- In Greek Mythology Narcissus was a hunter from Beoetia who loved all things beautiful and was himself beautiful.
- He was the son of a River God Cephissus and a Nymph Liriope, or possibly of Selene and Endymion.
Ovid’s story of Echo and Narcissus
Ovid in Metamorphoses, Book 3, recounts the tale of Echo and Narcissus:
- Echo was a mountain Nymph who, when she saw Narcissus after a day’s hunting, fell in love with him. She followed him until Narcissus turned and asked ‘who’s there’ and the Nymph Echo replied ‘who’s there?’
- Eventually, she revealed herself to him, but he spurned her advances.
- Echo retired to lonely places with a broken heart, and faded away sighing, until only the sound of an echo could be heard.
- Nemesis, Goddess of Revenge, after seeing what happened, set out to teach Narcissus a lesson. As he looked at himself in a pool, he was made to fall in love with his own reflection.
- After a long while he realised he could not love himself and turned into a flower. Other versions end in his suicide.