Pitys
A nymph pursued by Pan who was transformed into a pine tree — the reason pine trees moan in the wind.
The Myth of Pitys
Pitys was a mountain nymph courted by two divine suitors: Pan, the goat-footed god of the wild, and Boreas, the fierce north wind. She chose Pan, whose rough charm appealed to her more than the cold violence of the wind god. Boreas did not accept the rejection gracefully.
In a rage, Boreas blew Pitys off a cliff. She fell to her death on the rocks below. Gaia, the Earth, took pity on the broken nymph and transformed her into a pine tree. Pan, grieving, wove a crown of pine needles and wore it ever after — which is why Pan is so often depicted wearing a pine wreath in ancient art.
The Greeks heard Pitys in every wind that moved through pine forests. The moaning of pine trees in a gale was Pitys weeping, and the drops of resin that seep from pine bark were her tears, still falling. Boreas, passing through pine groves, was said to shake the trees violently — still trying to punish the nymph who rejected him, even in her wooden form.
Parents
Unknown; a mountain nymph
Children
None
Symbols
Fun Fact
Pine resin — that sticky, amber-coloured sap — was explained by the Greeks as the never-ending tears of Pitys, still weeping inside her tree thousands of years after Boreas killed her.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Lotis
🌿 nymphtrees, escape
A nymph who fled the god Priapus and was transformed into the lotus tree to escape his assault.
Dryads
🌿 nymphTree nymphs
Dryads were nymphs bound to individual trees — when the tree died, so did its dryad.
Oreads
🌿 nymphmountains, wilderness
Mountain nymphs classified among the broader family of nature spirits, dwelling on peaks and in highland caves as attendants of Artemis.
Orithyia
🌿 nymphMountain winds, raging sea storms
Nereid sea nymph whose name means "she who rages on the mountain," associated with storm-driven seas
Minthe
🌿 nymphthe underworld, plants
A Naiad nymph of the Underworld river Cocytus who was trampled into the mint plant by a jealous Persephone.
Leuce
🌿 nymphthe underworld, trees
A sea nymph abducted by Hades and transformed into a white poplar tree in the Underworld after her death.
Idaea
🌿 nymphmountains, springs
A nymph of Mount Ida in the Troad who became the second wife of the river god Scamander — or in other versions, of King Phineus.
Nomia
🌿 nymphpastures, vengeance
An Arcadian nymph who blinded the shepherd Daphnis when he broke his vow of fidelity to her.
Penelope
🌿 nymphnature, pastoral
A mountain nymph of Arcadia who, in one tradition, was the mother of Pan by Hermes — distinct from Odysseus's famous wife.
Autonoe
🌿 nymphnature, grief
A Nereid and, in separate traditions, a daughter of Cadmus who witnessed the death of her son Actaeon.
Salmacis
🌿 nymphdesire
Water nymph of Caria whose desperate embrace of Hermaphroditus caused the gods to fuse them into a single dual-sexed being.
Oreads
🐉 creaturemountains, wilderness
Mountain nymphs who inhabited peaks and highland forests, serving as companions of Artemis in her hunts across the wild uplands.