Mark C. Eades
The Myth of the Cypress Tree

The spire-like cypress tree of the Mediterranean is named for Cyparissus, a youth beloved of Apollo who lived in Greek mythology on the Aegean island of Chios. On Chios lived also a sacred stag, with great antlers of gold and adorned in silver and precious stones. The stag was loved by all the island's inhabitants, who fed him and stroked his neck and welcomed him into their homes. The stag was especially loved by Cyparissus, who would lead him through the hills and meadows to springs of fresh water, adorn his horns with garlands of flowers, climb onto his back and ride him laughing through the valleys and across the plains. One hot day, however, Cyparissus was out hunting and saw the sacred stag lying in the distant shade among the leaves. Failing to recognize him, Cyparissus shot and killed the stag with an arrow. Grief-stricken upon learning what he had done, the youth prayed to Apollo to be allowed to grieve forever. Apollo reluctantly agreed, and turned his beloved friend into the cypress tree so that his place would be to always preside over the grieving of others.

From the story of Cyparissus, the cypress came to be known as a tree of mourning, standing over cemeteries and associated with death, eternity, and the underworld. In Roman funerals, cypress branches adorned the body while it lay in state and were carried by mourners as a sign of their grief and respect, and to this day when a pope of the Roman Catholic Church dies, he is buried in a casket made from the wood of a cypress tree. The Muse of Tragedy, Melpomene, wore a crown of cypress twigs, as did Venus when mourning her lover Adonis. The cypress was also a recurring presence in the painting of Vincent van Gogh, who described his preoccupation with the tree in a letter to his brother Theo from the South of France: "The cypress is always occupying my thoughts.... It is as beautiful of line and proportion as an Egyptian obelisk. And the green has a quality of such distinction.... It is a splash of black in a sunny landscape, but it is one of the most interesting black notes, and the most difficult to hit off exactly that I can imagine."

Gaunt and silent in cemeteries throughout the Roman world, including those in the distant province of Judea, the cypress stood and stands today, shrouded in green over the resting places of the sacred dead.



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Mark C. Eades

NOTES:

This retelling of the story of Cyparissus draws liberally from Ovid in the Metamorphoses, Book X. The cypress was also a recurring presence in the painting of Vincent van Gogh, who described his preoccupation with the tree in a letter to his brother Theo from the South of France: "The cypress is always occupying my thoughts.... It is as beautiful of line and proportion as an Egyptian obelisk. And the green has a quality of such distinction.... It is a splash of black in a sunny landscape, but it is one of the most interesting black notes, and the most difficult to hit off exactly that I can imagine." (The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh [Boston: Bulfinch, 1991], No. 596, 25 June 1889).


Cyparissus transformed into the cypress tree (engraving by Johannes Baur from digitalized 1703 edition of Ovid's Metamorphoses, University of Vermont, The Ovid Project).


Domenichino, The Transformation of Cyparissus (National Gallery, London).


Alexander Ivanov, Apollo, Hyacinthus and Cyparissus Singing and Playing Music (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, via Olga's Gallery).


Cypresses by Vincent Van Gogh (various collections via Olga's Gallery)

See also:
Apollo & Cyparissus (The World History of Male Love)
The Ovid Collection (University of Virginia)
The Ovid Project (University of Vermont)
Van Gogh's Letters (Web Exhibits)


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