Orchis (mythology)

The unattested myth supposedly goes that Orchis was the son of a nymph and a satyr whose names are usually not disclosed, though sometimes given as Acolasia{{efn|{{lang|grc|Ἀκολασία}} ({{grc-transl|ἀκολασία}}) is a proper noun meaning 'intemperance', and later 'debauchery'.Liddell & Scott s.v [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*a%3Aentry+group%3D66%3Aentry%3Da%29kolasi%2Fa ἀκολασία]}} and Patellanus (in some accounts, he is said to be the son of the fertility god Priapus). One day, during a festival in honour of Dionysus the god of wine, Orchis raped or attempted to rape one of Dionysus's priestesses, so the god killed him. His father mourned his death and asked the gods to bring him back, but they refused, and instead settled on creating the orchid flower out of him. An alternative version of his death has him being torn apart by wild animals or the priestesses themselves, and, through the intervention of the gods, the orchid grows from his testicles.

Over the years, this story has been repeated in books (mostly those on herbology),{{sfn|Bernhardt|2008|page=114-117, 183}}{{sfn|Zining|2020|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1vyAEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT22 122]}}{{sfn|Hixson|2015|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LrcrCAAAQBAJ&pg=PT12 12]}} websites,{{cite web | url = https://www.valentine.gr/mythology7_en.php | title = Flowers in Greek Mythology: Orchid | website = valentine.gr | access-date = June 23, 2008}} and journals, however, none are known to have included a citation to a specific original source dating to ancient Greece or Rome.

The story is not included in modern works noted for their completeness regarding ancient Greek mythology, such as the German encyclopedia Der Neue Pauly,Der Neue Pauly. Available at [http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/reference-works referenceworks.brillonline.com] which is considered to be an unparalleled masterpiece of classical German scholarship,Bernhard Kytzler: [http://www.zeit.de/1979/06/kathedrale-der-gelehrsamkeit Kathedrale der Gelehrsamkeit.] In: Die Zeit. Hamburg 1979,6 (2. Febr.), S. 39. (German)Wolfgang Schuller: Einführung in die Geschichte des Altertums. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1994, S. 140. (German) the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith,Which can be found [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA here] which has been praised for its thorough and accurate entries that draw directly from ancient literary sources,{{Cite journal | last = Green | first = Peter | title = Review: [Untitled] | date = 2013 | journal = The Classical Journal | volume = 108 | issue = 3 | doi = 10.5184/classicalj.108.3.0369 | issn = 0009-8353 | pages = 369–72}} or in Paul M. C. Forbes Irving's Metamorphosis in Greek Myths, a work specifically dealing with the themes of transformation in Greek mythology.{{cite book | title = Metamorphosis in Greek Myths | first = Paul M. C. | last = Forbes Irving | publisher = Clarendon Press | date = 1990 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=URvXAAAAMAAJ | isbn = 0-19-814730-9}}

"Orchis" as a proper name, and the names sometimes given to his parents, Patellanus and Acolasia,{{sfn|Folkard|1884|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=L30DAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA478 478-479]}} do not appear anywhere before 1704, the year when French writer Louis Liger published a gardening book called Le Jardinier Fleuriste et Historiographe ("the floristic and historical gardener").{{sfn|Endersby|2016|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=bmgpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA59 59]}} Liger's book is the oldest known work where Orchis's tale appears, and it is considered likely that it was his own invention, although it does borrow elements from genuine myths, such as those of Pentheus (who is torn apart) and Hyacinthus (who dies and is transformed into a flower).{{sfn|Endersby|2016|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=bmgpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 60]}}

The orchid was known to the ancient Greeks, and they did make a connection between the plant and satyrs: early herbalists would call the orchid 'satyrion'.{{sfn|Sheela|2008|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=RGa2VeA8HiMC&pg=PA224 224]}} It was seen as an aphrodisiac, and some species (particularly the orchis italica) were thought to resemble a little satyr in shape.{{sfn|Farrar|2016|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Dir3CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT153 153]}} Theophrastus, author of one of the most important books of natural history written in ancient times, wrote that they were called thus due to their round root, which bore a resemblance to human testicles,{{sfn|Beekes|2010|page=1116}} and recorded their healing and aphrodisiac properties. Orchids were thought to help produce male progeny if given to men, or female progeny if given to women.{{sfn|Joshi|2012|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=RtC2TbBn2cIC&pg=PA7 7]}}

Another similar myth is the story of Butes, a Thracian man who raped Coronis, a follower of Dionysus. She called upon her god, and he punished Butes by driving him mad and ended with his falling to his death down a well.Diodorus Siculus, Historic Library [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html#50 5.50.5]

• Acantha
• Amethyste
• Clytie
• Rainbow crow

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• {{cite book | author-link = Robert S. P. Beekes | last = Beekes | first = Robert S. P. | title = Etymological Dictionary of Greek | location = Leiden, the Netherlands | publisher = Brill Publications | date = 2010 | volume = ΙΙ | isbn = 978-90-04-17419-1 | series = Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series | editor = Lucien van Beek}}
• {{cite book | title = Gods and Goddesses in the Garden: Greco-Roman Mythology and the Scientific Names of Plants | first = Peter | last = Bernhardt | publisher = Rutgers University Press | date = 2008 | isbn = 978-0-8135-4266-9 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sKgWkCGTO6YC}}
• {{cite book | series = Loeb Classical Library, 12 volumes | publisher = Harvard University Press | date = 1933–1967 | translator = C. H. Oldfather | volume = 6 | author = Diodorus Siculus | author-link = Diodorus Siculus | title = Historic library}}
• {{cite book | title = Orchid: A Cultural History | first = Jim | last = Endersby | publisher = University of Chicago Press | date = November 7, 2016 | location = Chicago, London | isbn = 978-0-226-37632-5 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bmgpDQAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book | title = Gardens and Gardeners of the Ancient World: History, Myth and Archaeology | first = Linda | last = Farrar | publisher = Oxbow Books | date = February 29, 2016 | isbn = 978-1-909686-85-4 | location = United Kingdom | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Dir3CwAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book | title = Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics: Embracing the Myths, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-lore of the Plant Kingdom | first = Richard | last = Folkard | date = 1884 | publisher = S. Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MzslAQAAMAAJ | location = Michigan}}
• {{cite book | date = April 15, 2015 | title = Growing Orchids Like A Pro: The Complete Guide on How to Grow Orchids | first = Joan E. | last = Hixson | publisher = Living Plus Healthy Publishing | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LrcrCAAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite book | title = Herbal Drugs and Fingerprints: Evidence Based Herbal Drugs | first = Devi Datt | last = Joshi | publisher = Springer Science+Business Media | isbn = 978-81-322-0803-7 | date = November 2, 2012 | location = New York, London | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RtC2TbBn2cIC}}
• {{cite book | first1 = Henry George | last1 = Liddell | first2 = Robert | last2 = Scott | title = A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie | location = Oxford | publisher = Clarendon Press | date = 1940 | author1-link = Henry Liddell | author2-link = Robert Scott (philologist)}} [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057 Online version at Perseus.tufts project.]
• {{cite book | title = Flowers for Trade | first = V. L. | last = Sheela | date = March 5, 2008 | publisher = New India Publishing Agency | location = New Delhi | isbn = 978-81-89422-51-6 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RGa2VeA8HiMC}}
• {{cite book | title = The Orchid Folios | first = Mok | last = Zining | publisher = Ethos books | date = August 12, 2020 | isbn = 978-981-14-4294-0 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=1vyAEAAAQBAJ}}

• {{wiktionary-inline|ὄρχις}}

Category:Satyrs

Category:Fictional rapists

Category:Orchids

Category:Fakelore

Category:Shapeshifting

{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology}}