Jump to content

Cinyras

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Myrrhaand Cinyras.EngravingbyVirgil SolisforOvid'sMetamorphoses

InGreek mythology,Cinyras(/ˈsɪnɪrəs/;[1]Ancient Greek:Κινύρας–Kinyras) was a famous hero and king ofCyprus.Accounts vary significantly as to his genealogy and provide a variety of stories concerning him; in many sources he is associated with the cult ofAphroditeon Cyprus, andAdonis,a consort of Aphrodite, is mentioned as his son. Some scholars have proposed a connection with the minorUgaritic deityKinnaru,the god of the lyre.[2][3]The city Cinyreia on Cyprus was believed to have taken its name from Cinyras.[4]According toStrabo,he had previously ruled in the city ofByblosinPhoenicia.[5]

Biography[edit]

The name Cinyras does not appear again until he is mentioned byPindaras "beloved ofApollo,"and the priest ofAphrodite.[6]Pindar mentions Cinyras as being fabulously rich inNemean Ode 8line 18.[7]

Later, inGreekandRomanliterature and in the Christian fathers such asClement of Alexandria,the story of Cinyras is elaborated. They say that on Cyprus, Cinyras was revered as the creator ofartand ofmusical instruments,such as theflute.In one source, he is also noted for his physical beauty.[8]It is believed that his name comes from the Phoenician wordkinnor(Greek: κινύρα) – an eastern string instrument. It is quite possible that it was a deliberate play on words, because the legend says that Cinyras was a singer and he posed a musical challenge to Apollo and tested his abilities, for which the godMarstook his life.[9]

If Cinyras was the Cinyra, mentioned by Pliny, who was the son of Agriopas and a Cyprian, he was credited with inventing tiles and discovering copper-mines, both of which were found in the island. He was also regarded as the inventor oftongs,the hammer, the lever, and the anvil.[10]

Family[edit]

According to theBibliotheca,Cinyras was a descendant ofEosandCephalus.His parents wereSandocus,son ofAstynous(himself son ofPhaethon), andPharnace,daughter of KingMegassaresofHyria.Cinyras' father, Sandocus was an immigrant fromSyriawho settled inCiliciaand founded a cityCelenderis.Cinyras upon his arrival in Cyprus with some of his people, founded the town of Paphos and marriedMetharme,daughter of KingPygmalionof Cyprus. His children according to Pseudo-Apollodorus were Adonis andOxyporos,and also daughtersBraesia,LaogoraandOrsedice.These maidens, by reason of the wrath of Aphrodite, cohabited with foreigners, and ended their life in Egypt. Another daughter,Laodicewho marriedElatus,son ofArcas,and had by him two sonsStymphalusandPereus.[11]

Pausaniasmentions a daughter of Cinyras as the consort ofTeucer,[12]who is known to have received the kingdom of Cyprus fromBelusofTyrefor having assisted him in the invasion of the island.[13]Her name is not given in Pausanias' account, butTzetzeswrites that Teucer marriedEune"daughter of Cyprus".[14]

Stephanus of Byzantiuminforms us that Cinyras' mother was namedAmathousa,and it was either from her orAmathous,a son ofHeracles,thatAmathous,the oldest city of Cyprus, received its name.[15]Stephanus also mentions three otherwise unknown children of Cinyras: a daughter Cyprus, who had the island named after her, and two sons,KoureusandMarieus,eponyms of the towns Kourion and Marion respectively.[16]

Hesychiussays Cinyras was a son ofApollo,[17]while Hyginus consistently calls him a son ofPaphos(presumably the eponym ofPaphos),[18]and ascholiaston Pindar makes him a son ofEurymedonand thenymphPaphia.[19]In other sources, he is the husband ofGalatea[citation needed].Cinyras was also called the father ofMyrrha.[20]Hesychius also mentions a daughter of Cinyras,Myricewho mourned so much she was transformed into atamarisktree.[21]

Another son,Amaracus,who served as the royal perfumer of the court is mentioned byServius.[22]

Comparative table of Cinyras family
Relation Names Source
Scholiaon Pindar Apollodorus Ovid Pausanias Hyginus Stephanus Hesychius
Parentage Eurymedon and Paphia ✓
Sandocus and Pharnace ✓
Paphos ✓ ✓
Amathousa ✓
Apollo ✓
Consort Metharme ✓
Cenchreis ✓
Children Adonis ✓ ✓
Oxyporos ✓
Braesia ✓
Laogora ✓
Orsedice ✓
Laodice ✓
Myrrha ✓
a daughter,consort of Teucer ✓
Cyprus ✓
Koureus ✓
Marieus ✓

Mythology[edit]

Trojan War[edit]

In the earliest testimony for this character in ancient Greek literature (the account ofHomer), Cinyras was a ruler onCypruswho gave acorselettoAgamemnonas a guest-gift when he heard that the Greeks were planning to sail to Troy.[23]Eustathiusin his commentary on this passage relates that Cinyras promised assistance to Agamemnon, but did not keep his word: having promised to send fifty ships, he actually sent only one commanded by the son ofMygdalion,while the rest were sculpted from earth, with figures of men (also made of earth) imitating the crew. He was cursed by Agamemnon and subsequently punished byApollo,who beat him in a musical contest (similar to that between Apollo andMarsyas,to see who was a better musician with alyre) and killed him, whereupon Cinyras' fifty daughters threw themselves into the sea and were changed into sea birds (alcyones).[24]

Myrrha[edit]

According toOvid,Cinyras' daughterMyrrha,impelled by an unnatural lust for her own father (in retribution for her mother Cenchreis' hubris), slept with him, became pregnant, and asked the gods to change her into something other than human; she became a tree from whose barkmyrrhdrips.[20]From this incestuous union sprang the child Adonis. Cinyras was said to have committed suicide over the matter.[25]Other authors equate Cinyras and Myrrha with kingTheiasofAssyriaand his daughter Smyrna, and relate the same story of them.[26]Hyginus uses the name Cinyras for the father, but Smyrna for the daughter.[27]

Priesthood of Paphian Aphrodite[edit]

Clement of Alexandria in hisProtrepticustalks about the "Cyprian Islander Cinyras, who dared to bring forth from night to the light of day the lewd orgies of Aphrodite in his eagerness to deify a strumpet of his own country."

In hisHistories,Tacitusrelates the account of divination rites at the famous Temple of Venus at Paphos; according to traditional tales, this temple was founded by King Aerias, but others say Cinyras consecrated the temple, which was built right on the spot where the goddess had first stepped on the land after her birth from the sea. Here Tacitus describes him as having come to Cyprus from Cilicia, whence he introduced the worship of Paphian Aphrodite. The divination practices at the temple are said to have been introduced by Tamiras of Cilicia. The office of priesthood became hereditary in the families of both Cinyras (Cinyradae) and Tamiras, but the descendants of the latter were eventually displaced by those of the former; in the times of Tacitus, only the priest of Cinyras' line was consulted.[28][29][30]The footnotes to this story also state that Cinyras is"Another mythical king of Cyprus.Hesychiuscalls him a son of Apollo, and Ovid makes him the father of Adonis. "

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Zimmerman, J. E. (1964).Dictionary of Classical Mythology.New York: Harper & Row. p. 63.
  2. ^Brown, John Pairman (1965). "Kothar, Kinyras, and Kythereia".Journal of Semitic Studies.10(2): 197–219.doi:10.1093/jss/10.2.197.
  3. ^Albright, William Foxwell (1968).Yahweh and the Gods and Canaan.London: School of Oriental and African Studies. pp. 136, 280–84.
  4. ^Nonnus,Dionysiaca13.451;Pliny the Elder,Naturalis Historia5.35.1
  5. ^"Map 1: The ancient world".TheGeographyof Strabo.Translated by Roller, Duane W. 2014. p. xvi.doi:10.1017/9781139814706.002.ISBN9781139814706.
  6. ^Pindar,Pythian Ode2 lines 15-17 withscholia
  7. ^So doesPlatoinLaws,660e (quoting Tyrtaeus): "…though he be richer even 'than Cinyras orMidas'…”; see also Libanius,Autobiography273.
  8. ^Hyginus,Fabulae270
  9. ^"Diccionari de mitologia grega i romana - 9788496061972 - ATRIL - La Central - 2020".lacentral(in Spanish).Retrieved2020-10-14.
  10. ^Pliny the Elder,Naturalis Historia7.56.3
  11. ^Apollodorus,3.14.3,3.9.1.
  12. ^Pausanias,1.3.2
  13. ^Servius,Commentary onVirgil'sAeneid1.619–621
  14. ^TzetzesonLycophron,450
  15. ^Stephanus of Byzantium,s.v.Amathous
  16. ^Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v.Kypros,Kourion,Marion
  17. ^Hesychius of Alexandria,s. v. Kinyras; also scholia onTheocritus,Idyll 1. 109
  18. ^Hyginus,Fabulae58,242&275
  19. ^Scholia on Pindar,Pythian Ode2.28
  20. ^abOvid,Metamorphoses10.294–559 & 708–739Myrrha
  21. ^Hesychius of Alexandrias.v.μυρίκη
  22. ^Servius,Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid1.693
  23. ^Homer,Iliad11.20–23
  24. ^EustathiusonIliadp. 87; cf. also scholia on the same passage
  25. ^Hyginus,Fabulae242
  26. ^Apollodorus, 3.14.4;Antoninus Liberalis,34
  27. ^Hyginus,Fabulae58
  28. ^Tacitus,Histories2.3
  29. ^Pindar,Pythian Ode2.26
  30. ^Scholia adTheocritus,1.109

References[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cinyras&oldid=1223702635"