Editing Pitys (mythology)

{{Short description|Greek mythological figure}}
{{Greek myth (nymph)}}
In [[Greek mythology]] (or more particularly in [[Ancient Greek poetry]]), '''Pitys''' ({{Langx|grc|Πίτυς|lit=pine}}) was a [[nymph]] who was pursued by [[Pan (god)|Pan]].

== Mythology ==
According to a passage in [[Nonnus]]' ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' (ii.108), she was changed into a pine tree by the gods in order to escape him. Pitys is mentioned in [[Longus]]' ''[[Daphnis and Chloe]]'' (ii.7 and 39) and by [[Lucian of Samosata]] (''Dialogues of the Dead'', 22.4).<ref>These occurrences are noted by Birger A. Pearson, "'She Became a Tree': A Note to CG II, 4: 89, 25-26" ''The Harvard Theological Review'', '''69'''.3/4 (July - October 1976): 413-415) p. 414 note 8; Pearson notes that an assertion by Rouse in notes to ''Dionysiaca'' ([[Loeb Classical Library]]), to the effect that Pitys is mentioned in [[Propertius]] is in error.</ref> 

Pitys was chased by Pan—as was [[Syrinx]], who was turned into reeds to escape the god who then used her reeds for his [[panpipes]]. The flute-notes may have frightened the [[maenads]] running from his woodland in a "panic." 

In another version, given by the later Greek writer [[Libanius]], both Pan and the north wind [[Boreas (god)|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.<ref>[[Libanius]], ''[[Progymnasmata]]'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=kRi-If9IAOYC&pg=PA13 1.4 (p. 13)].</ref>

The subject is illustrated in paintings of (roughly chronologically) [[Nicolas Poussin]], [[Jacob Jordaens]], [[François Boucher]], [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], [[Annibale Carracci]], [[Andrea Casali]], [[Arnold Bocklin]], Sir [[Lawrence Alma-Tadema]], and [[Maxfield Parrish]].

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed" class="center" caption="Pitys in art">
File:Pan pitys.jpg|''Pan and Pitys (Metamorfosis de Pitis en pino, ante Pan)'' by [[Edward Calvert (painter)|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)
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Daphne]]
* [[Oreithyia]]
* [[Syrinx]]
* [[Arethusa (mythology)|Arethusa]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

{{Greek mythology (deities)|state=collapsed}}
{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology}}

[[Category:Metamorphoses into trees in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Deeds of Gaia]]
[[Category:Consorts of Pan (god)]]


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