Pitys (mythology)
| Greek deities series |
|---|
| Nymphs |
In
.Mythology
According to a passage in
Lucian of Samosata (Dialogues of the Dead, 22.4).[1]
Pitys was chased by Pan—as was
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 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.[2]
The subject is illustrated in paintings of (roughly chronologically)
Arnold Bocklin, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, and Maxfield Parrish
.
Gallery
- Pitys in art
-
Pan and Pitys (Metamorfosis de Pitis en pino, ante Pan) by Edward Calvert (circa 1850). -
Pan & Hamadryad (Pan e la ninfa Pitys) (Pan e Hamadryade), a false eighteenth-century mosaic (National Archaeological Museum in Naples)
See also
Notes
- ^ 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.
- ^ Libanius, Progymnasmata, 1.4 (p. 13).