Pyramus

Pyramus is the male lover in the tale of Pyramus and Thisbe, told by the Roman poet Ovid in the Metamorphoses. A young man of Babylon, he loved his neighbour Thisbe, and the two died by the sword beside a mulberry tree. Ovid explains through their story why mulberries have dark fruit. He is best remembered as the lover who fell on his sword after finding Thisbe’s veil and believing her dead.

The Two Neighbours

Ovid introduces Pyramus as the most handsome of young men and Thisbe as the most beautiful of the girls of the East. They lived in adjoining houses in the city that Semiramis was said to have surrounded with a wall of baked brick, that is, Babylon. Neighbourhood brought acquaintance and then love, and they would have married, but their fathers forbade it. The ban did not change their feelings: both burned equally, and since no one else knew, they spoke only by nods and signs (Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.55–64).

The Crack in the Wall

The wall the two houses shared had a thin crack, made when it was built. No one had noticed it for many years until the lovers did, and they used it to speak in whispers. They stood on either side, each trying to catch the other’s breath, and blamed the “envious wall” for keeping them apart, though they admitted they owed it for letting their words reach friendly ears. At nightfall they said goodnight and each kissed the wall on their own side (Metamorphoses 4.65–80).

The Meeting at the Tomb of Ninus

The next morning they agreed to slip away from their guards at night and leave the city. To avoid wandering in the open country, they chose to meet at the tomb of Ninus and wait in the shade of a tree: a tall mulberry heavy with white fruit, standing beside a cool spring (Metamorphoses 4.81–90).

Thisbe got out first, hiding her face with a covering, and sat under the tree. A lioness came from a fresh kill of cattle, her jaws foaming with blood, to drink at the spring. Thisbe saw her by the moonlight and ran into a dark cave, dropping her veil as she fled. The lioness drank, and on her way back to the woods tore the dropped garment with her bloody mouth (Metamorphoses 4.93–104).

The Death of Pyramus

Pyramus arrived later. He saw the animal’s tracks in the deep dust and turned pale, and when he found the bloodstained garment he cried that one night would destroy two lovers and that he himself was to blame for telling her to come to so dangerous a place. He took up Thisbe’s veil, carried it to the tree, wept over it and kissed it, and drove his sword into his side. When he fell on his back the blood shot into the air like water from a burst lead pipe (Metamorphoses 4.105–124).

The blood splashed the tree’s fruit and turned it dark, and it soaked the root, which dyed the hanging mulberries purple (Metamorphoses 4.125–127).

Thisbe’s Return and the Mulberries

Thisbe returned, still afraid but anxious not to disappoint her lover, and looked for him. She was uncertain of the place because the colour of the fruit had changed, then she saw him dying on the ground. She held him, called his name, and Pyramus lifted his heavy eyes at the sound of it and looked at her before they closed (Metamorphoses 4.128–146).

When she saw her veil and the empty ivory sheath, Thisbe realised what had happened. She asked that their parents not begrudge them a single tomb, and told the tree to keep the dark fruit as a sign of their double bloodshed. She then fell on the sword, still warm from his death. Ovid ends: the prayer reached the gods and the parents. The mulberry fruit is dark when fully ripe, and the ashes of both lovers rest in one urn (Metamorphoses 4.147–166).

Pyramus Sources

Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.55–166, where the story is told by one of the daughters of Minyas as they work at their looms (Metamorphoses 4.55).

See Also: Thisbe, Semiramis, Ninus