Leucothoe (daughter of Orchamus)

In Ovid's, Metamorphoses, Leucothoe (Greek: Λευκοθόη) was the daughter of Orchamus, a king of Persia, and a lover of Helios the Sun. Helios disguised himself as her mother, Eurynome, to gain entrance to her chambers. Clytia, a previous lover of Helios, consumed with jealousy, reported Leucothoe's affair to Orchamus, who buried her alive. Leucothoe died before Helios could save her. Overcome with grief, Helios shined his rays upon her but could not revive her. So he sprinkled her body with "fragrant nectar" and she turned into a frankincense tree. Clytia, scorned by Helios, sat on the ground pining away, neither eating nor drinking, constantly turning her face toward the Sun, until finally she became the heliotrope, whose flowers follow the Sun across the sky every day.[1]

Notes
  1. Hard, p. 45; Gantz, p. 34; Grimal, s.v. Leucothoe; Tripp, s.v. Helius B.; Parada, s.v. Leucothoe 2; Smith, s.v. Leucothoe; Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.192–270.

References
  • Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
  • Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1.
  • Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 9780415186360. Google Books.
  • Ovid. Metamorphoses, Volume I: Books 1-8. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library No. 42. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1977, first published 1916. ISBN 978-0-674-99046-3. Online version at Harvard University Press.
  • Parada, Carlos, Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology, Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag, 1993. ISBN 978-91-7081-062-6.
  • Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). ISBN 069022608X.
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