CINYRAS

a famous Cyprian hero. According to the common tradition, he was a son of Apollo by Paphos, king of Cyprus, and priest of the Paphian Aphrodite, which latter office remained hereditary in his family, the Cinyradae.

Tacitus describes him as having come to Cyprus from Cilicia, from whence he introduced the worship of Aphrodite and Apollodorus (iii) too calls him a son of Sandacus, who had emigrated from Syria to Cilicia.

Cinyras, after his arrival in Cyprus, founded the town of Paphos.

He was married to Metharne, the daughter of the Cyprian king, Pygmalion, by whom he had several children. One of them was Adonis, whom, according to some traditions, he begot unwittingly in an incestuous intercourse with his own daughter, Smyrna. He afterwards killed himself on discovering this crime, into which he had been led by the anger of Aphrodite. ( Metamorphoses by Ovid X)

According to other traditions, he had promised to assist Agamemnon and the Greeks in their war against Troy; but, as he did not keep his word, he was cursed by Agamemnon, and Apollo took vengeance upon him by entering into a contest with him, in which he was defeated and slain.

His daughters, fifty in number, leaped into the sea, and were metamorphosed into alcyones. He is also described as the founder of the town of Cinyreia in Cyprus.