Who is…
Narcissus

This appears to be a Roman man of some importance. Narcissus appears only once in the Bible, in the letter to the Romans, where the Apostle Paul sends greetings to the Christian members of his household in Rome.

Salute Herodion my kinsman [meaning a Jew]. Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord. —Romans 16:11 KJV

Paul does not greet Narcissus himself, which suggests that either Narcissus was not a believer or that he was no longer alive by the time the letter was written.

Some believe he was the private secretary/advisor of the emperor Claudius. This is not certain.

Many scholars think Paul is referring to the well-known Tiberius Claudius Narcissus, a powerful freedman and secretary/advisor to Emperor Claudius. He amassed great wealth and influence, then was forced to suicide (or executed) around 54 AD after Nero came to power. The letter to the Romans is usually dated a few years later (c. AD 57). In that case, Narcissus’s slaves and household would have been confiscated by the emperor and still known as “those of Narcissus.”

Meaning of the name

Narcissus was a common Greco-Roman name among slaves and freedmen in the Roman world because it comes from Greek mythology (the extraordinarily beautiful youth who fell in love with his own reflection). He is the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. The myth was extremely popular in Roman visual art—there are dozens of frescoes of Narcissus from Pompeii alone.

The most famous and detailed telling of the myth comes from the Roman poet Ovid in Metamorphoses (Book 3, around AD 8). Ovid’s version includes the story of Echo and became the standard account in later Western literature and art.

The Bible itself gives no personal details about this particular man Narcissus and does not discuss the myth.

The related English word “narcissism” is a much later development and is not a biblical term.

Some later writers also connect the plant narcissus (a type of daffodil) with biblical phrases such as “lily of the valleys,” but that refers to the flower, not a person.