who said behind you into the echo flower

But Hera soon saw Echo’s motives, and she was furious that this nymph was protecting her husband.Īs was the habit for the Greek deities, Hera channelled her fury into vengeance. Echo did her best, distracting Hera with lengthy chats and piling on the flattery. When Hera came down to Earth, intent on catching her adulterous husband in the act, Zeus ordered Echo to divert Hera’s attention. This did not sit well with Hera, who was the goddess of women, marriage, family and childbirth. The king of the gods was a philanderer, and he especially enjoyed the company of nymphs. She lived a peaceful life until she got on the wrong side of Hera, wife of Zeus.

Tragedy abounds in the Greek myths, but I have always thought that Echo’s story is the most tragic of them all.Įcho was a nymph (a minor female nature deity) who lived on Mount Cithaeron. One of those with a very clear root in mythology is ‘echo’, which, according to a dictionary definition, we use to mean a sound or sounds caused by the reflection of sound waves from a surface back to the listener. While I was writing my novel Aphrodite’s Tears, which draws upon the mythology of the Ancient Greek civilisation, it struck me how many words in modern use are derived from those myths (see ). The Little Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins is one of the most-well-thumbed books on my shelf. I am fascinated by etymology: the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.

Who said behind you into the echo flower