According to an ancient Oriental legend, Myrrha or Smyrna, the daughter of Theias, king of Asyria, was caused by Aphrodite, the Oriental goddess of vegetation and reproduction to commit an incestuous love act with her father because she refused to worship Aphrodite. Myrrha fled from her father's drunken advances and to protect her, the gods turned her into the myrrh shrub (commiphora myrrha). The true myrrh, native to Arabia, Abyssinia and Somaliland exudes a clear, fragrant, bitter tasting gum resin, supposed to be the tears of Myrrha. Since antiquity it has been used as an aromatic and a stimulating tonic. The name is derived from the Arabic Mur--bitter.