cinyras
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Cinyras
chrystaleni christodoulou
InformationIn the earliest testimony for this character in ancient Greek literature (the account of Homer), Cinyras was a ruler on Cyprus who gave a corselet to Agamemnon as a guest-gift when he heard that the Greeks were planning to sail to Troy.Eustathius in his commentary on this passage relates that Cinyras promised assistance to Agamemnon, but did not keep his word: having promised to send fifty ships, he actually sent only one, while the rest were sculpted from earth, with figures of men (also made of earth) imitating the crew. He was cursed by Agamemnon and subsequently punished by Apollo, who beat him in a musical contest (similar to that between Apollo and Marsyas, to see who was a better musician with a lyre) and killed him, whereupon Cinyras' fifty daughters threw themselves into the sea and were changed into sea birds.
Later, in Greek and Roman literature and in the Christian fathers such as Clement of Alexandria, the story of Cinyras is elaborated. They say that on Cyprus, Cinyras was revered as the creator of art and of musical instruments, such as the flute. In one source, he is also noted for his physical beauty.Hesychius says he was a son of Apollo,while Hyginus consistently calls him a son of Paphos (presumably the eponym of Paphos),and a scholiast on Pindar makes him a son of Eurymedon and the nymph Paphia.In other sources he is the husband of Galatea. Cinyras was reported to have fathered a number of children, including Mygdalion (who led his only real ship to Troy).
According to Ovid, Cinyras' daughter Myrrha, impelled by an unnatural lust for her own father, slept with him, became pregnant, and asked the gods to change her into something other than human. She became a tree from whose bark myrrh drips.From this incestuous union sprang the child Adonis. Cinyras was said to have committed suicide over the matter. Other authors equate Cinyras and Myrrha with king Theias of Assyria and his daughter Smyrna, and relate the same story of them. Hyginus uses the name Cinyras for the father, but Smyrna for the daughter.
