Pitys
Pitys is a nymph of Greek tradition pursued by Pan and, in the fuller ancient episode, tormented by a jealous Boreas before being transformed into a pine tree to escape him.
At a glance
- Tradition
- Greek mythology
- Region
- Greece (place of origin)
Symbols
Judged against the description by a model. Meanings are our own paraphrase.
- Pine Tree is image-domain The pine denotes immortality and steadfastness, keeping green through winter, crowning the thyrsus with its cone and figuring the spirit of old age.
why
Pitys is a nymph of Greek tradition pursued by Pan and, in the fuller ancient episode, tormented by a jealous Boreas before being transformed into a pine tree to escape him.
- Tree is image-domain The tree denotes rooted growth joining below to above, shelter and mother to what nests in it, and the axis on which worlds are strung.
why
Pitys is a nymph of Greek tradition pursued by Pan and, in the fuller ancient episode, tormented by a jealous Boreas before being transformed into a pine tree to escape him.
Traits
Read from the figure's description, which a model wrote. Open "why" for the sentence a trait came from.
Behaviour
- Metamorphosis into plant or tree
why
Pitys is a nymph of Greek tradition pursued by Pan and, in the fuller ancient episode, tormented by a jealous Boreas before being transformed into a pine tree to escape him. In Greek myth, Pitys is a minor nymph whose name doubles as the ordinary word for pine tree, marking her from the outset as an explanatory, tree-founding figure rather than an independently storied one.
Roles
Judged from the works' own entries, not from the description. Carries: the figure holds the role. Meets: the role is in its stories, held by something it meets.
- Anima carries both readings
2 citations
- Carol Rose, Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins, s.v. "Pitys."
- Timothy Gantz, Early Greek Myth, p. 111.