Pan and Syrinx
The god Pan pursues the nymph Syrinx, who escapes by being transformed into reeds from which Pan fashions his famous pipes.
The Story
Syrinx was an Arcadian nymph associated with the wild countryside.
She valued her independence and wished to remain beyond the reach of unwanted lovers.
The rustic god Pan saw Syrinx and pursued her.
Syrinx fled through the countryside, but Pan continued after her.
Eventually she reached the edge of a river and could go no farther.
Unable to escape by running, Syrinx called upon the nymphs or powers of the river for help.
Her form changed.
When Pan reached the place where Syrinx had stood, he found only reeds moving in the wind.
The air passing through the hollow stems produced a strange and beautiful sound.
Pan cut reeds of different lengths and bound them together.
From them he fashioned the musical instrument that became especially associated with him: the syrinx, or panpipes.
The story therefore transforms Pan's failed pursuit into one of his defining symbols.
Syrinx escapes him, but the reeds created through her transformation become permanently connected with the god's music.
Like the stories of Daphne and Cyparissus, the myth connects transformation with the origin of a familiar feature of the natural and cultural world.
Key Figures
Why It Matters
The story explains the origin of Pan's characteristic pipes and connects the god's music directly with the Arcadian landscape of reeds, rivers and nymphs. It is also part of the wider Greek tradition in which escape from divine pursuit results in transformation.
Traditions & Variations
The fullest surviving version is preserved by Ovid. Details of Syrinx's flight and the agents responsible for her transformation vary in later retellings, but her transformation into reeds and Pan's creation of the pipes remain the defining elements.