In ancient Greek and Roman mythology, Cyparissus (Ancient Greek: Κυπάρισσος, romanized: Kupárissos, lit. 'cypress') was a boy beloved by Apollo, 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 as it lay sleeping in the woods. The boy's grief was such that it transformed him into a cypress tree, 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 Greek-inspired Latin literature and frescoes from Pompeii. No Greek hero cult devoted to Cyparissus has been identified.
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👉 Cyparissus in the context of Cyparissus (Vignali)
Cyparissus is a 1620s Baroque painting on a mythological subject from Ovid's Metamorphoses by the Italian painter Jacopo Vignali. It is on display in the Musée des Beaux-Arts of Strasbourg, France, to which it had been donated by the collectors Othon Kaufmann and François Schlageter in 1994. Its inventory number is 994-1-8, or 44.994.1.8.
The painting depicts the young Cyparissus, mourning his pet deer, that he had mistakenly killed with his own bow and arrow. The young boy's pain is amplified beyond the description given by Ovid, and possibly inspired by a 1624 Venetian edition of Giovanni Andrea dell' Anguillara's Metamorfosi ridotte in ottava rima, in which the tearful aspect of the story is emphasized. It is one of the very few profane paintings by Vignali.
In this Dossier
Cyparissus in the context of Cypress
Cypress is a common name for species in several genera in the family Cupressaceae. They grow in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America.
The word cypress is derived from Old French cipres, which was imported from Latin cypressus, the latinisation of the Greek κυπάρισσος (kyparissos). The name derives from Cyparissus, a mythological figure who was turned into a cypress tree after killing a stag.
Cyparissus in the context of Cupressus
Cupressus (common name cypress) is one of several genera of evergreen conifers within the family Cupressaceae; for the others, see cypress. It is considered a polyphyletic group. Based on genetic and morphological analysis, the genus Cupressus is found in the subfamily Cupressoideae. The common name "cypress" comes via the Old French cipres from the Latin cyparissus, which is the latinisation of the Greek κυπάρισσος (kypárissos). The name derives from Cyparissus, a mythological figure who was turned into a tree after killing a stag.
As currently treated, these cypresses are native plants in scattered localities in mainly warm temperate climate regions in the Northern Hemisphere, including northwest Africa, the Middle East, the Himalayas, southern China and northern Vietnam. As with other conifers, extensive cultivation has led to a wide variety of forms, sizes and colours, that are grown in parks and gardens worldwide.
Cyparissus in the context of Asclepiades of Tragilus
Asclepiades of Tragilus (Greek: Ἀσκληπιάδης) was an ancient Greek literary critic and mythographer of the 4th century BC, and a student of the Athenian orator Isocrates. His works do not survive, but he is known to have written the Tragodoumena (Τραγῳδούμενα, "The Subjects of Tragedy"), in which he discussed the treatment of myths in Greek tragedy. The Tragodoumena is sometimes considered the first systematic mythography. Asclepiades summarized the plots of myths as dramatized in tragedy, and provided details and variants. He is one of the authors (= FGrHist 12) whose fragments were collected in Felix Jacoby's Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker. He is cited twice in the work traditionally known as the Library of Apollodorus.
A gloss on Vergil's phrase Idaeis cyparissis ("cypresses of Ida") mentions that Asclepiades preserved a Celtic version of the myth of Cyparissus, in which a female Cyparissa is the daughter of a Celtic king named Boreas.