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Narcissus, a MythSource painting
Greek

Narcissus

The Beautiful Youth · The Hunter · Son of Cephissus

01Identity

Narcissus in Greek tradition

At a spring in Thespia, Narcissus, a beautiful Greek youth and hunter, falls in love with his own reflection after rejecting many admirers. Unable to touch the image or turn away, Narcissus wastes away from desire, while Echo fades after his rejection. After his death, the gods cause a narcissus flower to grow where his body had lain, making his story one of self love, unrequited love and metamorphosis.

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Narcissus?

    Narcissus is a Greek being associated with physical beauty, self-love and vanity, unrequited love, rejection and isolation, metamorphosis.
    Source

    Source

    • Bullfinch Mythology - The Age of Fable
    • Greek Mythology – August 2018
    • Greek Myths & Tales
    • The Greek Myths
    • The Oxford Companion to World Mythology
    • Greek and Roman Necromancy

  • What is Narcissus associated with?

    physical beauty, self-love and vanity, unrequited love, rejection and isolation, metamorphosis
    Source

    Source

    • Bullfinch Mythology - The Age of Fable
    • Greek Mythology – August 2018
    • Greek Myths & Tales
    • The Greek Myths
    • The Oxford Companion to World Mythology

  • Is Narcissus in Hades II?

    Yes. It is linked here to Narcissus and His Reflection.

  • What family links are recorded for Narcissus?

    Father: Cephissus, Mother: Liriope.

  • What happens in Narcissus and His Reflection?

    After rejecting many admirers, Narcissus was punished by an avenging goddess and fell in love with his own reflection at a spring in Thespia.
    Source

    Source

    • Ovid, Metamorphoses
    • The Greek Myths
    • Greek Myths & Tales
02Family

Narcissus’s family, at a glance

Parents above, children below, and the figure’s consorts named in between, the same family data as the fact box, laid out as a chart instead of a field list.

CephissusLiriope
Narcissus
03The names

The names Narcissus answers to

Narkissos

Greek form of the name Narcissus

SourceThe Greek Myths

Narcissus of Thespiae

Narcissus identified with the Boeotian city of Thespiae

SourceGreek and Roman Necromancy

Son of Cephissus

Son of the river god Cephissus

SourceThe Greek Myths

Son of Liriope

Son of the nymph Liriope

SourceThe Greek Myths

04The myths

The myths of Narcissus

2 myths, each traced to its primary text and corpus sources, with 2 reviewed modern reworks linked where the evidence supports it.

Narcissus and His Reflection

Ameinius killed himself on Narcissus’s threshold after being rejected, calling on the gods to avenge his death. Artemis heard his plea and caused Narcissus to fall in love while denying him the fulfilment of love. Narcissus was a Thespian, son of the nymph Leiriope and the River-god Cephisus. The seer Teiresias had told Leiriope that Narcissus would live to old age if he never came to know himself. By sixteen, he had rejected many lovers because of his pride in his beauty.

The nymph Echo was among those who loved him. Hera had punished her so that she could speak only by repeating another person’s words. Echo followed Narcissus through the forest while he hunted, hoping to approach him. When he called to his companions, she repeated his words and came out with her arms extended. Narcissus rejected her and said he would rather die than let her have power over him. Echo withdrew to a lonely cave. Her body wasted away from grief until only her voice remained, repeating the words of others.

Narcissus continued to reject those who loved him. A maiden whom he had scorned prayed that he should one day suffer love without receiving it. The avenging goddess granted her prayer. After a hunt, Narcissus came to a spring at Donacon in Thespia. Its water was clear as silver and had not been disturbed by animals, birds, or fallen branches. Exhausted and thirsty, he knelt on the grassy edge and saw his reflection.

At first he tried to embrace and kiss the beautiful figure in the water. He soon recognised that it was his own image, yet he could not turn away. He remained gazing at it, unable to possess what he desired. When he reached towards it, the image reached towards him. His tears disturbed the water and made it disappear, so he begged it to remain. Echo repeated his cries from the woods. Narcissus wasted away through grief and desire, losing his colour, strength, and beauty, and eventually died.

Narcissus and His Reflection, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

Hades II

Game

Narcissus rejects a suitor (Echo), is cursed by Nemesis, and becomes fixated on his own reflection in a pool of water, unable to look away, carrying the core myth almost unchanged into his Underworld encounter with Melinoe.

Narcissus

Film

The myth's core arc survives near-whole: a beautiful youth's incapacity to love anyone but himself traps and eventually destroys him.

3 sources· checked 2026-08-18

  1. 1Greek Myths & TalesT1
  2. 2The Greek MythsT1
  3. 3Ovid, MetamorphosesT1

    Quote

    “Narcissus sees his own image in a spring, desires what he cannot possess, and dies while gazing at it.”

    Ovid, Metamorphoses

The Transformation of Narcissus

Narcissus bent over a spring at Donacon in Thespia to drink. The water was clear and undisturbed. As he looked into it, he saw a beautiful young man and fell in love with the image. He first tried to embrace and kiss it, then realised that it was his own reflection. He remained beside the pool, gazing at himself for hour after hour. When he reached towards the image, it moved as he did. When he tried to touch it, the water broke the image apart.

Narcissus could neither possess his reflection nor turn away from it. He spoke to the figure in the water and grieved when it disappeared beneath the ripples. His tears disturbed the surface, and he begged the image to stay. He forgot to eat and drink. As time passed, his colour, strength, and beauty faded. He knew that the other self in the water would remain true to him, yet his love for it destroyed him.

Artemis had caused this fate after Ameinius killed himself on Narcissus’s threshold and called on the gods to avenge his death. Echo, who had been scorned by Narcissus, remained near him. She grieved as he wasted away and repeated his last words. When Narcissus said, “Farewell”, Echo answered, “Farewell”. In another account, Narcissus said goodbye to the image in the water as he breathed his last, and Echo repeated the words from her cave.

After Narcissus died beside the pool, the gods transformed him into a flower. The nymphs searched for his body so that they could bury him, but it had disappeared. A flower grew where he had lain, and it was called narcissus. One account describes it as white with a yellow centre. Another gives it a blood-red heart. In a further version, the nymphs found a new flower in his place rather than his body. Echo also faded away from grief and hunger, until only her voice remained, repeating the last words spoken on the mountains.

The Transformation of Narcissus, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

3 sources· checked 2026-08-18

  1. 1Ultimate Greek MythologyT1
  2. 2Ovid, MetamorphosesT1

    Quote

    “After Narcissus dies, the nymphs find no body, but a flower stands in its place, bearing his name.”

    Ovid, Metamorphoses

  3. 3Greek Myths & TalesT1

Also appears in

The myths across MythSource where Narcissus features, each on that figure’s page.

The film

The Underdrawing video on Narcissus embeds here once it publishes.