Clytie
nymphOcean nymph who loved Helios so desperately that she sat watching him cross the sky until she transformed into a heliotrope flower.
The Myth
She stared at the sun until she became a flower — the original meaning of sunflower devotion. Clytie loved Helios, but he abandoned her for the mortal princess Leucothoe. Jealous, Clytie told Leucothoe's father Orchamus about the affair, and he buried his daughter alive. Helios could not save Leucothoe and turned her body into a frankincense bush. He then rejected Clytie entirely. She sat naked on the ground for nine days without food or water, turning her face to follow Helios across the sky. Her limbs rooted, her face became a flower (the heliotrope), and she still turns to follow the sun. Ovid tells this in the Metamorphoses.
Symbols
Fun Fact
The heliotrope flower does actually turn to follow the sun — the myth explains a real botanical behavior.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
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