Side (daughter of Ictinus)
In Greek mythology, Side (/saɪdɪ/, SYE-dee; Ancient Greek: Σίδη, romanized: Sídē, lit. 'pomegranate', pronounced [sǐːdɛː]) is a minor figure who tried to escape her enamored father and was transformed into a tree, in part of an aetiological myth that attempts to explain nature. Her brief tale survives in the works of Dionysius Periegetes.
Etymology
The ancient Greek noun σίδη translates to "pomegranate", and refers to both the tree and its fruit.[1]
Family
The only known member of Side's family is a father named Ictinus. Nothing more is known about their family, nor is the land her myth takes place ever named, as most likely both Side and Ictinus were invented for the sake of this story.[2]
Mythology
According to the myth, Side's father Ictinus developed an incestuous desire for his daughter, and chased her down with the intention to rape her. Side fled from him until she reached the gravestone of her dead mother, and killed herself on it. Her blood spilt on the ground and gave rise to a pomegranate tree, while her father himself was transformed into a kite, a bird of prey that hates to rest on pomegranate trees.[2][3][4]
Symbolism
Karl Kerenyi compared this story to both the goddess Persephone, who was abducted to the Underworld by its king Hades and forced to stay there for several months a year thanks to her consumption of pomegranate fruit, and the hunter Orion's first wife Side, who angered Hera and was cast in Tartarus as punishment. All three stories have in common the theme of a pomegranate-related maiden who dies, either literally or metaphorically, and is led to the Underworld. In this Side's case, her father Ictinus supplants the subterranean god who seduces/rapes the maiden. Kerenyi summarized the theme as a woman who has to go down to the Underworld for the benefit of her community.[5]
The pomegranate fruit was seen as a symbol of fertility and Aphrodite, the goddess of love and fertility. Most significantly when it comes to this myth, other than the connection it has to kites, is its bright red colour that resembles blood, as Side spilt her own when she took her life, which then gave rise to the tree.[2]
Side's myth has also similar elements with those of Nyctaea and Nyctimene, two other women who were transformed into something else in their effort to escape the embraces of their rapacious fathers.
See also
References
- ^ Liddell & Scott s.v. σίδη
- ^ a b c Forbes Irving 1990, pp. 242–243.
- ^ Dionysius, De Aucupio 7
- ^ Garzya 1955, pp. 205-206.
- ^ Kerenyi 1967, p. 139.
Bibliography
- Forbes Irving, Paul M. C. (1990). Metamorphosis in Greek Myths. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-814730-9.
- Garzya, Antonius (1955). "Paraphrasis Dionysii Poematis de Aucupio". Byzantion. 25–27 (1). Peeters Publishers, JSTOR. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
- Kerenyi, Karl (1967). Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter. Translated by Ralph Manheim. New York City, New York: Pantheon Books.
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