ἀρχαῖον στεφάνωμ̓. The narcissus does not figure specially as an attribute of the goddesses—as the corn-ears and poppy of Demeter, the pomegranate of Cora, and the myrtle of Iacchos. But, as the flower which Cora was plucking when seized, it was associated with their cult from the first (“ἀρχαῖον”), and was one of the flowers which would be most fitly woven into those floral wreaths which, on the wall-paintings, sometimes replace Demeter's more usual crown of corn-ears (see Baumeister, Denkm. p. 417). Hesych. says that in Crete the narcissus was called “δαμάτριον”. In Rhodes Cora was crowned with asphodel (Bekker Anecd. I. 457. 9). At Hermione a flower like the “ὑάκινθος”, locally called “κοσμοσάνδαλον”, was worn by the worshippers of Demeter Chthonia (Paus. 2.35.5). Schneidewin's explanation, “"original crown,"”— before they changed it for others,—is against the myth itself, which makes the narcissus a new joy to Cora's eyes (Hom. Hymn. 5.15).
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part II: The Oedipus Coloneus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1899.
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