Editing Syrinx (section)

== Mythology ==
=== Story ===
Syrinx was a beautiful wood nymph who had many times attracted the attention of satyrs, and fled their advances in turn. She worshipped [[Artemis]], the goddess of wilderness, and, like her, had vowed to remain a virgin for all of time. Pursued by the amorous god [[Pan (god)|Pan]], she ran to a river's edge and asked for assistance from the [[Potamides (mythology)|river nymph]]s. In answer, she was transformed into hollow water [[Phragmites|reed]]s that made a haunting sound when the god's frustrated breath blew across them. Pan cut the reeds to fashion the first set of [[panpipes]], which were thenceforth known as ''{{Linktext|syrinx}}''.<ref name="ov">[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Ov.+Met.+1.650 1.689ff]</ref> The word ''[[syringe]]'' is derived from this word.

=== Authors ===
[[Ovid]] includes the story of Pan and Syrinx in Book One of the ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', where it is told by Mercury to Argus in the course of lulling him asleep in order to kill him.<ref name="ov"/> The myth is also preserved in the works of some anonymous Greek paradoxographer.<ref>Anton Westermann, ''Paradoxographers anonymous'', p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eTUOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA222 222], 1839.</ref>

The story is also told in [[Achilles Tatius]]' novel ''[[Leucippe and Clitophon]]'' where the eponymous heroine is subjected to a virginity test by entering a cave where Pan has left syrinx pipes that will sound a melody if she passes.<ref>{{cite book | editor-last1 = Reardon | editor-first1 = B.P. | chapter = Leucippe and Clitophon | translator = [[John J. Winkler]] | title = Collected Ancient Greek Novels | location = Berkeley | publisher = University of California Press | date = 2008 | pages = 272-273}}</ref> This has similarities with another myth Achilles wrote down, that of [[Rhodopis and Euthynicus|Rhodopis]], who was transformed into a fountain that served as a virginity testing place for maidens.<ref>{{cite book | page = 306 | title = Metamorphosis in Greek Myths | first = Paul M. C. | last = Forbes Irving | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]] | date = 1990 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=URvXAAAAMAAJ | isbn = 0-19-814730-9}}</ref>

Longus makes reference to Syrinx in his tale of "Daphnis and Chloe" in Book 2:34. Whilst the description of the tale here is modified to that of Ovid, it nevertheless incorporates [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]]'s desire to have her. Longus, however, makes no reference to Syrinx receiving aid from the Nymphs in his version, instead Syrinx hides from Pan in amongst some reeds and disappears into the marsh. Upon realising what had happened to Syrinx, Pan created the first set of panpipes from the reeds she was transformed into, forcing her to be with him for the rest of his days.