Above: Picture of Cinyris and Myrrha

In Greek mythology, King Cinyras was the father of Myrrha (also known as Smyrna) and Adonis. Cinyras was the spouse of Galatea (also known as Metharme) and he was also the son of Apollo.

Apollo and Cinyras had a musical contest to distinguish who was superior to the lyre. When Cinyras lost to his father, he killed himself.

Cinyras was adored as the creator of musical instruments such as the flute and revered as the originator of art in Cyprus.

Cinyras arrived in Cyprus and founded Paphos. There, he controlled the coast and reigned prosperously. He is also known as the king of Assyria and the father of the city Smyrna, which he christened after the name of his daughter – Smyrna or Myrrha.

Ovid claims in his Metamorphoses that Cinyras is also the king of Panchaia (a land east of Arabia) and had inadvertently impregnated his daughter Myrrha. It was said that Myrrha lusted for her father. Mortified by her feelings, she had tried to hang herself but was saved by her nursemaid.

When the nursemaid found out the reason of Myrrha’s anguish, she concocted a plan for Myrrha to carry out her lust for her father.

When Myrrha’s mother attended the Cere’s festival, she began to have sexual intercourse with Cinyras.

During those evening encounters with his daughter, Cinyras was oblivious to the fact that it was Myrrha. The room was dark and he was highly intoxicated during those nights.

One particular evening, Cinyras had with him a lamp and discovered it was his daughter. He ran after her with his sword and made an attempt to kill her.

Myrrha ran away and wandered off for nine months till she reached Sabo. She pleaded to the gods to neither let her live nor die for her sin would upset the living and the dead. It was then decided by the gods to turn her into a myrrh tree.

Due to the incestuous act, Myrrha gave birth to a child. Lucina made it possible to deliver child from the tree and Naiads took care of him. She bathed him with myrrh which was tears from his mother.

The child conceived by Myrrha and her father Cinyras was Adonis.