Echo (mythology)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- See Echo for other meanings.
In Greek mythology, Echo (Greek Ἠχώ) was an Oread (a mountain nymph) who loved her own voice. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and visited them on Earth often. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from mt.Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs.
Hera eventually interrupted Echo and went into the field where Zeus and the nymphs had been. When she saw the field was empty, Hera realized what Echo had done and punished her.
Ovid's version of events states that Zeus employed Echo to occupy Hera whilst he continued with his adulteries. Hera soon saw through this ruse and punished her so that she could say only the last words of other people's sentences (echolalia). She could not speak of her own accord and so was deprived of the thing she loved the most.
In the time of Echo's suffering, there was a human named Narcissus. He was so handsome that every girl or boy that saw him immediately fell in love with him. But Narcissus had no heart and loved no one.
One day, Echo met Narcissus and fell in love with him. Echo could not speak to him, but she had felt she needed to see him. So Echo followed him, just enough to see him, but not enough to be seen.
Narcissus became lost and called out, "Is anyone here?"
Echo said, "Here, here, here."
Narcissus told whoever was there to come out. Echo came out and, because she couldn't talk, used her hands to show Narcissus how much she loved him. Narcissus, annoyed that so many people liked him, rejected her love. Echo, heart-broken, prayed to Aphrodite for death. Her prayer was answered, but Aphrodite loved her voice, so she let her voice live on.
Ovid's version of the tale states that a girl who had also fallen in love with Narcissus made a prayer to the gods, asking that Narcissus suffer from an unrequited lust as she had made others do. The prayer was answered by the goddess Nemesis - she who ruins the proud, who cursed Narcissus into falling in love with his own reflection. He eventually dies of heartbreak and is carried to the Underworld where he is forever tormented by his own reflection in the river Styx.
Alternatively, Echo was a nymph who was a great singer and dancer and scorned the love of any man. This angered Pan, a lecherous god, and he instructed his followers to kill her. Echo was torn to pieces and spread all over the Earth.
The goddess of the earth, Gaia, received the pieces of Echo, whose voice remains repeating the last words of others.
In some versions, Echo and Pan first had one child: Iambe.
