Side (daughter of Ictinus)
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In Greek mythology, Side[a] is a minor figure, a woman who tried to flee from her enamored father and was transformed into a tree in order to escape him, in part of an aetiological myth that attempts to explain the nature of trees and birds. Her brief tale survives in the works of Dionysius Periegetes, an ancient Greek author who is believed to have been born in the city of Alexandria, and to have lived around the time of Roman Emperor Hadrian (reigned 117–138 AD).
The ancient Greek noun σίδη translates to "pomegranate",[1] and refers to both the tree and its fruit.[2] Robert Beekes and Furnée suggest that all of its variant spellings–such as σίβδη (síbdē), ξίμβα (xímba), and σίβδα (síbda)–point to a Pre-Greek origin of the word,[3][4] and Witczak suggests specifically a western Anatolian one.[5]
Family
Mythology
According to the myth, Side's father Ictinus developed an incestuous desire for his daughter, and chased her down with the intention to rape her.[8][9] Side fled from him until she reached the gravestone of her dead mother, and killed herself on it to avoid his ravenous advances.[10][11] Her red blood spilt on the ground and gave rise to a pomegranate tree, while her father himself was transformed into a kite,[7][12][13] a bird of prey which, according to Oppian, hates to rest on pomegranate trees.[14][15]
Symbolism
Karl Kerenyi compared this story to both the goddess Persephone, who was abducted to the Underworld by Hades and forced to stay there for several months a year thanks to her consumption of pomegranate fruit, and the hunter Orion's first wife Side, who angered Hera and was cast in Tartarus as punishment. In each of the three stories a maiden associated with the pomegranate dies—literally or metaphorically—and is led to the Underworld. In this Side's case, her father Ictinus supplants the subterranean god who seduces or rapes the maiden. Kerenyi saw their common theme as self-sacrifice to benefit the larger community.[16]
The Side myth parallels that of Nyctaea[17][18] and Nyctimene,[19][20] in which a woman is transformed in order to escape a rapacious father.
The pomegranate fruit was seen as a symbol of fertility and Aphrodite, the goddess of love and fertility, possibly because its numerable red seeds suggest procreation and sexuality; it was also used as a contraceptive.[21] The association between pomegranates and fertility can be traced back to the ancient Semitic populations of the Near East, from which it spread to Greece, likely through Aphrodite's cult.[22] The pomegranate's bright red colour symbolized Side's blood that she spilled as she spilt own side to took her life, giving rise to the tree.[7]
An ancient Greek colony in the region of Pamphylia (on the southern coast of Asia Minor (Anatolia, modern Turkey) was and is still called Side, and coins from that city displayed pomegranate fruits.[23][24] Other Anatolian cities called "Side" include one in Caria and another in Pontus.
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