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The term narcissism
was first used in relation to human psychology by Sigmund Freud after the figure
of Narcissus in Greek mythology.
Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth who rejected the desperate advances of
the nymph Echo. As a punishment, he was doomed to fall in love with his own
reflection in a pool of water. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus pined
away and changed into the flower that bears his name, the narcissus.
Narcissism
Narcissism is named after Narcissus, and both derive from the Greek word narke
"numb" from which we also get the word narcotic. Thus for the Greeks
Narcissus stood for vanity, callousness and insensitivity, as he was emotionally
numb to the entreaties of those who fell in love with his beauty.
In Greek mythology, Narcissus
or Narkissos, was a hero of the territory of Thespiae in Boeotia who was renowned
for his beauty and his pride. Several versions of his myth have survived: Ovid's,
from his Metamorphoses; Pausanias', from his Guide to Greece, (9.31.7); and
one found among the Oxyrhynchus papyri.
Pausanias locates the spring of Narcissus at Donacon 'Reed-bed' in the territory
of the Thespians. Pausanias finds it incredible that someone could not distinguish
a reflection from a real person, and cites a less known variant in which Narcissus
had a twin sister. Both dressed the same and wore the same kind of clothes and
hunted together. Narcissus fell in love with her. When she died, Narcissus pined
after her and pretended that the reflection he saw in the water was his sister.
As Pausanias also notes, yet another tale is that the narcissus flower was created
to entice Demeter's daughter Core away from her companions to enable Hades to
abduct her.
Ovid's version
In Ovid's Metamorphoses, he tells the story of a graceful and pretty nymph named
Echo who loved Narcissus in vain. Narcissus's beauty was so unmatched that he
felt it to be godlike in scope, comparing it with that of Bacchus and Apollo.
He spurned Echo's affections until, despairing, she faded away to nothing but
a faint, plaintive whisper; to teach the vain boy a lesson, the goddess Nemesis
doomed Narcissus to fall in love with his own reflection in Echo's pond. Entranced
by his own beauty and enamoured with his own image, Narcissus lay on the bank
of the river and wasted away staring down into the water.
Archaic version
This, a more archaic version than the one related by Ovid in his Metamorphoses,
is a moral tale in which the proud and unfeeling Narcissus is punished by the
gods for having spurned all his male suitors. It is thought to have been meant
as a cautionary tale addressed to adolescent boys. Until recently, the only
source for this version was a segment in Pausanias (9.31.7), about 150 years
after Ovid. However, a very similar account was discovered among the Oxyrhynchus
papyri in 2004, an account that predates Ovid's version by at least fifty years.
In this story, Ameinias, a young man, loved Narcissus but was scorned. To tell
Ameinias off, Narcissus gave him a sword as a present. Ameinias used the sword
to kill himself on Narcissus' doorstep and prayed to Nemesis that Narcissus
would one day know the pain of unrequited love. This curse was fulfilled when
Narcissus became entranced by his reflection in the pool and tried to seduce
the beautiful boy, not realizing it was himself he was looking at. Completing
the symmetry of the tale, Narcissus takes his sword and kills himself from sorrow.[1]