
In
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
, Cyparissus or Kyparissos () was a boy beloved by
Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
, or, in some versions, by other deities. In the best-known version of the story, the favorite companion of Cyparissus was a tamed
stag, which he accidentally killed with his hunting
javelin
A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...
as it lay sleeping in the woods. The boy's grief was such that it transformed him into a
cypress tree
Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America.
The word ''cypress'' ...
, a
classical symbol of mourning. The myth is thus
aetiological in explaining the relation of the tree to its cultural significance. The subject is mainly known from
Hellenized Latin literature
Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when the first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literatur ...
and
fresco
Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
es from
Pompeii
Pompeii ( ; ) was a city in what is now the municipality of Pompei, near Naples, in the Campania region of Italy. Along with Herculaneum, Stabiae, and Villa Boscoreale, many surrounding villas, the city was buried under of volcanic ash and p ...
. No
Greek hero cult
Hero cults were one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion. In Homeric Greek, "hero" (, ) refers to the mortal offspring of a human and a god. By the historical period, the word came to mean specifically a ''dead'' man, vene ...
devoted to Cyparissus has been identified.
Family
According to the grammarian
Servius Servius may refer to:
* Servius (praenomen), a personal name during the Roman Republic
* Servius the Grammarian (fl. 4th/5th century), Roman Latin grammarian
* Servius Asinius Celer (died AD 46), Roman senator
* Servius Cornelius Cethegus, Roma ...
(4th and 5th centuries AD), Cyparissus was the son of
Telephus, and thus the grandson of
Heracles
Heracles ( ; ), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a Divinity, divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of ZeusApollodorus1.9.16/ref> and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive descent through ...
.
Mythology
As initiation myth
The myth of Cyparissus, like that of
Hyacinthus, has often been interpreted as reflecting the social custom of
pederasty in ancient Greece, with the boy the beloved (''
eromenos'') of Apollo.
Pederastic
Pederasty or paederasty () is a sexual relationship between an adult man and an adolescent boy. It was a socially acknowledged practice in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, Rome and elsewhere in the world, such as Homosexuality in Japan#Pre-Mei ...
myth represents the process of
initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformatio ...
into adult male life, with a "death" and transfiguration for the ''eromenos''. "In all these tales", notes
Karl Kerényi, "the beautiful boys are doubles of
pollo
Pollo may refer to:
* chicken in Spanish and Italian languages
* pollo, or polo, is a rice dish in the Persian language
People
*Secondo Pollo (1908-1941), Italian priest
*Stefanaq Pollo (1924-1977), Albanian academic
*Genc Pollo (born 1963), Alba ...
himself."
The stag as a gift from Apollo reflects the custom in
Archaic Greek society of the older male (''
erastēs'') giving his beloved an animal, an act often alluded to in
vase painting
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
. In the initiatory context, the hunt is a supervised preparation for the manly arts of war and a testing ground for behavior, with the stag embodying the gift of the hunter's prey.
Similarly, the myth was used to explain the connection of the cypress tree to mourning and sorrow. Forbes-Irving has argued that the cypress as tree of mourning was mostly a Roman tradition, with little evidence of it playing such a role in Greek society.
It is possible however that the earlier Greek source of Cyparissus's myth diverged significantly from the surviving later ones, and was originally used to explain the connection of the cypress to Apollo specifically.
Ovid's version

The tameness of the deer may be the invention of the
Augustan poet Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...
, and a late literary reversal of the boy's traditional role. Ovid's Cyparissus is so grief-stricken at accidentally killing his pet that he asks Apollo to let his tears fall forever. The god then turns the boy into a
cypress tree
Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America.
The word ''cypress'' ...
(
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
: ''cupressus''), whose sap forms droplets like tears on the trunk.
Ovid frames the tale within the story of
Orpheus
In Greek mythology, Orpheus (; , classical pronunciation: ) was a Thracians, Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned Ancient Greek poetry, poet and, according to legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in se ...
, whose failure to retrieve his bride
Eurydice
Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice', classical pronunciation: ) was a character in Greek mythology and the wife of Orpheus, whom Orpheus tried to bring back from the dead with his enchanting music.
Etymology
Several ...
from the
underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld.
...
causes him to forsake the love of women in favor of that of boys. When Orpheus plays his
lyre
The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...
, even the trees are moved by the music; in the famous cavalcade of trees that ensues, the position of the cypress at the end prompts a transition to the metamorphosis of Cyparissus.
The commentaries of Servius and the Vatican Mythographer

According to one of the
Vatican Mythographers, another Roman tradition makes the lover out to be the woodland god
Silvanus. An invocation by
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...
of "Silvanus who bears the slender cypress uprooted" was explained in the
commentary of
Servius Servius may refer to:
* Servius (praenomen), a personal name during the Roman Republic
* Servius the Grammarian (fl. 4th/5th century), Roman Latin grammarian
* Servius Asinius Celer (died AD 46), Roman senator
* Servius Cornelius Cethegus, Roma ...
as alluding to a love affair. In his brief account, Servius differs from Ovid mainly in substituting Silvanus for Apollo, but also changes the gender of the deer and makes the god responsible for its death:
Silvanus loved a boy ''(puer)'' named Cyparissus who had a tame deer. When Silvanus unintentionally killed her, the boy was consumed by sorrow. The lover-god turned him into the tree that has his name, which he is said to carry as a consolation.
It is unclear whether Servius is inventing an ''
aition
An origin myth is a type of myth that explains the beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. Creation myths are a type of origin myth narrating the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place a ...
'', a story to explain why Silvanus was depicted holding an evergreen bough, or recording an otherwise unknown version. Elsewhere, Servius mentions a version in which the lover of Cyparissus was
Zephyrus
In Greek mythology and religion, Zephyrus () (), also spelled in English as Zephyr (), is the god and personification of the West wind, one of the several wind gods, the Anemoi. The son of Eos (the goddess of the dawn) and Astraeus, Zephyrus is t ...
, the West Wind. The cypress, he notes, was associated with the
underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld.
...
, either because they don't grow back when pruned too severely, or because in
Attica
Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...
households in mourning are garlanded with cypress.
Cyparissus in Phocis
According to a different tradition, a Cyparissus, possibly not the same figure, was the son of
Minyas, and the mythical founder of Cyparissus (Kyparissos) in
Phocis
Phocis (; ; ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. It stretches from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Vardousia on the west, upon the Gu ...
, which later was called
Anticyra.
In botany
The word ''
Cupressus
''Cupressus'' (common name cypress) is one of several genus, genera of evergreen conifers within the Family (biology), family Cupressaceae; for the others, see cypress. It is considered a Polyphyly, polyphyletic group. Based on genetic and morpho ...
'' was used to describe a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
cypress tree
Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America.
The word ''cypress'' ...
s; this genus was first described in the 18th century by the
Swedish biologist
A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...
Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
. In modern times there is a taxonomic debate regarding which species should be retained in the genus ''Cupressus''.
[C. Michael Hogan and Michael P. Frankis. 2009]
See also
*
Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
*
Hyacinth (mythology)
Hyacinth or Hyacinthus Ancient Greece, (Ancient Greek: , , ) is a Greek hero cult, deified hero and a lover of Apollo in Greek mythology. His cult at Amyclae southwest of Sparta dates from the Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean era. The hero is mythica ...
*
Branchus
Notes
References
* ''Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 3'', Cat-Cyp, editors: Hubert Cancik, Helmuth Schneider,
Brill, 2003.
Online version at Brill
*
Servius Servius may refer to:
* Servius (praenomen), a personal name during the Roman Republic
* Servius the Grammarian (fl. 4th/5th century), Roman Latin grammarian
* Servius Asinius Celer (died AD 46), Roman senator
* Servius Cornelius Cethegus, Roma ...
, ''Servii grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii'', Volume I, edited by Georgius Thilo and Hermannus Hagen,
Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Leipzig, Teubner, 1881
Internet ArchiveOnline version at the Perseus Digital Library
External links
*
{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology, state=collapsed
Male lovers of Apollo
Metamorphoses into trees in Greek mythology
Metamorphoses characters