Incest in folklore and mythology

Incest in folklore is found in many countries and cultures in the world.

Greek

In Greek mythology, Zeus and Hera were brother and sister as well as husband and wife. They were the children of Cronus and Rhea (also married siblings). Cronus and Rhea, in turn, were children of Uranus and Gaia (a son who took his mother as consort, in some versions of the myth). Cronus and Rhea's siblings, the other Titans, were all also married siblings like Nyx and Erebus. Sea god Phorcys fathered many offspring by his sister Ceto. Myrrha committed incest with her father, Theias, and bore Adonis.

Sophocles' tragic play Oedipus the King features the ancient Greek king inadvertently consummating an incestuous relationship with his mother.

Persephone is the daughter of Demeter and her brother Zeus, and becomes the consort of her uncle Hades. Some legends indicate that her father impregnated her and begat Zagreus and the Iacchus version of Dionysus.

Norse

In Norse mythology, Loki accuses Freyr and Freyja of committing incest, in Lokasenna. He also says that Njörðr had Freyr with his sister. This is also indicated in the Ynglinga saga, which says that incest was traditional among the Vanir.

In Norse legends, the hero Sigmund and his sister Signy murdered her children and begot a son, Sinfjötli. When Sinfjötli had grown up, he and Sigmund murdered Signy's husband Siggeir. The element of incest also appears in the version of the story used in Wagner's opera-cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, in which Siegfried is the offspring of Siegmund and his sister Sieglinde.

The legendary Danish king Hrólfr kraki was born from an incestuous union of Halgi and Yrsa.

Egyptian

In Egyptian mythology, the gods frequently married their siblings. For example, Shu and Tefnut are brother and sister and they produced another pair of gods, Geb and Nut. Their children were Isis, Osiris, Set and Nephthys; Isis married Osiris, and Set with Nephthys.

Chinese

In Chinese mythology, Fu Xi was a god-king who took his sister Nüwa as his bride.

Icelandic

In Icelandic folklore a common plot involves a brother and sister (illegally) conceiving a child. They subsequently escape justice by moving to a remote valley. There they proceed to have several more children. The man has some magical abilities which he uses to direct travelers to or away from the valley as he chooses. The siblings always have exactly one daughter but any number of sons. Eventually the magician allows a young man (usually searching for sheep) into the valley and asks him to marry the daughter and give himself and his sister a civilized burial upon their deaths. This is subsequently done.

British/Irish

In the Old Irish saga Tochmarc Étaíne ("The Wooing of Étaín"), Eochaid Airem, the high king of Ireland is tricked into sleeping with his daughter, whom he mistakes for her mother Étaín. The child of their union becomes the mother of the legendary king Conaire Mor.

In some versions of the medieval British legend of King Arthur, Arthur accidentally begets a son by his half sister Morgause in a night of blind lust, then seeks to have the child killed when he hears of a prophecy that it will bring about the undoing of the Round Table. The child survives and later becomes Mordred, his ultimate nemesis.

Vietnamese

In ancient Vietnamese folklore, there is a tale of a brother and a sister. As children, the brother and sister fought over a toy. The brother smashes a stone over his sister's head, and the girl falls down unconscious. The boy thinks he has killed his sister, and afraid of punishment, he flees. Years later, by coincidence, they meet again, fall in love, and marry without knowing they are siblings. They build a house along a seashore, and the brother becomes a fisherman while his sister tends to the house. Together they have a son. One day, the brother discovers a scar on his wife's head. She tells him about the childhood fight with her brother, and the brother realizes that he has married his own sister. Overwhelmed with guilt over his incest, the brother goes out on the sea. Every day, the sister climbs to the top of the hill to look for her brother, but he never comes back. She died in waiting and became "Hon Vong Phu" ("the stone waiting for her husband").

Other

In fairy tales of Aarne-Thompson folktale type 510B, the persecuted heroine, the heroine is persecuted by her father, and most usually, the persecution is an attempt to marry her, as in Allerleirauh or Donkeyskin. This was taken up into the legend of Saint Dymphna.

Several Child Ballads have the motif of incest between brothers and sisters who are raised apart. This is usually unwitting (as in the The Bonny Hind and Sheath and Knife, for example), but always brings about a tragic end.

References

'The Scripture of the Holy Bible: The Old Testament: The Book of Genesis: The Seven Days of Creation, The Creation of Adam, Cain's Fate: A Wife, A Descendent Line Inheriting Cain's Established Authority, and, a Final Dwelling, in the Land Nod