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| parents = [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]] ''or''<br> [[Orchomenus (mythology)|Orchomenus]]/[[Orchamus]]
| parents = [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]] ''or''<br> [[Orchomenus (mythology)|Orchomenus]]/[[Orchamus]]
| siblings = The [[Oceanids]], the [[Potamoi]] ''or''<br> [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|Leucothoe]]
| siblings = The [[Oceanids]], the [[Potamoi]] ''or''<br> [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|Leucothoe]]
| script_name = Greek
| script = {{lang|grc|Κλυτίη}}
}}
}}
'''Clytie''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|l|aɪ|t|i|iː}}; {{lang-grc|Κλυτίη|Klutíē}}), or '''Clytia''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|l|aɪ|t|i|ə}}; {{lang-grc|Κλυτία|Klutía}}) is a water [[nymph]], daughter of the [[Titans]] [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]] in [[Greek mythology]].<ref>Her name appears in the long list of [[Oceanids]] in [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D337 346ff].</ref><ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 Preface]</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Bane|first=Theresa|title=Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology|publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers|year=2013|isbn=9780786471119|page=87}}</ref> She is thus one of the 3,000 [[Oceanid]] nymphs, and sister to the 3,000 [[Potamoi]] (the river-gods).


'''Clytie''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|l|aɪ|t|i|iː}}; {{langx|grc|Κλυτίη|Klutíē}}) or '''Clytia''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|l|aɪ|t|i|ə}}; {{langx|grc|Κλυτία|Klutía}}) is a water [[nymph]], daughter of the [[Titans]] [[Oceanus]] and [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]] in [[Greek mythology]].<ref>Her name appears in the long list of [[Oceanids]] in [[Hesiod]], ''[[Theogony]]'' [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D337 346ff].</ref><ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#0.2 Preface]</ref>{{sfn|Bane|2013|page=87}} She is thus one of the 3,000 [[Oceanid]] nymphs, and sister to the 3,000 [[Potamoi]] (the river-gods).
According to the myth, Clytie loved the [[Solar deity|god of the sun]] [[Helios]] in vain,<ref>Two other minor personages name Clytie are noted: see [http://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheKlytie.html Theoi Project: Clytie].</ref> but he left her for another woman, the princess [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|Leucothoe]], under the influence of [[Aphrodite]], the [[List of love and lust deities|goddess of love]]. In anger and bitterness, she revealed their affair to the girl's [[Orchamus|father]], indirectly causing her doom as the king [[Premature burial|buried her alive]]. This failed to win Helios back to her, and she was left lovingly staring at him from the ground; eventually she turned into a [[Heliotropium|heliotrope]], a [[violet (color)|violet]] flower that gazes at the [[Sun]] in its diurnal journey.

According to the myth, Clytie loved the [[Solar deity|god of the sun]] [[Helios]] in vain,<ref>Two other minor personages name Clytie are noted: see [http://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheKlytie.html Theoi Project: Clytie].</ref> but he left her for another woman, the princess [[Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)|Leucothoe]], under the influence of [[Aphrodite]], the [[List of love and lust deities|goddess of love]]. In anger and bitterness, she revealed their affair to the girl's [[Orchamus|father]], indirectly causing her doom as the king [[Premature burial|buried her alive]]. This failed to win Helios back to her, and she was left lovingly staring at him from the ground; eventually she turned into a [[Heliotropium|heliotrope]], a [[violet (color)|violet]] flower that gazes at the [[Sun]] in its diurnal journey.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = [[Brill's New Pauly]] | publisher = Brill Reference Online | url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/clytia-clytie-e617370 | doi = 10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e617370 | last = Waldner | first = Katharina | location = Berlin | title = Clytia, Clytie | date = 2006 | editor-first1 = Hubert | editor-last1 = Cancik | editor-first2 = Helmuth | editor-last2 = Schneider | translator = Christine F. Salazar | access-date = September 18, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | first = M. Rosemary | last = Wright | title = A Dictionary of Classical Mythology: Summary of Transformations | website = mythandreligion.upatras.gr | url = http://mythandreligion.upatras.gr/english/m-r-wright-a-dictionary-of-classical-mythology/ | access-date = January 3, 2023 | publisher = [[University of Patras]]}}</ref>


Clytie's story is mostly known from and fully preserved in [[Ovid]]'s narrative poem ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', though other brief accounts and references to her from other authors survive as well.
Clytie's story is mostly known from and fully preserved in [[Ovid]]'s narrative poem ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', though other brief accounts and references to her from other authors survive as well.


== Etymology ==
== Etymology ==
Her name, spelled both ''Klytie'' and ''Klytia'' is derived from the [[ancient Greek]] adjective {{lang|grc|κλυτός}} (''klutos''), meaning "glorious" or "renowned".<ref>Liddell & Scott (1940), ''[[A Greek–English Lexicon]]'', Oxford: [[Clarendon Press]], [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=kluto/s κλυτός]</ref>
Her name, spelled both ''Klytie'' and ''Klytia'', is derived from the [[ancient Greek]] adjective {{lang|grc|κλυτός}} (''{{grc-transl|κλυτός}}''), meaning "glorious" or "renowned".{{sfn|Liddell|Scott|1940|loc=s.v. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=kluto/s κλυτός]}} It derives from the verb ''{{lang|grc|κλύω}}'', meaning 'to hear, to understand', itself from the [[Proto-Indo-European]] root ''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/ḱlew-|*ḱlew-]]'', which means 'to hear'.{{sfn|Beekes|2009|page=719}}


== Mythology ==
== Mythology ==
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[[File:The nymph klytie transforming into a sunflower as the sun god drives his chariot above, engraving by abraham diepenbeeck for the metamorphoses book by ovid, in a greek language copy.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|Clytie turns into a sunflower as the Sun refuses to look at her, engraving by [[Abraham van Diepenbeeck]].]]
[[File:The nymph klytie transforming into a sunflower as the sun god drives his chariot above, engraving by abraham diepenbeeck for the metamorphoses book by ovid, in a greek language copy.jpg|thumb|upright=1.05|Clytie turns into a sunflower as the Sun refuses to look at her, engraving by [[Abraham van Diepenbeeck]].]]


Clytie intended to win Helios back by taking away his new love, but even though "her love might make excuse of grief, and grief may plead to pardon jealous words" her actions only hardened his heart against her, and now he avoided her altogether, never going back to her. In despair, she stripped herself and sat naked, accepting neither food nor drink, for nine days on the rocks, staring at the sun, Helios, and mourning his departure, but he never looked back at her. After nine days she was eventually transformed into a purple flower, the [[Heliotropium|heliotrope]] (meaning "sun-turning"<ref>Bailly, Anatole (1935) ''[[:fr:Dictionnaire grec-français d'Anatole Bailly|Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français]]'', [[Paris]]: Hachette: [https://archive.org/details/BaillyDictionnaireGrecFrancais/page/n897/mode/1up?view=theater ἡλιοτρόπιον]</ref>), also known as turnsole (which is known for growing on sunny, rocky hillsides),<ref>[[Scholia]] on in Ovid ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 4.267</ref> which turns its head always to look longingly at Helios the Sun as he passes through the sky in his [[Solar_deity#Solar vessels and Sun chariots|solar chariot]], even though he no longer cares for her, her form much changed, her love for him unchanged.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA45 p. 45]; Berens, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_NcDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA63 p. 63]; March, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nZnwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT343 s.v. Helios]; [[Timothy Gantz|Gantz]], p. [https://www.academia.edu/29883249/GANTZ_Timothy_Early_Greek_myth_a_guide_to_literary_and_artistic_sources_Johns_Hopkins_University_Press_1993_ 34]; Tripp, s.v. Helius B; Grimal, s.v. [https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar00grim/page/102/mode/2up? Clytia]; Parada, s.v. Leucothoe 2; Seyffert, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/b3135841x/page/144/mode/2up?view=theater Clytia]; Cameron, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=A3H_51913RkC&pg=PA290 290] writes "Anonymous does not actually name he betrayer of Leucothoë—or Leucothoë's mother (Eurynome in Ovid). Both omissions are probably just consequences of the abridgement."</ref>
Clytie intended to win Helios back by taking away his new love, but even though "her love might make excuse of grief, and grief may plead to pardon jealous words" her actions only hardened his heart against her, and now he avoided her altogether, never going back to her. In despair, she stripped herself and sat naked, accepting neither food nor drink, for nine days on the rocks, staring at the sun, Helios, and mourning his departure, but he never looked back at her. After nine days she was eventually transformed into a purple flower, the [[Heliotropium|heliotrope]] (meaning "sun-turning"<ref>Bailly, Anatole (1935) ''[[:fr:Dictionnaire grec-français d'Anatole Bailly|Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français]]'', [[Paris]]: Hachette: [https://archive.org/details/BaillyDictionnaireGrecFrancais/page/n897/mode/1up?view=theater ἡλιοτρόπιον]</ref>), also known as turnsole (which is known for growing on sunny, rocky hillsides),<ref>[[Scholia]] on in Ovid ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 4.267</ref> which turns its head always to look longingly at Helios the Sun as he passes through the sky in his [[Solar_deity#Solar vessels and chariots|solar chariot]], even though he no longer cares for her, her form much changed, her love for him unchanged.<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA45 p. 45]; Berens, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_NcDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA63 p. 63]; March, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nZnwAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT343 s.v. Helios]; [[Timothy Gantz|Gantz]], p. [https://www.academia.edu/29883249/GANTZ_Timothy_Early_Greek_myth_a_guide_to_literary_and_artistic_sources_Johns_Hopkins_University_Press_1993_ 34] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924025153/https://www.academia.edu/29883249/GANTZ_Timothy_Early_Greek_myth_a_guide_to_literary_and_artistic_sources_Johns_Hopkins_University_Press_1993_ |date=2023-09-24 }}; Tripp, s.v. Helius B; Grimal, s.v. [https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar00grim/page/102/mode/2up? Clytia]; Parada, s.v. Leucothoe 2; Seyffert, s. v. [https://archive.org/details/b3135841x/page/144/mode/2up?view=theater Clytia]; Forbes Irving p. 266; Cameron, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=A3H_51913RkC&pg=PA290 290] writes "Anonymous does not actually name he betrayer of Leucothoë—or Leucothoë's mother (Eurynome in Ovid). Both omissions are probably just consequences of the abridgement."</ref>


=== Variations ===
=== Variations ===
[[File:Clytie-DelaFosse-Trianon.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|''Clytie Transformed into a Sunflower'', [[Charles de la Fosse]], [[oil on canvas]], 1688]]
[[File:Clytie-DelaFosse-Trianon.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|''Clytie Transformed into a Sunflower'', [[Charles de la Fosse]], [[oil on canvas]], 1688]]


The episode is most fully told by [[Roman Empire|Roman]] poet [[Ovid]] in his poem ''the [[Metamorphoses]]'';<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL042.193.xml 4.192–270]</ref> Ovid's version is the only full surviving narrative of this story, but according to [[Lactantius Placidus]], he got this myth from seventh or sixth century BC Greek author [[Hesiod]].<ref>[[Lactantius Placidus]], ''Argumenta'' [https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=oDRdAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA18&hl=el 4.5]</ref> Like Ovid, Lactantius does not explain how Clytie knew about Helios and Leucothoe, or how Helios knew it was Clytie who had informed Orchamus. It is possible that originally the stories of Leucothoe and Clytie were two distinct ones before they were combined along with a third story, that of Ares and Aphrodite's affair being discovered by Helios who then informed Hephaestus, into a single one either by Ovid or Ovid's source.<ref name=":font"/>
The episode is most fully told by [[Roman Empire|Roman]] poet [[Ovid]] in his poem ''the [[Metamorphoses]]'';<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/ovid-metamorphoses/1916/pb_LCL042.193.xml 4.192–270]</ref> Ovid's version is the only full surviving narrative of this story, but he must had had a Greek original source, for the myth's origins and plot lie in the etymology of the flower's Greek name.{{sfn|Forbes Irving|1990|page=266}} According to [[Lactantius Placidus]], he got this myth from seventh or sixth century BC Greek author [[Hesiod]].<ref>[[Lactantius Placidus]], ''Argumenta'' [https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=oDRdAAAAcAAJ&pg=GBS.PA18&hl=el 4.5]</ref> Some scholars however doubt this particular attribution to Hesiod.{{sfn|Gantz|1996|page=[https://archive.org/details/early-greek-myth-a-guide-timothy-gantz/page/34/mode/2up?view=theater 34]}} Like Ovid, Lactantius does not explain how Clytie knew about Helios and Leucothoe, or how Helios knew it was Clytie who had informed Orchamus. It is possible that originally the stories of Leucothoe and Clytie were two distinct ones before they were combined along with a third story, that of Ares and Aphrodite's affair being discovered by Helios who then informed Hephaestus, into a single one either by Ovid or Ovid's source.{{sfn|Fontenrose|1968|pages=20–38}}


One of the ancient paradoxographers identifies the girl who betrayed the secret as Leucothoe's sister instead, and their father's name as [[Orchomenus (mythology)|Orchomenus]], giving her neither a name nor a motivation behind her actions.<ref name=":par">Paradoxographers anonymous, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eTUOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA222 222]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA45 p. 45]</ref> [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]] is also the name of a town in [[Boeotia]], implying that this version of the story took place there rather than Persia.<ref name=":par"/> [[Pliny the Elder]] wrote that:
One of the ancient paradoxographers identifies the girl who betrayed the secret as Leucothoe's sister instead, and their father's name as [[Orchomenus (mythology)|Orchomenus]], giving her neither a name nor a motivation behind her actions.<ref name=":par">Paradoxographers anonymous, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eTUOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA222 222]; Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&pg=PA45 p. 45]</ref> [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]] is also the name of a town in [[Boeotia]], implying that this version of the story took place there rather than Persia.<ref name=":par"/> [[Pliny the Elder]] wrote that:
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Similar to the story of [[Daphne]] used as an explanation for the [[Laurus nobilis|plant]]'s prominence in worship, Clytie' story might have been used for similar purposes in connecting the flower she turned into, the heliotrope, to Helios.{{sfn|Κακριδής|Ρούσσος|Παπαχατζής|Καμαρέττα|1986|page=228}}
Similar to the story of [[Daphne]] used as an explanation for the [[Laurus nobilis|plant]]'s prominence in worship, Clytie' story might have been used for similar purposes in connecting the flower she turned into, the heliotrope, to Helios.{{sfn|Κακριδής|Ρούσσος|Παπαχατζής|Καμαρέττα|1986|page=228}}


An ancient scholiast wrote that the heliotropium that Clytie was turned into was the first preservation of the love for the god.<ref>[[Scholia]] on Ovid's ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=TSc_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA259 4.256]; Cameron, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=A3H_51913RkC&pg=PA8 8]</ref>
An ancient scholiast wrote that the heliotropium that Clytie was turned into was the first preservation of the love for the god.<ref>[[Scholia]] on Ovid's ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=TSc_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA259 4.256]</ref>{{sfn|Cameron|2004|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=A3H_51913RkC&pg=PA8 8]}}


== Modern interpretations ==
== Modern interpretations ==
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}}
}}


Modern traditions substitute the [[purple]]{{efn|In fact, [[Ovid]] does not name the flower Clytie turned into, but explicitly describes it as ''violet'' in colour.}} turnsole with a [[yellow]] [[sunflower]], which according to (incorrect) folk wisdom [[Helianthus annuus#Heliotropism in Helianthus annuus|turns in the direction of the sun]].<ref>Folkard, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=L30DAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA366 336]</ref> The original French form ''[[:wikt:tournesol|tournesol]]'' primarily refers to sunflower, while the English ''[[:wikt:turnsole|turnsole]]'' is primarily used for heliotrope. Sunflowers however are native to [[North America]],<ref>[http://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200024005 Flora of North America: Common sunflower], [[United States Department of Agriculture]], [https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=HEAN3 Helianthus annuus L.]</ref> and were not found in antiquity in either [[Greece]] or [[Italy]], making it impossible for ancient Greek and Roman authors to have included them in their [[Etiology|etiological]] myths, as sunflowers were not part of their native flora and they would have not known about them and their sun-turning properties.
Modern traditions substitute the [[purple]]{{efn|In fact, [[Ovid]] does not name the flower Clytie turned into, but explicitly describes it as ''violet'' in colour.}} turnsole with a [[yellow]] [[sunflower]], which according to (incorrect) folk wisdom [[Helianthus annuus#Heliotropism in Helianthus annuus|turns in the direction of the sun]].{{sfn|Folkard|1884|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=L30DAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA366 336]}} The original French form ''[[:wikt:tournesol|tournesol]]'' primarily refers to sunflower, while the English ''[[:wikt:turnsole|turnsole]]'' is primarily used for heliotrope. Sunflowers however are native to [[North America]],<ref>{{cite web | website = plants.usda.gov | title = Helianthus annuus L. | author = USDA NRCS National Plant Data Team | url = https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=HEAN3 | access-date = September 1, 2023 | publisher = [[United States Department of Agriculture]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=200024005 | website = efloras.org | title = Helianthus annuus Linnaeus | access-date = September 18, 2023}}</ref> and were not found in antiquity in either [[Greece]] or [[Italy]], making it impossible for ancient Greek and Roman authors to have included them in their [[Etiology|etiological]] myths, as sunflowers were not part of their native flora and they would have not known about them and their sun-turning properties.


It has also been noted that the heliotropium itself poses some difficulties for identification with Clytie's flower; [[heliotropium arborescens]], which is the vivid purple variant, is not native to Europe either, instead coming from the [[Americas]] just like the aforementioned sunflower. Native variants of heliotropium or other flowers called "heliotrope" are also the wrong colour, either white ([[List of Heliotropium species|heliotropium supinum]]) or yellow ([[Pennisetum villosum|vilossum]]), when Ovid described it as "like a violet" and [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] "blue".<ref name=":plin">[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/153#22.29.1 22.29.1]</ref>{{sfn|Bright|2021|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CcNSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT96 96-97]}} Both however lived in the post-[[Hellenistic]] period after the [[Wars of Alexander the Great|conquests]] of [[Alexander the Great]], and could have been aware of the [[heliotropium indicum]], a variant that can have a purplish or bluish corolla.{{sfn|McMullen|1999|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=MFpuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA219 219]}} Moreover, even [[heliotropium europaeum]], a variant native in Europe which is normally white in colour, can have pale lilac flowers.{{sfn|Giesecke|2014|page=[https://books.google.cl/books?id=AUgkBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 122]}}
It has also been noted that the heliotropium itself poses some difficulties for identification with Clytie's flower; [[heliotropium arborescens]], which is the vivid purple variant, is not native to Europe either, instead coming from the [[Americas]] just like the aforementioned sunflower. Native variants of heliotropium or other flowers called "heliotrope" are also the wrong colour, either white ([[List of Heliotropium species|heliotropium supinum]]) or yellow ([[Pennisetum villosum|vilossum]]), when Ovid described it as "like a violet" and [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] "blue".<ref name=":plin">[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/153#22.29.1 22.29.1]</ref>{{sfn|Bright|2021|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CcNSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT96 96-97]}} Both however lived in the post-[[Hellenistic]] period after the [[Wars of Alexander the Great|conquests]] of [[Alexander the Great]], and could have been aware of the [[heliotropium indicum]], a variant that can have a purplish or bluish corolla.{{sfn|McMullen|1999|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=MFpuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA219 219]}} Moreover, even [[heliotropium europaeum]], a variant native in Europe which is normally white in colour, can have pale lilac flowers.{{sfn|Giesecke|2014|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=AUgkBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA122 122]}}


=== Identity of the god ===
=== Identity of the god ===
Much like with [[Phaethon]], another ancient myth featuring [[Helios]], some modern retellings connect Clytie and her story to [[Apollo]], the god of light, but the myth as attested in classical sources does not actually concern him;<ref>MacDonald Kirkwood, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OkUGQeGGn7IC&pg=PA13 13]</ref> Ovid identifies twice the god Clytie fell in love with as ''Hyperione natus/e'' (the son of [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]]), and like other Roman authors does not conflate in his poem the two gods, who remain distinct in myth.<ref>Grummel, William C. “CLYTIE AND SOL.” The Classical Outlook 30, no. 2 (1952): pp [http://www.jstor.org/stable/43929084 19–19].</ref> Clytie's lover whom she was jilted by is also connected to the story of [[Phaethon]], as the boy's father, a distinctly solar but non-Apolline figure, who in turn is not a sun god or given any solar characteristics as far as Ovid is concerned.<ref name=":font">[[Joseph Fontenrose|Fontenrose, Joseph]]. ''The Gods Invoked in Epic Oaths: [[Aeneid]], XII, 175-215.'' [[The American Journal of Philology]] 89, no. 1 (1968): pp [https://doi.org/10.2307/293372 20–38].</ref> [[Joseph Fontenrose]] argued that despite Ovid's works being largely responsible for the prevalence of the two gods being the same one in post-classical times, he himself did not actually identify them in either the story of Phaethon or the story of Leucothoe and Clytie.<ref>[[Joseph Fontenrose|Fontenrose, Joseph E]]. “Apollo and the Sun-God in Ovid.” The American Journal of Philology 61, no. 4 (1940): [https://doi.org/10.2307/291381 429–44.]</ref>
Much like with [[Phaethon]], another ancient myth featuring [[Helios]], some modern retellings connect Clytie and her story to [[Apollo]], the god of light, but the myth as attested in classical sources does not actually concern him;{{sfn|MacDonald Kirkwood|2000|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OkUGQeGGn7IC&pg=PA13 13]}} Ovid identifies twice the god Clytie fell in love with as ''Hyperione natus/e'' (the son of [[Hyperion (Titan)|Hyperion]]), and like other Roman authors does not conflate in his poem the two gods, who remain distinct in myth.<ref>Grummel, William C. “CLYTIE AND SOL.” The Classical Outlook 30, no. 2 (1952): pp [http://www.jstor.org/stable/43929084 19–19].</ref> Clytie's lover whom she was jilted by is also connected to the story of [[Phaethon]], as the boy's father, a distinctly solar but non-Apolline figure, who in turn is not a sun god or given any solar characteristics as far as Ovid is concerned.{{sfn|Fontenrose|1968|pages=20–38}} [[Joseph Fontenrose]] argued that despite Ovid's works being largely responsible for the prevalence of the two gods being the same one in post-classical times, he himself did not actually identify them in either the story of Phaethon or the story of Leucothoe and Clytie.<ref>[[Joseph Fontenrose|Fontenrose, Joseph E]]. “Apollo and the Sun-God in Ovid.” The American Journal of Philology 61, no. 4 (1940): [https://doi.org/10.2307/291381 429–44.]</ref>


== Art ==
== Art ==
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=== Literature ===
=== Literature ===
Clytie is briefly alluded to in [[Thomas Hood]]'s poem ''Flowers'', in the lines "I will not have the mad Clytie,/Whose head is turned by the sun;".<ref>Bulfinch, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6WPcDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA83 83]</ref> [[William Blake]]'s poem ''[[Ah! Sun-flower]]'' has been suggested to allude to the myth of Clytie.<ref>Keith, p. [https://archive.org/details/blakecollectiono00frye/page/56/mode/2up?view=theater 57]</ref>
Clytie is briefly alluded to in [[Thomas Hood]]'s poem ''Flowers'', in the lines "I will not have the mad Clytie,/Whose head is turned by the sun;".{{sfn|Bulfinch|2000|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6WPcDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA83 83]}} [[William Blake]]'s poem ''[[Ah! Sun-flower]]'' has been suggested to allude to the myth of Clytie.{{sfn|Keith|1966|page=[https://archive.org/details/blakecollectiono00frye/page/56/mode/2up?view=theater 57]}}


{{blockquote|<poem>
{{blockquote|<poem>
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Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.<ref>{{cite book |last = Blake | first = William | author-link = William Blake | title=The complete poetry and prose of William Blake | edition = David V. Erdman | year = 1988 | publisher = Doubleday | location = New York | isbn = 9780385152136 | pages = xxvi,990. Commentary by Harold Bloom. p. 25 | url = https://archive.org/details/completepoetrypr00blak | url-access = registration}}</ref></poem>}}
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.<ref>{{cite book |last = Blake | first = William | author-link = William Blake | title=The complete poetry and prose of William Blake | edition = David V. Erdman | year = 1988 | publisher = Doubleday | location = New York | isbn = 9780385152136 | pages = xxvi,990. Commentary by Harold Bloom. p. 25 | url = https://archive.org/details/completepoetrypr00blak | url-access = registration}}</ref></poem>}}


The sunflower (which was not Clytie's original flower) ever since her myth, has "been an [[emblem]] of the faithful subject", in three or four ways: the "image of a soul devoted to the god or God, originally a [[Plato]]nic concept", as "an image of the Virgin devoted to Christ"; or "an image - in the strictly [[Ovidian]] sense - of the lover devoted to the beloved".<ref name="Bruyn">{{cite journal| last= Bruyn | first=J. | author2 = Emmens, J. A. | title = The Sunflower again | journal = The Burlington Magazine | date = March 1957 | volume=99 | issue=648 |pages = 96–97 | jstor = 872153}}</ref> Northrop Frye claimed that Clytie's metamorphosis tale is at the 'core' of the poem.<ref>Keith, p. [https://archive.org/details/blakecollectiono00frye/page/58/mode/2up?view=theater 59]</ref>
The sunflower (which was not Clytie's original flower) ever since her myth, has "been an [[emblem]] of the faithful subject", in three or four ways: the "image of a soul devoted to the god or God, originally a [[Plato]]nic concept", as "an image of the Virgin devoted to Christ"; or "an image - in the strictly [[Ovidian]] sense - of the lover devoted to the beloved".<ref name="Bruyn">{{cite journal| last= Bruyn | first=J. | author2 = Emmens, J. A. | title = The Sunflower again | journal = The Burlington Magazine | date = March 1957 | volume=99 | issue=648 |pages = 96–97 | jstor = 872153}}</ref> Northrop Frye claimed that Clytie's metamorphosis tale is at the 'core' of the poem.{{sfn|Keith|1966|page=[https://archive.org/details/blakecollectiono00frye/page/58/mode/2up?view=theater 59]}}


== Gallery ==
== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed" caption="Clytie in art" widths="180px" heights="170px">
<gallery mode="packed-hover" caption="Clytie in art" widths="180px" heights="170px">
File:Leighton, Frederic - Clytie - 1895–1896.jpg|''Clytie'', by [[Frederic Leighton]]
File:Hawkins, Louis Welden - Clytie.jpg|''Clytie'', by [[Louis Welden Hawkins]].
File:Hawkins, Louis Welden - Clytie.jpg|''Clytie'', by [[Louis Welden Hawkins]].
File:Colombel - Clytia.jpg|Clytie looking up by [[Nicolas Colombel]]
File:Colombel - Clytia.jpg|Clytie looking up by [[Nicolas Colombel]]
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== See also ==
== See also ==
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Myths|Religion}}
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Mythology|Religion|Ancient Rome}}

* [[73 Klytia]], a [[main-belt]] [[asteroid]] named after this [[nymph]].
* [[73 Klytia]], a [[main-belt]] [[asteroid]] named after this [[nymph]].
* [[Smilax (mythology)|Smilax]], another nymph transformed into a plant over love.
* [[Smilax (mythology)|Smilax]], another nymph transformed into a plant over love.
Line 164: Line 169:
* Paradoxographoe, by Anton Westermann, [[Harvard College]] Library, 1839, London.
* Paradoxographoe, by Anton Westermann, [[Harvard College]] Library, 1839, London.
* [[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|The Natural History]]'', Books 1-11, translated by John Bostock (1773-1846), M.D., F.R.S. Henry T. Riley (1816-1878), Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, first published 1855. [https://topostext.org/work/148 Online text available at topos.text].
* [[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|The Natural History]]'', Books 1-11, translated by John Bostock (1773-1846), M.D., F.R.S. Henry T. Riley (1816-1878), Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, first published 1855. [https://topostext.org/work/148 Online text available at topos.text].
* Publii Ovidii Nasonis Opera omnia: IV. voluminibus comprehensa : cum integris Jacobi Micylli, Herculis Ciofani, et Danielis Heinsii notis, et Nicolai Heinsii curis secundis, et aliorum singulas partes, partim integris, parti excerptis, adnotationibus, vol. II. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TSc_AAAAcAAJ&hl=el&source=gbs_navlinks_s Google books].
* Publii Ovidii Nasonis Opera omnia: IV. voluminibus comprehensa : cum integris Jacobi Micylli, Herculis Ciofani, et Danielis Heinsii notis, et Nicolai Heinsii curis secundis, et aliorum singulas partes, partim integris, parti excerptis, adnotationibus, vol. II. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TSc_AAAAcAAJ Google books].
* [[Ovid|Publius Ovidius Naso]], ''[[Metamorphoses]].'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0029 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Ovid|Publius Ovidius Naso]], ''[[Metamorphoses]].'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0029 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Ovid|Publis Ovidius Naso]]. ''[[Metamorphoses]], Volume I: Books 1-8''. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 42. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1977, first published 1916. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99046-3}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL042/1916/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Ovid|Publis Ovidius Naso]]. ''[[Metamorphoses]], Volume I: Books 1-8''. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 42. Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]], 1977, first published 1916. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99046-3}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL042/1916/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
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=== Secondary sources ===
=== Secondary sources ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book | last = Bane | first = Theresa | title = Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology | publisher = McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers | year = 2013 | isbn = 9780786471119}}
* Berens, E. M., ''The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome'', Blackie & Son, Old Bailey, E.C., Glasgow, Endinburgh and Dublin. 1880.
* {{cite book | author-link = Robert S. P. Beekes | last = Beekes | first = R. S. P. | title = Etymological Dictionary of Greek | location = Leiden, the Netherlands | publisher = [[Brill Publications]] | date = 2009 | volume = 1 | isbn = 978-90-04-17420-7 | series = Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series | editor = Lucien van Beek}}
* {{cite book| first1= Henry Arthur | last1 = Bright | date = 2021 | title = A Year in a Lancashire Garden | isbn = 9785040620067 | publisher = Litres}}
* {{cite book | last = Berens | first = E. M. | title = The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome | publisher = Blackie & Son, Old Bailey, E.C.. | location = Glasgow, Endinburgh and Dublin | date = 1880 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_NcDAAAAQAAJ}}
* [[Thomas Bulfinch|Bulfinch, Thomas]], ''Greek and Roman Mythology: The Age of Fable'', [[Dover Publications]], 2000, unabridged, {{ISBN|978-0-486-41107-1}}.
* {{cite book| first1 = Henry Arthur | last1 = Bright | date = 2021 | title = A Year in a Lancashire Garden | isbn = 9785040620067 | publisher = Litres}}
* Cameron, Alan, ''Greek Mythography in the Roman World'', [[Oxford University Press]], 2004, {{ISBN|0-19-517121-7}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=A3H_51913RkC&hl=el&source=gbs_navlinks_s Google books].
* {{cite book | author-link = Thomas Bulfinch | last = Bulfinch | first = Thomas | title = Greek and Roman Mythology: The Age of Fable | publisher = [[Dover Publications]] | date = 2000 | isbn = 978-0-486-41107-1}}
* {{cite book | last = Cameron | first = Alan | title = Greek Mythography in the Roman World | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | date = 2004 | isbn = 0-19-517121-7 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=A3H_51913RkC}}
* {{cite book | last = Chalkomatas | first = Dionysios | date = April 2022 | title = Οβίδιος Μεταμορφώσεις, Βιβλία I-XV: Εισαγωγή-Μετάφραση-Σχόλια-Ευρετήριο | trans-title = Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books I-XV: Introduction-Translation-Commentary-Index | language = Greek | location = [[Thessaloniki]] | publisher = Stamoulis | isbn = 978-960-656-093-4}}
* {{cite book | last = Chalkomatas | first = Dionysios | date = April 2022 | title = Οβίδιος Μεταμορφώσεις, Βιβλία I-XV: Εισαγωγή-Μετάφραση-Σχόλια-Ευρετήριο | trans-title = Ovid's Metamorphoses, Books I-XV: Introduction-Translation-Commentary-Index | language = Greek | location = [[Thessaloniki]] | publisher = Stamoulis | isbn = 978-960-656-093-4}}
* {{cite journal | author-link = Joseph Fontenrose | last = Fontenrose | first = Joseph Eddy | title = The Gods Invoked in Epic Oaths: [[Aeneid]], XII, 175-215 | journal = [[The American Journal of Philology]] | volume = 89 | number = 1 | date = 1968 | pages = 20–38 | doi = 10.2307/293372| jstor = 293372 }}
* Folkard, Richard (1884), ''Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics: Embracing the Myths, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore of the Plant Kingdom'', Folkard & Son.
* {{cite book | last = Folkard | first = Richard | date = 1884 | title = Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics: Embracing the Myths, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore of the Plant Kingdom | publisher = Folkard & Son | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MzslAQAAMAAJ | location = Michigan}}
* [[Timothy Gantz|Gantz, Timothy]], ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5360-9}} (Vol. 1), {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5362-3}} (Vol. 2).
* {{cite book |last1 = Giesecke |first1 = Annette| title = The Mythology of Plants: Botanical Lore from Ancient Greece and Rome| publisher = Getty Publications|date = 2014|isbn = 978-1606063217}}
* {{cite book | title = Metamorphosis in Greek Myths | first = Paul M. C. | last = Forbes Irving | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]] | date = 1990 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=URvXAAAAMAAJ | isbn = 0-19-814730-9}}
* {{cite book | author-link = Timothy Gantz | last = Gantz | first = Timothy | title = Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources | publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press | date = 1996 | volume = 1 | url = https://archive.org/details/early-greek-myth-a-guide-timothy-gantz/mode/2up | isbn = 978-0-8018-5360-9}}
* Grimal, Pierre, ''A Concise Dictionary of Classical Mythology'', Wiley-Blackwell, 1990. {{ISBN|0-631-16696-3}}.
* {{cite book|title = Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes| first1 = Edith| last1 = Hamilton| author-link = Edith Hamilton| publisher= Hachette| location = London| date = 2012|isbn =978-0-316-03216-2}}
* {{cite book | last1 = Giesecke | first1 = Annette | title = The Mythology of Plants: Botanical Lore from Ancient Greece and Rome | publisher = Getty Publications | date = 2014 | isbn = 978-1606063217 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AUgkBAAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite book | author-link = Pierre Grimal | last = Grimal | first = Pierre | title = The Dictionary of Classical Mythology | date = 1987 | publisher = Wiley-Blackwell | isbn = 0-631-13209-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofclas00grim/mode/2up?view=theater | location = New York, USA | translator = A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop}}
* Hard, Robin, ''The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology"'', Psychology Press, 2004, {{ISBN|9780415186360}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC&printsec=frontcover Google Books].
* {{cite book | title = Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes | first1 = Edith | last1 = Hamilton | author-link = Edith Hamilton | publisher = Hachette | location = London | date = 2012 | isbn = 978-0-316-03216-2 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oZU3AQAAQBAJ}}
* Keith, William J (1966). "The complexities of Blake's "Sunflower" : an archetypal speculation". In Northrop Frye (ed.). ''Blake: a collection of critical essays''. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
* {{cite book | first1= Conley K. | last1 = McMullen | date = 1999 | title = Flowering Plants of the Galápagos | publisher = Comstock Publishing Associates | isbn = 0-8014-3710-5}}
* {{cite book | last = Hard | first = Robin | title = The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology" | publisher = Psychology Press | date = 2004 | isbn = 9780415186360 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=r1Y3xZWVlnIC}}
* {{cite book | last = Keith | first = William J. | date = 1966 | chapter = The complexities of Blake's "Sunflower" : an archetypal speculation | editor = Northrop Frye | title = Blake: a collection of critical essays | publisher = Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall}}
* MacDonald Kirkwood Gordon, ''A Short Guide to Classical Mythology''. Cornell University. 2000. Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc, {{ISBN|0-86516-309-X}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=OkUGQeGGn7IC&h Google books]
* {{cite book | first1 = Henry George | last1 = Liddell | first2 = Robert | last2 = Scott | title = [[A Greek-English Lexicon]], revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie | location = Oxford | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]] | date = 1940 | author1-link = Henry Liddell | author2-link = Robert Scott (philologist)}} [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057 Online version at Perseus.tufts project.]
* March, Jennifer R., ''Dictionary of Classical Mythology''. Illustrations by Neil Barrett, Cassel & Co., 1998. {{ISBN|978-1-78297-635-6}}.
* {{cite book | first1 = Conley K. | last1 = McMullen | date = 1999 | title = Flowering Plants of the Galápagos | publisher = Comstock Publishing Associates | isbn = 0-8014-3710-5}}
* Parada, Carlos, ''Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology'', Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag, 1993. {{ISBN|978-91-7081-062-6}}.
* {{cite book | last = MacDonald Kirkwood | first = Gordon | title = A Short Guide to Classical Mythology | publisher = Cornell University, Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc. | isbn = 0-86516-309-X | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OkUGQeGGn7IC | date = 2000}}
* Seyffert, Oskar, ''A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, Mythology, Religion, Literature and Art'', from the German of Dr. Oskar Seyffert, S. Sonnenschein, 1901.
* {{cite book | last = March | first = Jennifer R. | title = Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Illustrations by Neil Barrett | publisher = Cassel & Co. | date = 1998 | isbn = 978-1-78297-635-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nZnwAwAAQBAJ}}
* Tripp, Edward, ''Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology'', Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). {{ISBN|069022608X}}.
* {{cite book | last = Parada | first = Carlos | title = Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology | publisher = Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag | date = 1993 | isbn = 978-91-7081-062-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MOcoAAAAYAAJ}}
* {{cite book | last = Seyffert | first = Oskar | title = A Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, Mythology, Religion, Literature and Art | publisher = S. Sonnenschein | date = 1901}}
* {{cite book | last = Tripp | first = Edward | title = Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology | publisher = Thomas Y. Crowell Co | edition = 1 | date = June 1970 | isbn = 069022608X}}
* {{cite book | title = Ελληνική Μυθολογία: Οι Θεοί, τόμος 1, μέρος Β΄| page = 228 | publisher = Εκδοτική Αθηνών | first1 = Ιωάννης Θ. | last1 = Κακριδής | author-link1 = Ioannis Kakridis | first2 = Ε. Ν.| last2 = Ρούσσος | first3 = Νικόλαος | last3 = Παπαχατζής |first4= Αικατερίνη |last4 = Καμαρέττα | first5 = Αριστόξενος Δ. | last5 = Σκιαδάς | date = 1986 | location = [[Athens]] | isbn = 978-618-5129-48-4}}
* {{cite book | title = Ελληνική Μυθολογία: Οι Θεοί, τόμος 1, μέρος Β΄| page = 228 | publisher = Εκδοτική Αθηνών | first1 = Ιωάννης Θ. | last1 = Κακριδής | author-link1 = Ioannis Kakridis | first2 = Ε. Ν.| last2 = Ρούσσος | first3 = Νικόλαος | last3 = Παπαχατζής |first4= Αικατερίνη |last4 = Καμαρέττα | first5 = Αριστόξενος Δ. | last5 = Σκιαδάς | date = 1986 | location = [[Athens]] | isbn = 978-618-5129-48-4}}
{{refend}}
{{refend}}
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== External links ==
== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Commons category}}
* Images of Clytie in the [http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/subcats.php?cat_1=5&cat_2=112 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database]
* Images of Clytie in the [https://iconographic.warburg.sas.ac.uk/category/vpc-taxonomy-000126 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database]
* [https://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheKlytie.html CLYTIE from The Theoi Project]
* [https://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheKlytie.html CLYTIE from The Theoi Project]
* [https://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Minor_Gods/Clytie/clytie.html CLYTIE from greekmythology.com]
* [https://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Minor_Gods/Clytie/clytie.html CLYTIE from greekmythology.com]
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[[Category:Oceanids]]
[[Category:Oceanids]]
[[Category:Nymphs]]
[[Category:Greek goddesses]]
[[Category:Greek goddesses]]
[[Category:Sea and river goddesses]]
[[Category:Sea and river goddesses]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Women of Helios]]
[[Category:Women of Helios]]
[[Category:Women in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Characters in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in Italy]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in Italy]]
[[Category:Townley collection]]
[[Category:Townley collection]]
[[Category:Greek sea goddesses]]
[[Category:Love stories]]
[[Category:Love stories]]
[[Category:Helios in mythology]]
[[Category:Helios in mythology]]
[[Category:Boeotian mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological Boeotians]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses into flowers in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses into flowers in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Heliotropium]]
[[Category:Heliotropium]]

Latest revision as of 08:45, 29 October 2024

Clytie
Member of the Oceanids
Townley's Clytie
Other namesClytia
GreekΚλυτίη
AbodeBoeotia, others
SymbolsHeliotropium
Genealogy
ParentsOceanus and Tethys or
Orchomenus/Orchamus
SiblingsThe Oceanids, the Potamoi or
Leucothoe
ConsortHelios

Clytie (/ˈklti/; Ancient Greek: Κλυτίη, romanizedKlutíē) or Clytia (/ˈkltiə/; Ancient Greek: Κλυτία, romanizedKlutía) is a water nymph, daughter of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys in Greek mythology.[1][2][3] She is thus one of the 3,000 Oceanid nymphs, and sister to the 3,000 Potamoi (the river-gods).

According to the myth, Clytie loved the god of the sun Helios in vain,[4] but he left her for another woman, the princess Leucothoe, under the influence of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. In anger and bitterness, she revealed their affair to the girl's father, indirectly causing her doom as the king buried her alive. This failed to win Helios back to her, and she was left lovingly staring at him from the ground; eventually she turned into a heliotrope, a violet flower that gazes at the Sun in its diurnal journey.[5][6]

Clytie's story is mostly known from and fully preserved in Ovid's narrative poem Metamorphoses, though other brief accounts and references to her from other authors survive as well.

Etymology

[edit]

Her name, spelled both Klytie and Klytia, is derived from the ancient Greek adjective κλυτός (klutós), meaning "glorious" or "renowned".[7] It derives from the verb κλύω, meaning 'to hear, to understand', itself from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱlew-, which means 'to hear'.[8]

Mythology

[edit]
Bust of Clytie, by Hiram Powers, modeled 1865–1867, carved 1873.

Ovid

[edit]

Ovid's account of the story is the fullest and most detailed of the surviving ones. According to him, Clytie was a lover of Helios, until Aphrodite made him fall in love with a Persian mortal princess, Leucothoe, in order to take revenge on him for telling her husband Hephaestus of her affair with the god of war Ares, whereupon he ceased to care for her and all the other goddesses he had loved before, like Rhodos, Perse and Clymene. Helios, having loved her, abandoned her for Leucothoe and left her deserted. Now no longer loved by him, she "scorned by [Helios], still seeks [his] love and even now bears its deep wounds in her heart." Angered by his treatment of her, and still missing him, she informed Leucothoe's father, King Orchamus, about the affair. Since Helios had defiled Leucothoe, Orchamus had her put to death by burial alive in the sands. Helios arrived too late to save the girl, but he did make sure to turn her into a frankincense tree by pouring nectar over her dead body, so that she would still breathe air (in a way). Ovid seems to think that Helios bears some responsibility over Clytie's excessive jealousy because he writes that Helios's passion was never "moderate" when he loved her.[9]

Clytie turns into a sunflower as the Sun refuses to look at her, engraving by Abraham van Diepenbeeck.

Clytie intended to win Helios back by taking away his new love, but even though "her love might make excuse of grief, and grief may plead to pardon jealous words" her actions only hardened his heart against her, and now he avoided her altogether, never going back to her. In despair, she stripped herself and sat naked, accepting neither food nor drink, for nine days on the rocks, staring at the sun, Helios, and mourning his departure, but he never looked back at her. After nine days she was eventually transformed into a purple flower, the heliotrope (meaning "sun-turning"[10]), also known as turnsole (which is known for growing on sunny, rocky hillsides),[11] which turns its head always to look longingly at Helios the Sun as he passes through the sky in his solar chariot, even though he no longer cares for her, her form much changed, her love for him unchanged.[12]

Variations

[edit]
Clytie Transformed into a Sunflower, Charles de la Fosse, oil on canvas, 1688

The episode is most fully told by Roman poet Ovid in his poem the Metamorphoses;[13] Ovid's version is the only full surviving narrative of this story, but he must had had a Greek original source, for the myth's origins and plot lie in the etymology of the flower's Greek name.[14] According to Lactantius Placidus, he got this myth from seventh or sixth century BC Greek author Hesiod.[15] Some scholars however doubt this particular attribution to Hesiod.[16] Like Ovid, Lactantius does not explain how Clytie knew about Helios and Leucothoe, or how Helios knew it was Clytie who had informed Orchamus. It is possible that originally the stories of Leucothoe and Clytie were two distinct ones before they were combined along with a third story, that of Ares and Aphrodite's affair being discovered by Helios who then informed Hephaestus, into a single one either by Ovid or Ovid's source.[17]

One of the ancient paradoxographers identifies the girl who betrayed the secret as Leucothoe's sister instead, and their father's name as Orchomenus, giving her neither a name nor a motivation behind her actions.[18] Orchomenus is also the name of a town in Boeotia, implying that this version of the story took place there rather than Persia.[18] Pliny the Elder wrote that:

I have spoken more than once of the marvel of heliotropium, which turns round with the sun even on a cloudy day, so great a love it has for that, luminary. At night it closes its blue flower as though it mourned.[19]

Edith Hamilton notes that Clytie's case is unique in Greek mythology, as instead of the typical lovesick god being in love with an unwilling maiden, it is a maiden who is in love with an unwilling god.[20]

Culture

[edit]

Similar to the story of Daphne used as an explanation for the plant's prominence in worship, Clytie' story might have been used for similar purposes in connecting the flower she turned into, the heliotrope, to Helios.[21]

An ancient scholiast wrote that the heliotropium that Clytie was turned into was the first preservation of the love for the god.[22][23]

Modern interpretations

[edit]
Statue of Clytie (1848), by Joseph-Stanislas Lescorné (1799-1872), Musée de Picardie in Amiens.

Identity of the flower

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Modern traditions substitute the purple[a] turnsole with a yellow sunflower, which according to (incorrect) folk wisdom turns in the direction of the sun.[24] The original French form tournesol primarily refers to sunflower, while the English turnsole is primarily used for heliotrope. Sunflowers however are native to North America,[25][26] and were not found in antiquity in either Greece or Italy, making it impossible for ancient Greek and Roman authors to have included them in their etiological myths, as sunflowers were not part of their native flora and they would have not known about them and their sun-turning properties.

It has also been noted that the heliotropium itself poses some difficulties for identification with Clytie's flower; heliotropium arborescens, which is the vivid purple variant, is not native to Europe either, instead coming from the Americas just like the aforementioned sunflower. Native variants of heliotropium or other flowers called "heliotrope" are also the wrong colour, either white (heliotropium supinum) or yellow (vilossum), when Ovid described it as "like a violet" and Pliny "blue".[19][27] Both however lived in the post-Hellenistic period after the conquests of Alexander the Great, and could have been aware of the heliotropium indicum, a variant that can have a purplish or bluish corolla.[28] Moreover, even heliotropium europaeum, a variant native in Europe which is normally white in colour, can have pale lilac flowers.[29]

Identity of the god

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Much like with Phaethon, another ancient myth featuring Helios, some modern retellings connect Clytie and her story to Apollo, the god of light, but the myth as attested in classical sources does not actually concern him;[30] Ovid identifies twice the god Clytie fell in love with as Hyperione natus/e (the son of Hyperion), and like other Roman authors does not conflate in his poem the two gods, who remain distinct in myth.[31] Clytie's lover whom she was jilted by is also connected to the story of Phaethon, as the boy's father, a distinctly solar but non-Apolline figure, who in turn is not a sun god or given any solar characteristics as far as Ovid is concerned.[17] Joseph Fontenrose argued that despite Ovid's works being largely responsible for the prevalence of the two gods being the same one in post-classical times, he himself did not actually identify them in either the story of Phaethon or the story of Leucothoe and Clytie.[32]

Art

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Townley's Bust of Clytie (left, on the table).

Bust (Townley collection)

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One sculpture of Clytie, found in the collection of Charles Townley, might be either a Roman work, or an eighteenth century "fake".[33]

The bust was created between 40 and 50 AD. Townley acquired it from the family of the principe Laurenzano in Naples during his extended second Grand Tour of Italy (1771–1774); the Laurenzano insisted it had been found locally. It remained a favorite both with him (it figures prominently in Johann Zoffany's iconic painting of Townley's library (illustration, right), was one of three ancient marbles Townley had reproduced on his visiting card, and was apocryphally the one which he wished he could carry with him when his house was torched in the Gordon Riots – apocryphal since the bust is in fact far too heavy for that) and with the public (Joseph Nollekens is said to have always had a marble copy of it in stock for his customers to purchase, and in the late 19th century Parian ware copies were all the rage.[34]

The identity of the subject, a woman emerging from a calyx of leaves, was much discussed among the antiquaries in Townley's circle. At first referred to as Agrippina, and later called by Townley Isis in a lotus flower, it is now accepted as Clytie. Some modern scholars even claim the bust is of eighteenth century date, though most now think it is an ancient work showing Antonia Minor or a contemporaneous Roman lady in the guise of Ariadne.

Bust (George Frederick Watts)

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Copy AA of Blake's engraving of the poem in Songs of Experience, now in the Fitzwilliam Museum

Another famous bust of Clytie was by George Frederick Watts.[35] Instead of Townley's serene Clytie, Watts's is straining, looking round at the sun.

Literature

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Clytie is briefly alluded to in Thomas Hood's poem Flowers, in the lines "I will not have the mad Clytie,/Whose head is turned by the sun;".[36] William Blake's poem Ah! Sun-flower has been suggested to allude to the myth of Clytie.[37]

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun:
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the travellers journey is done.

Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow:
Arise from their graves and aspire,
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.[38]

The sunflower (which was not Clytie's original flower) ever since her myth, has "been an emblem of the faithful subject", in three or four ways: the "image of a soul devoted to the god or God, originally a Platonic concept", as "an image of the Virgin devoted to Christ"; or "an image - in the strictly Ovidian sense - of the lover devoted to the beloved".[39] Northrop Frye claimed that Clytie's metamorphosis tale is at the 'core' of the poem.[40]

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Genealogy

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Clytie's family tree according to Hesiod[41]
UranusGaiaPontus
OceanusTethysHyperionTheiaCriusEurybia
The RiversCLYTIEHeliosSelene[42]EosAstraeusPallasPerses
The Oceanids
CronusRheaCoeusPhoebe
HestiaHeraHadesZeusLetoAsteria
DemeterPoseidon
IapetusClymene (or Asia)[43]Mnemosyne(Zeus)Themis
Atlas[44]MenoetiusPrometheus[45]EpimetheusThe MusesThe Horae

See also

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ In fact, Ovid does not name the flower Clytie turned into, but explicitly describes it as violet in colour.

Notes

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  1. ^ Her name appears in the long list of Oceanids in Hesiod, Theogony 346ff.
  2. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae Preface
  3. ^ Bane 2013, p. 87.
  4. ^ Two other minor personages name Clytie are noted: see Theoi Project: Clytie.
  5. ^ Waldner, Katharina (2006). "Clytia, Clytie". In Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.). Brill's New Pauly. Translated by Christine F. Salazar. Berlin: Brill Reference Online. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e617370. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  6. ^ Wright, M. Rosemary. "A Dictionary of Classical Mythology: Summary of Transformations". mythandreligion.upatras.gr. University of Patras. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  7. ^ Liddell & Scott 1940, s.v. κλυτός.
  8. ^ Beekes 2009, p. 719.
  9. ^ Chalkomatas 2022, p. 95.
  10. ^ Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette: ἡλιοτρόπιον
  11. ^ Scholia on in Ovid Metamorphoses 4.267
  12. ^ Hard, p. 45; Berens, p. 63; March, s.v. Helios; Gantz, p. 34 Archived 2023-09-24 at the Wayback Machine; Tripp, s.v. Helius B; Grimal, s.v. Clytia; Parada, s.v. Leucothoe 2; Seyffert, s. v. Clytia; Forbes Irving p. 266; Cameron, p. 290 writes "Anonymous does not actually name he betrayer of Leucothoë—or Leucothoë's mother (Eurynome in Ovid). Both omissions are probably just consequences of the abridgement."
  13. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.192–270
  14. ^ Forbes Irving 1990, p. 266.
  15. ^ Lactantius Placidus, Argumenta 4.5
  16. ^ Gantz 1996, p. 34.
  17. ^ a b Fontenrose 1968, pp. 20–38.
  18. ^ a b Paradoxographers anonymous, p. 222; Hard, p. 45
  19. ^ a b Pliny, Natural History 22.29.1
  20. ^ Hamilton 2012, p. 275.
  21. ^ Κακριδής et al. 1986, p. 228.
  22. ^ Scholia on Ovid's Metamorphoses 4.256
  23. ^ Cameron 2004, p. 8.
  24. ^ Folkard 1884, p. 336.
  25. ^ USDA NRCS National Plant Data Team. "Helianthus annuus L." plants.usda.gov. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
  26. ^ "Helianthus annuus Linnaeus". efloras.org. Retrieved September 18, 2023.
  27. ^ Bright 2021, pp. 96-97.
  28. ^ McMullen 1999, p. 219.
  29. ^ Giesecke 2014, p. 122.
  30. ^ MacDonald Kirkwood 2000, p. 13.
  31. ^ Grummel, William C. “CLYTIE AND SOL.” The Classical Outlook 30, no. 2 (1952): pp 19–19.
  32. ^ Fontenrose, Joseph E. “Apollo and the Sun-God in Ovid.” The American Journal of Philology 61, no. 4 (1940): 429–44.
  33. ^ Trustees of the British Museum – Marble bust of 'Clytie' Archived 2012-02-03 at the Wayback Machine
  34. ^ Trustees of the British Museum – Parian bust of Clytie Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  35. ^ The Victorian Web – Clytie George Frederick Watts, R.A., 1817–1904
  36. ^ Bulfinch 2000, p. 83.
  37. ^ Keith 1966, p. 57.
  38. ^ Blake, William (1988). The complete poetry and prose of William Blake (David V. Erdman ed.). New York: Doubleday. pp. xxvi, 990. Commentary by Harold Bloom. p. 25. ISBN 9780385152136.
  39. ^ Bruyn, J.; Emmens, J. A. (March 1957). "The Sunflower again". The Burlington Magazine. 99 (648): 96–97. JSTOR 872153.
  40. ^ Keith 1966, p. 59.
  41. ^ Hesiod, Theogony 132–138, 337–411, 453–520, 901–906, 915–920; Caldwell, pp. 8–11, tables 11–14.
  42. ^ Although usually the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, as in Hesiod, Theogony 371–374, in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (4), 99–100, Selene is instead made the daughter of Pallas the son of Megamedes.
  43. ^ According to Hesiod, Theogony 507–511, Clymene, one of the Oceanids, the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys, at Hesiod, Theogony 351, was the mother by Iapetus of Atlas, Menoetius, Prometheus, and Epimetheus, while according to Apollodorus, 1.2.3, another Oceanid, Asia was their mother by Iapetus.
  44. ^ According to Plato, Critias, 113d–114a, Atlas was the son of Poseidon and the mortal Cleito.
  45. ^ In Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 18, 211, 873 (Sommerstein, pp. 444–445 n. 2, 446–447 n. 24, 538–539 n. 113) Prometheus is made to be the son of Themis.

References

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Primary sources

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Secondary sources

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