Incest appears in the commonly accepted version of the birth of Adonis, when his mother, Myrrha has sex with her father Cinyras during a festival, disguised as a prostitute.

Although the tale of Adonis has Semitic roots, it is uncertain from where the myth of Myrrha emerged, though it was likely from Cyprus.

It has been suggested that the taboo of incest marks the difference between culture and nature and that Ovid's version of Myrrha showed this.

A translation of Ovid's Myrrha, done by English poet John Dryden in 1700, has been interpreted as a critique of the society of that day linking Myrrha to Mary II and Cinyras to James II.

In post-classical times, Myrrha has had widespread influence in Western culture.

In art, Myrrha's seduction of her father has been illustrated by German engraver Virgil Solis, her tree-metamorphosis by French engraver Bernard Picart and Italian painter Marcantonio Franceschini, while French engraver Gustave Doré chose to depict Myrrha in Hell as a part of his series of engravings for Dante's Divine Comedy.

The myth of Myrrha is closely linked to that of her son, Adonis, which has been easier to trace.

The myth of Myrrha and Cinyras is sung by Orpheus in the tenth book of Metamorphoses after he has told the myth of Pygmalion and before he turns to the tale of Venus and Adonis.

The myth of Myrrha has been chronicled in several other works than Ovid's Metamorphoses.

The myth of Myrrha has been interpreted in various ways.

The transformation of Myrrha in Ovid's version has been interpreted as a punishment for her breaking the social rules through her incestuous relationship with her father.

[...] In the cases of both Lot's daughters and Myrrha, the daughter's seduction of the father has to be covert.

Myrrha has been interpreted as developing from a girl into a woman in the course of the story: in the beginning she is a virgin refusing her suitors, in that way denying the part of herself that is normally dedicated to Aphrodite.

That Myrrha is transformed into a myrrh tree has also been interpreted to have influenced the character of Adonis.

In her essay " What Nature Allows the Jealous Laws Forbid " literary critic Mary Aswell Doll compares the love between the two male protagonists of Annie Proulx ' book Brokeback Mountain ( 1997 ) with the love Myrrha has for her father in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

The play has been interpreted as an autobiography, with Sardanapalus as Byron's alter ego, Zarina as Byron's wife Anne Isabella, and Myrrha as his mistress Teresa.

Myrrha ( Greek: ), also known as Smyrna ( Greek: ), is the mother of Adonis in Greek mythology.

As the myth of Myrrha is also the longest tale sung by Orpheus ( 205 lines ) and the only story that corresponds to his announced theme of girls who are punished for their madness from forbidden desire, it is considered the centerpiece of the song.

Hughes was also complimented on his achievements in using humour or horror when describing Myrrha or a flood, respectively.

# It was also said that Myrrha fled from her father and Aphrodite turned her into a tree.

* Myrrha, also known as Smyrna, mother of Adonis

The slave, Myrrha, loved the king, but also had her own democratic and republican desires.

Over the centuries Myrrha, the girl, and myrrh, the fragrance, have been linked etymologically.

Distraught that she had been discovered, Myrrha confided her forbidden love to the nurse.

The 18-spot ladybird is linked to Myrrha in its scientific name, Myrrha octodecimguttata.

* Myrrha ( the Greek myth of incestual love between father and daughter )

The myth details the incestuous relationship between Myrrha and her father, Cinyras.

The myth of Myrrha was one of 24 tales retold in Tales from Ovid by English poet Ted Hughes.

It is likely that lack of clarity concerning whether Myrrha was called Smyrna, and who her father was, originated in Cyprus before the Greeks first encountered the myth.

Building on Sigmund Freud's theories and psychoanalysis this is shown in Ovid's version of the myth of Myrrha.

One of the earliest recordings of a play inspired by the myth of Myrrha is in the Antiquities of the Jews, written in 93 A. D. by the Roman-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.

Dante had already shown his familiarity with the myth of Myrrha in a prior letter to Emperor Henry VII, which he wrote on 17 April 1311.

The novella Mathilda, written by Mary Shelley in 1820, contains similarities to the myth and mentions Myrrha.

In her essay " A Problem Few Dare Imitate ", Susan J. Wolfson phrases and interprets the relation of the play Sardanapalus and the myth of Myrrha:

In 1997 the myth of Myrrha and Cinyras was one of 24 tales from Ovid's Metamorphoses that were retold by English poet Ted Hughes in his poetical work Tales from Ovid.

In 1997 American poet Frank Bidart wrote Desire, which was another retelling of the myth of Myrrha as it was presented in the Metamorphoses by Ovid.

The English poet John Dryden translated the myth of Myrrha for political purposes.

The translation of the myth of Myrrha as it appeared in Ovid's Metamorphoses is suggested as being a critique of the political settlement that followed the Glorious Revolution.

Dryden turned to translation and infused these translations with political satire in response-the myth of Myrrha being one of these translations.

Reading the translation of the myth of Myrrha by Dryden as a comment on the political scene, states Lee, is partly justified by the characterization done by the historian Julian Hoppit on the events of the revolution of 1688:

The concert was inspired by the myth of Myrrha in Ovid's Metamorphoses and includes excerpts from the volume that " move in and out of the music as though in a dream, or perhaps Myrrha ’ s memory of the events that shaped her fate ," as described by Kuster.