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Clytie (Oceanid)

This article is about the Oceanid nymph in love with Helios. For other uses, seeClytie.

Clytie(/ˈklaɪtiiː/;Ancient Greek:Κλυτίη,romanized:Klutíē) orClytia(/ˈklaɪtiə/;Ancient Greek:Κλυτία,romanized:Klutía) is a waternymph,daughter of theTitansOceanusandTethysinGreek mythology.[1][2][3]She is thus one of the 3,000Oceanidnymphs, and sister to the 3,000Potamoi(the river-gods).

Clytie
Member of theOceanids
Townley'sClytie
Other namesClytia
GreekΚλυτίη
AbodeBoeotia,others
SymbolsHeliotropium
Genealogy
ParentsOceanusandTethysor
Orchomenus/Orchamus
SiblingsTheOceanids,thePotamoior
Leucothoe
ConsortHelios

According to the myth, Clytie loved thegod of the sunHeliosin vain,[4]but he left her for another woman, the princessLeucothoe,under the influence ofAphrodite,thegoddess of love.In anger and bitterness, she revealed their affair to the girl'sfather,indirectly causing her doom as the kingburied her alive.This failed to win Helios back to her, and she was left lovingly staring at him from the ground; eventually she turned into aheliotrope,avioletflower that gazes at theSunin its diurnal journey.[5][6]

Clytie's story is mostly known from and fully preserved inOvid's narrative poemMetamorphoses,though other brief accounts and references to her from other authors survive as well.

Etymology

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Her name, spelled bothKlytieandKlytia,is derived from theancient Greekadjectiveκλυτός(klutós), meaning "glorious" or "renowned".[7]It derives from the verbκλύω,meaning 'to hear, to understand', itself from theProto-Indo-Europeanroot*ḱlew-,which means 'to hear'.[8]

Mythology

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Bust of Clytie, byHiram Powers,modeled 1865–1867, carved 1873.

Ovid

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Ovid's account of the story is the fullest and most detailed of the surviving ones. According to him, Clytie was a lover ofHelios,untilAphroditemade him fall in love with a Persian mortal princess,Leucothoe,in order to take revenge on him for telling her husbandHephaestusof her affair with the god of warAres,whereupon he ceased to care for her and all the other goddesses he had loved before, likeRhodos,PerseandClymene.Helios, having loved her, abandoned her for Leucothoe and left her deserted. Now no longer loved by him, she "scorned by [Helios], still seeks [his] love and even now bears its deep wounds in her heart." Angered by his treatment of her, and still missing him, she informed Leucothoe's father, KingOrchamus,about the affair. Since Helios had defiled Leucothoe, Orchamus had her put to death by burial alive in the sands. Helios arrived too late to save the girl, but he did make sure to turn her into afrankincense treeby pouringnectarover her dead body, so that she would still breathe air (in a way). Ovid seems to think that Helios bears some responsibility over Clytie's excessive jealousy because he writes that Helios's passion was never "moderate" when he loved her.[9]

Clytie turns into a sunflower as the Sun refuses to look at her, engraving byAbraham van Diepenbeeck.

Clytie intended to win Helios back by taking away his new love, but even though "her love might make excuse of grief, and grief may plead to pardon jealous words" her actions only hardened his heart against her, and now he avoided her altogether, never going back to her. In despair, she stripped herself and sat naked, accepting neither food nor drink, for nine days on the rocks, staring at the sun, Helios, and mourning his departure, but he never looked back at her. After nine days she was eventually transformed into a purple flower, theheliotrope(meaning "sun-turning"[10]), also known as turnsole (which is known for growing on sunny, rocky hillsides),[11]which turns its head always to look longingly at Helios the Sun as he passes through the sky in hissolar chariot,even though he no longer cares for her, her form much changed, her love for him unchanged.[12]

Variations

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Clytie Transformed into a Sunflower,Charles de la Fosse,oil on canvas,1688

The episode is most fully told byRomanpoetOvidin his poemtheMetamorphoses;[13]Ovid's version is the only full surviving narrative of this story, but he must had had a Greek original source, for the myth's origins and plot lie in the etymology of the flower's Greek name.[14]According toLactantius Placidus,he got this myth from seventh or sixth century BC Greek authorHesiod.[15]Some scholars however doubt this particular attribution to Hesiod.[16]Like Ovid, Lactantius does not explain how Clytie knew about Helios and Leucothoe, or how Helios knew it was Clytie who had informed Orchamus. It is possible that originally the stories of Leucothoe and Clytie were two distinct ones before they were combined along with a third story, that of Ares and Aphrodite's affair being discovered by Helios who then informed Hephaestus, into a single one either by Ovid or Ovid's source.[17]

One of the ancient paradoxographers identifies the girl who betrayed the secret as Leucothoe's sister instead, and their father's name asOrchomenus,giving her neither a name nor a motivation behind her actions.[18]Orchomenusis also the name of a town inBoeotia,implying that this version of the story took place there rather than Persia.[18]Pliny the Elderwrote that:

I have spoken more than once of the marvel of heliotropium, which turns round with the sun even on a cloudy day, so great a love it has for that, luminary. At night it closes its blue flower as though it mourned.[19]

Edith Hamiltonnotes that Clytie's case is unique inGreek mythology,as instead of the typical lovesick god being in love with an unwilling maiden, it is a maiden who is in love with an unwilling god.[20]

Culture

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Similar to the story ofDaphneused as an explanation for theplant's prominence in worship, Clytie' story might have been used for similar purposes in connecting the flower she turned into, the heliotrope, to Helios.[21]

An ancient scholiast wrote that the heliotropium that Clytie was turned into was the first preservation of the love for the god.[22][23]

Modern interpretations

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Statue of Clytie (1848), byJoseph-Stanislas Lescorné(1799-1872),Musée de PicardieinAmiens.

Identity of the flower

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Heliotropium flowers
Heliotropium arborescens
Heliotropium indicum

Modern traditions substitute thepurple[a]turnsole with ayellowsunflower,which according to (incorrect) folk wisdomturns in the direction of the sun.[24]The original French formtournesolprimarily refers to sunflower, while the Englishturnsoleis primarily used for heliotrope. Sunflowers however are native toNorth America,[25][26]and were not found in antiquity in eitherGreeceorItaly,making it impossible for ancient Greek and Roman authors to have included them in theiretiologicalmyths, as sunflowers were not part of their native flora and they would have not known about them and their sun-turning properties.

It has also been noted that the heliotropium itself poses some difficulties for identification with Clytie's flower;heliotropium arborescens,which is the vivid purple variant, is not native to Europe either, instead coming from theAmericasjust like the aforementioned sunflower. Native variants of heliotropium or other flowers called "heliotrope" are also the wrong colour, either white (heliotropium supinum) or yellow (vilossum), when Ovid described it as "like a violet" andPliny"blue".[19][27]Both however lived in the post-Hellenisticperiod after theconquestsofAlexander the Great,and could have been aware of theheliotropium indicum,a variant that can have a purplish or bluish corolla.[28]Moreover, evenheliotropium europaeum,a variant native in Europe which is normally white in colour, can have pale lilac flowers.[29]

Identity of the god

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Much like withPhaethon,another ancient myth featuringHelios,some modern retellings connect Clytie and her story toApollo,the god of light, but the myth as attested in classical sources does not actually concern him;[30]Ovid identifies twice the god Clytie fell in love with asHyperione natus/e(the son ofHyperion), and like other Roman authors does not conflate in his poem the two gods, who remain distinct in myth.[31]Clytie's lover whom she was jilted by is also connected to the story ofPhaethon,as the boy's father, a distinctly solar but non-Apolline figure, who in turn is not a sun god or given any solar characteristics as far as Ovid is concerned.[17]Joseph Fontenroseargued that despite Ovid's works being largely responsible for the prevalence of the two gods being the same one in post-classical times, he himself did not actually identify them in either the story of Phaethon or the story of Leucothoe and Clytie.[32]

Art

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Townley'sBust of Clytie(left, on the table).

Bust (Townley collection)

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One sculpture of Clytie, found in the collection ofCharles Townley,might be either a Roman work, or an eighteenth century "fake".[33]

The bust was created between 40 and 50 AD. Townley acquired it from the family of the principe Laurenzano inNaplesduring his extended secondGrand Tourof Italy (1771–1774); the Laurenzano insisted it had been found locally. It remained a favorite both with him (it figures prominently inJohann Zoffany's iconic painting of Townley's library (illustration, right), was one of three ancient marbles Townley had reproduced on his visiting card, and was apocryphally the one which he wished he could carry with him when his house was torched in theGordon Riots– apocryphal since the bust is in fact far too heavy for that) and with the public (Joseph Nollekensis said to have always had a marble copy of it in stock for his customers to purchase, and in the late 19th centuryParian warecopies were all the rage.[34]

The identity of the subject, a woman emerging from a calyx of leaves, was much discussed among the antiquaries in Townley's circle. At first referred to asAgrippina,and later called by TownleyIsisin alotusflower, it is now accepted as Clytie. Some modern scholars even claim the bust is of eighteenth century date, though most now think it is an ancient work showingAntonia Minoror a contemporaneous Roman lady in the guise ofAriadne.

Bust (George Frederick Watts)

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Copy AA of Blake's engraving of the poem inSongs of Experience,now in theFitzwilliam Museum

Another famous bust of Clytie was byGeorge Frederick Watts.[35]Instead of Townley's serene Clytie, Watts's is straining, looking round at the sun.

Literature

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Clytie is briefly alluded to inThomas Hood's poemFlowers,in the lines "I will not have the mad Clytie,/Whose head is turned by the sun;".[36]William Blake's poemAh! Sun-flowerhas been suggested to allude to the myth of Clytie.[37]

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun:
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the travellers journey is done.

Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow:
Arise from their graves and aspire,
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.[38]

The sunflower (which was not Clytie's original flower) ever since her myth, has "been anemblemof the faithful subject ", in three or four ways: the" image of a soul devoted to the god or God, originally aPlatonicconcept ", as" an image of the Virgin devoted to Christ "; or" an image - in the strictlyOvidiansense - of the lover devoted to the beloved ".[39]Northrop Frye claimed that Clytie's metamorphosis tale is at the 'core' of the poem.[40]

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Genealogy

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Clytie's family tree according to Hesiod[41]
UranusGaiaPontus
OceanusTethysHyperionTheiaCriusEurybia
TheRiversCLYTIEHeliosSelene[42]EosAstraeusPallasPerses
TheOceanids
CronusRheaCoeusPhoebe
HestiaHeraHadesZeusLetoAsteria
DemeterPoseidon
IapetusClymene(orAsia)[43]Mnemosyne(Zeus)Themis
Atlas[44]MenoetiusPrometheus[45]EpimetheusTheMusesTheHorae

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^In fact,Oviddoes not name the flower Clytie turned into, but explicitly describes it asvioletin colour.

Notes

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  1. ^Her name appears in the long list ofOceanidsinHesiod,Theogony346ff.
  2. ^Hyginus,FabulaePreface
  3. ^Bane 2013,p. 87.
  4. ^Two other minor personages name Clytie are noted: seeTheoi Project: Clytie.
  5. ^Waldner, Katharina (2006)."Clytia, Clytie".In Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.).Brill's New Pauly.Translated by Christine F. Salazar. Berlin: Brill Reference Online.doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e617370.RetrievedSeptember 18,2023.
  6. ^Wright, M. Rosemary."A Dictionary of Classical Mythology: Summary of Transformations".mythandreligion.upatras.gr.University of Patras.RetrievedJanuary 3,2023.
  7. ^Liddell & Scott 1940,s.v.κλυτός.
  8. ^Beekes 2009,p. 719.
  9. ^Chalkomatas 2022,p. 95.
  10. ^Bailly, Anatole (1935)Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français,Paris:Hachette:ἡλιοτρόπιον
  11. ^Scholiaon in OvidMetamorphoses4.267
  12. ^Hard,p. 45;Berens,p. 63;March,s.v. Helios;Gantz,p.34Archived2023-09-24 at theWayback Machine;Tripp, s.v. Helius B; Grimal, s.v.Clytia;Parada, s.v. Leucothoe 2; Seyffert, s. v.Clytia;Forbes Irving p. 266; Cameron, p.290writes "Anonymous does not actually name he betrayer of Leucothoë—or Leucothoë's mother (Eurynome in Ovid). Both omissions are probably just consequences of the abridgement."
  13. ^Ovid,Metamorphoses4.192–270
  14. ^Forbes Irving 1990,p. 266.
  15. ^Lactantius Placidus,Argumenta4.5
  16. ^Gantz 1996,p.34.
  17. ^abFontenrose 1968,pp. 20–38.
  18. ^abParadoxographers anonymous, p.222;Hard,p. 45
  19. ^abPliny,Natural History22.29.1
  20. ^Hamilton 2012,p.275.
  21. ^Κακριδής et al. 1986,p. 228.
  22. ^Scholiaon Ovid'sMetamorphoses4.256
  23. ^Cameron 2004,p.8.
  24. ^Folkard 1884,p.336.
  25. ^USDA NRCS National Plant Data Team."Helianthus annuus L."plants.usda.gov.United States Department of Agriculture.RetrievedSeptember 1,2023.
  26. ^"Helianthus annuus Linnaeus".efloras.org.RetrievedSeptember 18,2023.
  27. ^Bright 2021,pp.96-97.
  28. ^McMullen 1999,p.219.
  29. ^Giesecke 2014,p.122.
  30. ^MacDonald Kirkwood 2000,p.13.
  31. ^Grummel, William C. “CLYTIE AND SOL.” The Classical Outlook 30, no. 2 (1952): pp19–19.
  32. ^Fontenrose, Joseph E.“Apollo and the Sun-God in Ovid.” The American Journal of Philology 61, no. 4 (1940):429–44.
  33. ^Trustees of the British Museum – Marble bust of 'Clytie'Archived2012-02-03 at theWayback Machine
  34. ^Trustees of the British Museum – Parian bust of ClytieArchived2007-09-27 at theWayback Machine
  35. ^The Victorian Web –ClytieGeorge Frederick Watts, R.A., 1817–1904
  36. ^Bulfinch 2000,p.83.
  37. ^Keith 1966,p.57.
  38. ^Blake, William(1988).The complete poetry and prose of William Blake(David V. Erdman ed.). New York: Doubleday. pp. xxvi, 990. Commentary by Harold Bloom. p. 25.ISBN9780385152136.
  39. ^Bruyn, J.; Emmens, J. A. (March 1957). "The Sunflower again".The Burlington Magazine.99(648): 96–97.JSTOR872153.
  40. ^Keith 1966,p.59.
  41. ^Hesiod,Theogony132–138,337–411,453–520,901–906, 915–920;Caldwell, pp. 8–11, tables 11–14.
  42. ^Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as inHesiod,Theogony371–374,in theHomeric Hymnto Hermes(4),99–100,Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.
  43. ^According toHesiod,Theogony507–511,Clymene, one of theOceanids,the daughters ofOceanusandTethys,atHesiod,Theogony351,was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, while according toApollodorus,1.2.3,another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus.
  44. ^According toPlato,Critias,113d–114a,Atlas was the son ofPoseidonand the mortalCleito.
  45. ^InAeschylus,Prometheus Bound18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp.444–445 n. 2,446–447 n. 24,538–539 n. 113) Prometheus is made to be the son ofThemis.

References

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Primary sources

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Secondary sources

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