Clytie
Ocean nymph who loved Helios so desperately that she sat watching him cross the sky until she transformed into a heliotrope flower.
The Myth of Clytie
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.
Parents
Oceanus, Tethys
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. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Clytia
🌿 nymphFame, sunlight
Oceanid nymph who pined for Helios and was transformed into the heliotrope flower
Callisto
🌿 nymphNymph transformed into the Great Bear
Callisto was a companion of Artemis who was seduced by Zeus and transformed into a bear — placed in the sky as Ursa Major, the Great Bear constellation.
Salmacis
🌿 nymphdesire
Water nymph of Caria whose desperate embrace of Hermaphroditus caused the gods to fuse them into a single dual-sexed being.
Clymene
🌿 nymphfame, ocean
Oceanid nymph and mother of Phaethon and the Heliades.
Chloris
🌿 nymphGoddess of flowers, wife of Zephyrus
Chloris was a nymph whom Zephyrus (the west wind) abducted and married, making her the goddess of flowers — the Romans called her Flora.
Scylla
🌿 nymphBeautiful nymph transformed into a monster
Scylla was originally a beautiful sea nymph who was transformed into a six-headed monster by the jealous Circe or Amphitrite.
Aegle
🌿 nymphlight, healing
A nymph whose name means "radiance" — identified variously as a Hesperid, a daughter of Asclepius, or the most beautiful of the Naiads.
Hermaphroditus
⚡ godtransformation
Son of Hermes and Aphrodite who was fused with the nymph Salmacis into a single being of both sexes.
Lotis
🌿 nymphtrees, escape
A nymph who fled the god Priapus and was transformed into the lotus tree to escape his assault.
Arethusa
🌿 nymphNymph who became a freshwater spring
Arethusa was a nymph of Artemis who was pursued by the river god Alpheus and transformed into a freshwater spring on the island of Ortygia in Syracuse.
Philyra
🌿 nymphhealing, nature
An Oceanid nymph who bore the centaur Chiron after Kronos mated with her in the form of a horse.
Minthe
🌿 nymphthe underworld, plants
A Naiad nymph of the Underworld river Cocytus who was trampled into the mint plant by a jealous Persephone.