dewy resin that people collect from the tree and call by her name. Myrrh is an aromatic gum that was highly valued in ancient times as an ingredient in incenses, cosmetics, perfumes, and medicine. In the New Testament of the Bible it was one of the gifts that the three magi gave to the infant Jesus, along with gold and frankincense.

Kirk Summers

Bibliography

Ovid, and A. D. Melville, trans. Metamorphoses. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.