Myrrha
A princess cursed by Aphrodite to desire her own father, whose tears of shame became myrrh resin after the gods transformed her into a tree.
The Legend of Myrrha
Myrrha (or Smyrna) was a princess of Cyprus, great-granddaughter of Pygmalion and Galatea. Aphrodite cursed her — either because her mother Cenchreis boasted that Myrrha was more beautiful than the goddess, or as punishment for the family's general neglect of her worship. Myrrha was consumed by forbidden desire for her father Cinyras. Her nurse, horrified but sympathetic, arranged for Myrrha to visit her father's bed in darkness during a festival when his wife was away. For twelve nights the deception held, until Cinyras brought a lamp and discovered the truth. He pursued Myrrha with a sword. She fled for nine months, pregnant, and prayed to the gods for escape. They transformed her into the myrrh tree. Her tears became myrrh resin, and from the splitting bark Adonis was born — the beautiful youth whom Aphrodite herself would later love and lose.
Parents
Cinyras
Children
Adonis
Symbols
Fun Fact
Myrrh resin — one of the Three Gifts of the Magi in the Christian nativity — has been valued for millennia as incense, medicine, and embalming material. Its mythological origin as the tears of an incestuous princess makes it perhaps the most emotionally complex substance in religious history. The ancient Egyptians used it to embalm pharaohs, medieval churches burned it during mass, and it still appears in high-end perfumery — all descended from Myrrha's weeping bark.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
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