Echo (mythology)

Echo
Echo (right) with Narcissus, from a fresco in Pompeii
AbodeMount Cithaeron
Personal information
Parents(possibly) Ouranos
SiblingsNymphs
ConsortPan, Narcissus
ChildrenIynx[1] and Iambe[2]

In Greek mythology, Echo (/ˈɛk/; Greek: Ἠχώ, Ēkhō, "echo",[3] from ἦχος (ēchos), "sound"[4]) was an Oread who resided on Mount Cithaeron.[5] Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and often visited them on Earth. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mount Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs. Echo, by trying to protect Zeus (as he had ordered her to do), endured Hera's wrath, and Hera made her only able to speak the last words spoken to her. So when Echo met Narcissus and fell in love with him, she was unable to tell him how she felt and was forced to watch him as he fell in love with himself.

  1. ^ Sudias, Translated by Ada Adler (1928–1938), Suda. Available at stoa.org/sol/
  2. ^ Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony and Eidinow, Esther (2012). The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Page 720, "Iambe". ISBN 0199545561.
  3. ^ ἠχώ, Henry Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  4. ^ ἦχος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  5. ^ Aristophanes, Translated by Eugene O'Neill Jr. (1938). Thesmophoriazusae. Lines 990-1000. Available at perseus.tufts.edu