Cenchreis
In Greek mythology, Cenchreis (Ancient Greek: Κεγχρηίς, romanized: Kenkhrēís) is a queen of Cyprus and the wife of Cinyras, by whom she became the mother of a girl. Cenchreis earned the wrath of Aphrodite when she bragged that her daughter was more beautiful than the goddess. Her tale is preserved in Roman accounts.
Family
[edit]Cenchreis married Cinyras, the king of Cyprus or Assyria, and together they had one daughter, called Smyrna or Myrrha.[1] In some authors, the wife of Cinyras is called Metharme[2] or Orithyia.[3]
Mythology
[edit]Cenchreis was very proud of her daughter's great beauty, so she declared that she was even prettier than Venus (Roman Aphrodite), the goddess of beauty and love.[4][5] Venus was angered, and punished Cenchreis' hubris by making the girl fall in love with her own father.[6] Then, during a festival in honour of Ceres (Roman Demeter) where Cenchreis was pre-occupied with the celebrations, the daughter secretly lay with a drunk Cinyras without his knowledge and conceived a son, Adonis.[7][8]
Interpretation
[edit]Some authors make Smyrna herself the agent who angered the gods and cause of her own misery, or omit the curse entirely.[9][10] Surviving accounts do not make it clear whether Cenchreis knew about the incestuous affair between her husband and daughter and Adonis' birth or not.[11] Two main versions of the tale circulated in late antiquity; one oriental where the father is called Theias, and one Cypriot where he is substituted with the local king Cinyras. Hyginus, who relates Cenchreis' hubris, combined elements from both versions.[12]
See also
[edit]
Other women who doomed their children in Greek mythology:
References
[edit]- ↑ Tripp 1970, p. 164.
- ↑ Apollodorus 3.14.3
- ↑ Schmitz 1867, s.v. Smyrna.
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 58; Lactantius Placidus, Argumenta 10.9
- ↑ Savva 2023, pp. 191–3; Tripp 1970, p. 164
- ↑ Grimal 1987, p. 13.
- ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.430-518; Ovid does not include Cenchreis' offence against any deity.
- ↑ Pepin 2008, pp. 83, 117, 313.
- ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 310–12; Apollodorus 3.14.4; Antoninus Liberalis 34; pseudo-Plutarch, Parallela Minora 22; Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Eclogues 10.18
- ↑ Hard 2004, p. 198; Gantz 1996, p. 730
- ↑ Bell 1991, s.v. Cenchreis.
- ↑ Savva 2023, pp. 191–3.
Bibliography
[edit]- Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Bell, Robert E. (1991). Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-Clio. ISBN 9780874365818.
- Gantz, Timothy (1996). Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources. Vol. II. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3.
- Grimal, Pierre (1987). The Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-13209-0.
- Hard, Robin (2004). The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H. J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology". Routledge. ISBN 9780415186360.
- Hyginus, Gaius Julius, The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Available online on Topos Text.
- Lactantius Placidus, Argumenta, in Lateinische Mythographen: Lactantius Placidus, Argumente der Metamorphosen Ovids, erstes heft, Dr. B. Bunte, Bremen, 1852, J. Kühtmann & Comp.
- Ovid, Metamorphoses volume II: Books 9-15. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 43. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1916. Available online at Loeb Classical Library.
- Pepin, Ronald E. (2008). The Vatican Mythographers. New York City: Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0-8232-2892-8.
- Plutarch, pseudo-, Parallela Minora in The Moralia, with an English Translation by Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. 4. Online version at Topos Text.
- Savva, Emilia (2023). "On the Track of Venus' Cult". Cyprus in Texts from Graeco-Roman Antiquity. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-52948-9.
- Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Available online at Perseus Digital Library.
- Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). Smith, William (ed.). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London, UK: John Murray, printed by Spottiswoode and Co. Online version at the Perseus.tufts library.
- Tripp, Edward (June 1970). Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology (1st ed.). Thomas Y. Crowell Co. ISBN 069022608X.