Pitys- Greek SpiritSpirit · Nymph

The Rival Suitors

Pitys — whose name is the Greek word for "pine" — was a nymph loved by both Pan, the god of shepherds and wild places, and Boreas, the fierce North Wind. In Lucian's Dialogues of the Gods, Pan speaks of Pitys alongside Echo and Syrinx as the loves that shaped his life among the mountains. But unlike Syrinx, who fled from Pan and was transformed into reeds, Pitys returned his affection. The bond between them was mutual, which made what followed all the more violent.

Boreas was not accustomed to being refused. Enraged that Pitys preferred the rustic god over him, the North Wind seized the nymph and hurled her from a cliff. Gaia took pity on the broken body and drew it into the earth, transforming Pitys into a pine tree that grew from the very rock where she had fallen. The tree stood rooted in the mountain forests where Pan made his home — a memorial to the nymph and a rebuke to the wind that killed her.

The Weeping Pine

Nonnus adds the detail that gives this myth its lasting image: when the north wind blows through pine forests, the trees weep resin. This is Pitys mourning still, feeling Boreas's violence even in her transformed state. The sap that flows from wind-battered bark is her grief made visible — the very wind that killed her still draws tears from her every time he passes through her branches.

After the transformation, the pine became Pan's sacred tree. He wore wreaths of pine needles and was depicted crowned with them in art and cult. The nymph who had chosen Pan in life remained his in death, her tree standing in the wild mountain places where he played his pipes and kept his flocks.