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Cyparissus, a MythSource painting
Greek

Cyparissus

01Identity

Cyparissus in Greek tradition

Cyparissus's story ends with a tree and an act of mourning. A youth loved by Apollo, he cared for a stag sacred to the nymphs. He led it to water and pasture, decorated its horns and rode on its back. One hot day it lay in the shade; by accident, Cyparissus struck it with a javelin. He grieved for the animal and asked the gods to let him mourn for ever. His grief changed him into a cypress. Apollo promised to mourn him and to let the tree stand with those who grieve the dead.

SourceThe Metamorphoses of Ovid, Cyparissus and the tame stag, printed pp. 348–350

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The quick answers

02The myths

The myths of Cyparissus

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Cyparissus and the tame stag

At midday in summer, a javelin thrown by Cyparissus strikes the stag by mistake. The animal had been sacred to the Nymphs of the Carthaean fields, and the youth had cared for it closely. He led it to fresh pasture and running water, wove flowers around its horns and rode on its back with a purple bridle guiding it.

The stag has settled in the shade to escape the heat. When Cyparissus sees it dying from the wound, his own wish to live drains away. Apollo tries to console him, yet the boy's grief does not lessen. Cyparissus asks the gods for one last favour: that he may mourn without end.

His body changes as his blood is spent in tears. Green spreads through his limbs; the pale hair at his brow stiffens into rough foliage, and his shape narrows to a point reaching towards the sky. Apollo grieves for him and promises that the cypress will be connected with those who mourn the dead. The change makes Cyparissus both a figure of grief and a lasting companion to other mourners.

Cyparissus and the tame stag, a MythSource painting of the scene

3 sources· checked 2026-10-01

  1. 1The Metamorphoses of OvidT1
  2. 2The Metamorphoses of OvidT1
  3. 3The Metamorphoses of OvidT1

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Cyparissus, each on that figure’s page.