In
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...
(or more particularly in
Ancient Greek poetry
Ancient Greek literature is literature written in the Ancient Greek language from the earliest texts until the time of the Byzantine Empire. The earliest surviving works of ancient Greek literature, dating back to the early Archaic period, ar ...
), Pitys () was a
nymph
A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...
who was pursued by
Pan.
Mythology
According to a passage in
Nonnus
Nonnus of Panopolis (, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century AD) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebaid and probably lived in the 5th century AD. He i ...
' ''
Dionysiaca
The ''Dionysiaca'' (, ''Dionysiaká'') is an ancient Greek epic poem and the principal work of Nonnus. It is an epic in 48 books, the longest surviving poem from Greco-Roman antiquity at 20,426 lines, composed in Homeric dialect and dactylic hex ...
'' (ii.108), she was changed into a pine tree by the gods in order to escape him. Pitys is mentioned in
Longus
Longus, sometimes Longos (), was the author of an ancient Greek novel or romance, '' Daphnis and Chloe''. Nothing is known of his life; it is assumed that he lived on the isle of Lesbos (setting for ''Daphnis and Chloe'') during the 2nd centu ...
' ''
Daphnis and Chloe
''Daphnis and Chloe'' (, ''Daphnis kai Chloē'') is a Greek pastoral novel written during the Roman Empire, the only known work of second-century Hellenistic romance writer Longus.
Setting and style
It is set on the Greek isle of Lesbos, whe ...
'' (ii.7 and 39) and by
Lucian of Samosata
Lucian of Samosata (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syria (region), Syrian satire, satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with whi ...
(''Dialogues of the Dead'', 22.4).
Pitys was chased by Pan—as was
Syrinx
In classical Greek mythology, Syrinx () was an Arcadian nymph and a follower of Artemis, known for her chastity. Being pursued by Pan, she fled into the river Ladon, and at her own request was metamorphosed into a reed from which Pan then mad ...
, who was turned into reeds to escape the god who then used her reeds for his
panpipes
A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...
. The flute-notes may have frightened the
maenads
In Greek mythology, maenads (; ) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of his retinue, the ''thiasus''.
Their name, which comes from :wikt:μαίνομαι#Ancient Greek, μαίνομαι (''maínomai'', “to ...
running from his woodland in a "panic."
In another version, given by the later Greek writer
Libanius
Libanius (; ) was a teacher of rhetoric of the Sophist school in the Eastern Roman Empire. His prolific writings make him one of the best documented teachers of higher education in the ancient world and a critical source of history of the Greek ...
, both Pan and the north wind
Boreas vied for the girl's affections, and tried to make her choose between them. To impress her, Boreas uprooted all the trees with his might. But Pan only laughed, and Pitys choose him instead of Boreas. Angry, Boreas chased Pitys down and threw her off a cliff, killing her. Gaia, pitying the girl, changed her dead body into a pine tree.
Libanius
Libanius (; ) was a teacher of rhetoric of the Sophist school in the Eastern Roman Empire. His prolific writings make him one of the best documented teachers of higher education in the ancient world and a critical source of history of the Greek ...
, '' Progymnasmata''
1.4 (p. 13)
The subject is illustrated in paintings of (roughly chronologically)
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...
,
,
François Boucher
François Boucher ( , ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories ...
,
William-Adolphe Bouguereau
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French Academic art, academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of Classicism, classical subjects, with a ...
,
Annibale Carracci
Annibale Carracci ( , , ; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother Agostino Carracci, Agostino and cousin Ludovico Carracci, Ludovico (with whom the Ca ...
,
Andrea Casali,
Arnold Bocklin, Sir
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema ( ; born Lourens Alma Tadema, ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch people, Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom, becoming the last officially recognised Denization, denizen in 1873. Born in ...
, and
Maxfield Parrish
Maxfield Parrish (July 25, 1870 – March 30, 1966) was an American painter and illustration, illustrator active in the first half of the 20th century. His works featured distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery. The ...
.
Gallery
File:Pan pitys.jpg, ''Pan and Pitys (Metamorfosis de Pitis en pino, ante Pan)'' by Edward Calvert (''circa 1850)''.
File:Panmosaic.jpg, Pan & Hamadryad (''Pan e la ninfa Pitys'') (''Pan e Hamadryade),'' a false eighteenth-century mosaic (National Archaeological Museum in Naples)
See also
*
Daphne
Daphne (; ; , , ), a figure in Greek mythology, is a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater.
There are several versions of the myth in which she appears, but t ...
*
Oreithyia
*
Syrinx
In classical Greek mythology, Syrinx () was an Arcadian nymph and a follower of Artemis, known for her chastity. Being pursued by Pan, she fled into the river Ladon, and at her own request was metamorphosed into a reed from which Pan then mad ...
*
Arethusa
Notes
Metamorphoses into trees in Greek mythology
Deeds of Gaia
Consorts of Pan (god)
{{Greek-deity-stub