Several versions of the myth have survived from ancient sources, one from Pausanias, the Greek traveler and geographer of the second century AD, and a more popular one from Ovid, published before 8 AD, found in Book 3 of his Metamorphoses. This is the story of Echo and Narcissus, a story within another story. The framing in Ovid of the story is as a test of the prophetic abilities of Tiresias, an individual who had been both a man and a woman, and whose sight was taken from him during a contest between Juno and Jove. He had taken Jove's side and Juno, angered, blinded him. In its place, Jove gave him future sight, or prophecy. The prophecy which made Tiresias's name for him was the story of Echo and Narcissus.
After being "ravaged" by the river god Cephissus, the nymph Liriope gave birth to Narcissus, who was "beautiful even as a child." As was apparently custom, she consulted the seer Tiresias about the boy's future, who predicted that the boy would live a long life only if he never "came to know himself". During his 16th year, after getting lost while hunting with friends, Narcissus came to be followed by a nymph, Echo.
Echo was an Oread (mountain nymph) and, like Tiresias, had a sensory ability altered after an argument between Juno and Jove. Echo had kept Juno occupied with gossip while Jove had an affair behind her back. In another similar version by Ovid, it Echo kept the goddess Hera occupied with stories while Zeus's lovers escaped Mount Olympus. As a punishment, Juno and Hera both took from Echo her agency in speech; Echo was thereafter never able to speak unless it was to repeat the last few words of those she heard.[5] Echo had deceived using gossip; she would be condemned to be only that from then on.
Meanwhile, Echo spied Narcissus, separated from his hunting friends, and she become immediately infatuated, following him, waiting for him to speak so her feelings might be heard. Narcissus sensed he was being followed and shouted "Who's there?" Echo repeated "Who's there?" Whilt this interaction continued, Echo came close enough so that she was revealed, and attempted to embrace him.[6] Horrified, he stepped back and told her to "keep her chains". Heartbroken, Echo wasted away, losing her body amidst lonely glens, until nothing of her but her chaste verbal ability remained.
Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, heard the pleas of a young man, Ameinias, who had fallen for Narcissus but was ignored and cursed him; Nemesis listened, proclaiming that Narcissus would never be able to be loved by the one he fell in love with.
After spurning Echo and the young man, Narcissus became thirsty. He found a pool of water which, in Ovid's account, no animal had ever approached. Leaning down to drink, Narcissus sees his reflection, which he finds as beautiful as a marble statue. Not realising it was his own reflection, Narcissus fell deeply in love with it. Thus both Tiresias's prophecy and Nemesis' curse came true in the same instance.[7][a][b] Unable to leave the allure of this image, Narcissus eventually realized that his love could not be reciprocated and he melted away from the fire of passion burning inside him, eventually turning into a gold and white flower.[8][9]
An earlier version ascribed to the poet Parthenius of Nicaea, composed around 50 BC, was discovered in 2004 by Dr Benjamin Henry among the Oxyrhynchus papyri at Oxford.[10][11] Again, like in Ovid, Narcissus lost his will to live and committed suicide. A version by Conon, a contemporary of Ovid, also ends in suicide (Narrations, 24). In it, a young man named Ameinias fell in love with Narcissus, who had already spurned his male suitors. Narcissus also spurned him and gave him a sword. Ameinias committed suicide at Narcissus's doorstep. He had prayed to the gods to give Narcissus a lesson for all the pain he provoked. Narcissus walked by a pool of water and decided to drink some. He saw his reflection, became entranced by it, and killed himself because he could not have his object of desire. Because of this tragedy, the Thespians came to honor and reverence Eros especially among the gods.
A century later the travel writer Pausanias recorded a novel variant of the story, in which Narcissus falls in love with his twin sister rather than himself.[12][13] In all versions, his body disappears and all that is left is a narcissus flower.
Echo is a well-known nymph in Greek mythology. She was an Oread, a mountain nymph. Hera, Zeus’s wife, scorned her and sentenced her to only being able to repeat the last words spoken by others. This was quite the curse for a young nymph who loved to chat. This is where the word ''echo'' came from. Echo ultimately comes to her ruin because of her love for Narcissus, the self-absorbed, self-loving mortal son of gods. In Greek mythology, Echo (/ˈɛkoʊ/; Greek: Ἠχώ, Ēkhō, "echo",[3] from ἦχος (ēchos), "sound"[4]) was an Oread who resided on Mount Cithaeron.[5] Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and often visited them on Earth. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mount Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs. Echo, by trying to protect Zeus (as he had ordered her to do), endured Hera's wrath, and Hera made her only able to speak the last words spoken to her. So when Echo met Narcissus and fell in love with him, she was unable to tell him how she felt and was forced to watch him as he fell in love with himself.
Sometime after being cursed, Echo spied a young man, Narcissus, while he was out hunting deer with his companions. She immediately fell in love with him and, infatuated, followed quietly. The more she looked at the young man, the more she longed for him. Though she wished with all her heart to call out to Narcissus, Juno's curse prevented her.
During the hunt, Narcissus became separated from his companions and called out, "is anyone there" and heard the nymph repeat his words. Startled, Narcissus answered the voice, ‘come here,’ only to be told the same. When Narcissus saw that nobody had emerged from the glade, he concluded that the owner of the voice must be running away from him and called out again. Finally, he shouted, "This way, we must come together." Taking this to be a reciprocation of her love, Echo concurred ecstatically, "We must come together!"
In her delight, Echo rushed to Narcissus ready to throw her arms around her beloved. Narcissus, however, was appalled and, spurning her, exclaimed, ‘Hands off! May I die before you enjoy my body.’ All Echo could whisper in reply was, ‘enjoy my body’ and having done so she fled, scorned, humiliated, and shamed.
Despite the harshness of his rejection, Echo's love for Narcissus only grew. When Narcissus died, wasting away before his own reflection, consumed by a love that could not be, Echo mourned over his body. When Narcissus, looking one last time into the pool uttered, "Oh marvellous boy, I loved you in vain, farewell", Echo too chorused, "Farewell."
Eventually, Echo, too, began to waste away. Her beauty faded, her skin shrivelled, and her bones turned to stone. Today, all that remains of Echo is the sound of her voice.
Narcissus is in danger when he sees the image but not, because of that, lost. He is lost when he recognizes himself in the image. It is not until then that death becomes the only possible solution. Narcissus dies when he loses the illusion but cannot escape from the feeling that it has aroused; he dies when there is no hope left that the passion can be satisfied. — Vinge (1967a)[7]
^ Finally Narcissus realises that he has an insoluble problem and gives it a concise formulation:
[Ovid writes] "Quod cupio, mecum est: Inopem me copia fecit."
Translation: "What I desire is with me: I was destitute and made abundant.
its a pretty good descriptor of narcissism as a fundamental inability to truly love yourself and references of not even being able to recognize who you are in a reflection. wanting to love desperately but suffering and just dying because you cant truly have that love.
and of course the interpersonal aspects to NPD present with echo.
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