Published in 8 A.D. the "Metamorphoses" of Ovid has become one of the most influential poems by the Latin writers. The "Metamorphoses" showed that Ovid was more interested in questioning how the laws interfered with people's lives than in writing epic tales like Virgil's "Aeneid" and Homer's "Odyssey". The "Metamorphoses" is not narrated by Ovid, but rather by the characters inside the stories. The myth of Myrrha and Cinyras is sung by Orpheus in the tenth book of "Metamorphoses" after he has told the myth of Pygmalion and before he turns to the tale of Venus and Adonis. As the myth of Myrrha is also the longest tale sung by Orpheus (205 lines) and the only story that corresponds to his announced theme of girls punished for forbidden desire, it is considered the centerpiece of the song. Ovid opens the myth with a warning to the audience that this is a myth of great horror, especially to fathers and daughters: