Smilax (mythology)

In Greek mythology Smilax (; ; Liddell & Scott (1940), A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, "σμῖλαξ") was the lover of CrocusWilliam Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology Crocus and was turned into the plant bearing her name (the bindweed). Ancient sources with information about her and her tale are few and far between.

Etymology Variants of the word include , milax, and , (s)milos, which point to a pre-Greek origin for the noun according to Robert Beekes.

Mythology Details of her story are vague and sparse. Pliny writes that Smilax was turned into bindweed shrub for loving the young Crocus.Pliny the Elder, Natural History 16.63.1 Ovid writes that the smilax and crocus both tell a love story,Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.283 and Nonnus also mentions Crocus' love for Smilax, the "airgarlanded girl".Nonnus, Dionysiaca 12.86

See also Amaracus Clytia, another nymph turned into plant out of unfulfilled love. Myrsine

Notes

References

Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Pliny the Elder, Pliny – Natural History, 10 volumes. Translated by Rackham, H.; Jones, W. H. S.; Eichholz, D. E. Loeb Classical Library. 1938–1962. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.

External links FLOWER MYTHS from The Theoi Project