Greek mythology is one of the most complex stories in the world. It has a huge amount of tales of all kinds and among them is the myth of Narcissus. This myth was a way for the Greeks and Romans of the time to put vanity aside, because they were societies where there was a lot of self-worship.

See below for all the details about it.

Narcissus: meaning in mythology

Narcissus is a character from Greek and Roman mythology, as both mythologies shared a large number of stories and characters. Although on many occasions the names or a certain part of the stories changed.

Narcissus was the son of Cephysus and Liriope. Cephysus was a river god in Greek mythology, a descendant of some of the Greek deities, while his mother, Liriope, was a nymph, these spirits being associated with nature.

Seer Tirésias

Liriope was told by a blind seer from Thebes, whose name was Tyrethias, that her son would be very happy and live many years. However, for this to happen he should never look at his reflected image anywhere. This was difficult to accomplish, however, because Narcissus' parents were creatures from mythology associated with rivers, places where Narcissus could see his reflected image.

Narcissus was a very attractive and beautiful young man, who could with his mere presence make every man and woman who saw him fall in love, even if only once.

This made Narcissus a very vain person, despising anyone who fell in love with him. Moreover, he was unable to see the beauty in anything else, not even in the nature around him. And it is this great vanity that leads us to his myth.

The Myth of Narcissus and Echo: the Roman Version

The Roman version of this myth that is considered to be true is the most popular. This version is the one we usually have in mind when we talk about Narcissus.

The Roman story of the Myth of Narcissus is told by Ovid, a Roman poet who adapted many Greek stories to the Roman context, one of them being that of Narcissus. In this version it says that while Narcissus was in the forest hunting deer, he was seen by a nymph named Echo.

The girl, in turn, was an Oreade, a kind of nymph connected to the mountains who was created by the Muses and of whom he said that her voice was capable of speaking the most beautiful voices in the world.

Echo falls in love

Eco caught everyone's attention by her voice, and this made Hera jealous, fearing that her husband Zeus might woo her, so Hera made sure that Eco could only say the last words she heard from the person she spoke to.

Narcissus was sure that someone was watching him and spoke to the area where he thought the strange person was. Upon meeting Eco, the two exchanged a few words and she darted out of hiding, trying to embrace her lover.

However, Narcissus rejected her the same way he had rejected anyone in his entire life, so Eco ran away with a broken heart.

Goddess of justice and vengeance

This great act of contempt called the attention of some deities, but the only one who dared to intervene was Nemesis, the goddess of justice and vengeance. This deity, knowing the words of Tyrethias, decided to take revenge on the young Narcissus.

Nemesis used all her weapons to trick Narcissus into approaching a stream and seeing his beautiful face reflected there. She made him unable to stop looking at himself.

Thus, for the first time in his life, Narcissus was rejected, because he could not take a simple reflection for himself, so he jumped into the water and committed suicide. Consequently, a beautiful flower was born from his body, which we now call Narcissus.

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The Greek version of the myth of Narcissus

The Greek version of the Myth of Narcissus is very interesting, even though it is less known, so before concluding, it is important to talk about it as well. This version was discovered years after the Roman one and tells that the one who fell in love with Narcissus was a young Hellenic man named Ameinias. But he also suffered rejection, just like Eco...

Rejection

Narcissus' rejection was extremely cruel. He gave Ameinias a sword as a way to laugh at the young man's masculinity. Thus, Ameinias, filled with pain from the rejection, committed suicide with the sword and asked Nemesis to avenge his death.

After that, there are two versions of Narcissus' death: one of them similar to the Roman one, and the other story has a different ending. In this second story, Narcissus falls in love with his image reflected in a stream.

However, he does not realize that it is his reflection until he tries to kiss it. Narcissus realizes that it is an illusion and that he cannot kiss his reflection, so he decides to kill himself with a sword. In both deaths, one is born on his corpse.

What lessons do we learn from Narcissus?

In Greek mythology, Narcissus prided himself on despising those who loved him, causing some to commit suicide to prove their unrelenting devotion to his striking beauty.

Therefore, Narcissus is the origin of the term narcissism, a fixation on oneself and one's physical appearance or public perception. Narcissism is synonymous with "selfishness" or "self-centeredness".

Final considerations about the myth of Narcissus

In Greek mythology, Narcissus prided himself on despising those who loved him, causing some to commit suicide to prove their devotion

Son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Leiriope, he was an extremely handsome young Greek. However, his uncontrolled vanity eventually led to his death.

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