InGreek mythology,Myrsine (Ancient Greek:Μυρσίνη,romanized: Mursínē,lit.'myrtle') is an Attic girl who won the favour ofAthena thanks to her impressive athletic achievements and her beauty, and the envy of the other Atticans for the same reason. Her brief tale survives in theGeoponica, a Byzantine Greek collection of agricultural lore, compiled during the tenth century inConstantinople for the Byzantine emperorConstantine VII Porphyrogenitus.
The Ancient Greek wordμυρσίνη (myrsínē) means 'myrtle'.[1] Other spellings and forms includeμυρρίνη (myrrhínē), masc.μύρρινος (mýrrhinos) for the plant overall and myrtle wreaths, while the berry isμύρτον (mýrton)[2] orμυρτίς (myrtís).[3][4] Myrsine and its variants is probably ofSemitic origin, but unrelated to the word for myrrh,μύρρα (mýrrha) orσμύρνα (smýrna), despite the strong resemblance between the two words.[4]Robert Beekes suggested apre-Greek origin due to themyrt-/myrs- variation.[5]
The Attican maiden Myrsine surpassed all girls in beauty and all boys in strength, winning herself the favour ofAthena, the virgin goddess of wisdom and patron-goddess ofAttica.[6][7] She excelled in both thering and the race, beating all of her opponents.[8] Many of her fellow athletes were envious and grew resentful, so they murdered her.[9] But Athena took pity in her favourite, and turned the dead girl into amyrtle, which was 'not less acceptable to Athena than the olive tree'.[10][11]
A similar, almost word-for-word, story was also told about another maiden,Elaea, who was changed into an olive tree.[11] The myrtle was also seen asAphrodite's sacred plant, and she too had astory connecting her to it.[9][11]
^abHünemörder, Christian (2006)."Myrtle". In Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.).Brill's New Pauly. Translated by Christine F. Salazar. Hamburg: Brill Reference Online. RetrievedJanuary 9, 2023.
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