Narcissus and Echo

Literary/ Cultural Context Essay

Robert Clark (The Literary Encyclopedia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Jula Wildberger (The American University of Paris)

Domains

Mythical / legendary character

Dates

Date of occurrence 008

Places

Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire) (Location)

Narcissus and Echo originally enter Western literature in Book 3. of Ovid’s Metamorphoses (written 1-8 CE). Here we read of how Jove and Juno debated whether men or women found greater pleasure in the act of love, and went to Tiresias for an answer because Tiresias had spent seven years as a woman. Tiresias found that men had the greater pleasure, and in her rage at his decision Juno made him blind. Jove was incapable of undoing the work of Juno but gave Tiresias the gift of prophecy to relieve the penalty.

Among the first prophecies made by Tiresias is in response to a water-nymph Liriope who asks him if her son Narcissus will live to a ripe old age. Tiresias replies, enigmatic as all oracles are, “If he does not …

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484 words

Citation: Clark, Robert. "Narcissus and Echo". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 October 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1613, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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Narcissus and Echo

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