Syrinx
Syrinx was a nymph who fled Pan's pursuit and was transformed into marsh reeds — from which Pan fashioned the syrinx (panpipes), his signature instrument.
The Myth of Syrinx
Syrinx, a naiad devoted to Artemis, fled when Pan pursued her through the forests of Arcadia. At the river Ladon she begged the nymphs for help, and they transformed her into marsh reeds. When Pan's breath stirred the reeds, they produced a haunting sound. He bound them together and created the pan-pipes, which bore Syrinx's name. The tale paralleled Apollo's pursuit of Daphne — both nymphs chose transformation over submission. Hermes later stole Pan's pipes and claimed to have invented them, adding another layer to the theft-and-music motif that ran from Hermes's lyre through Orpheus's songs. Pan's pipes echoed across Arcadia from Olympus to the wildest groves.
Parents
Ladon (river god)
Symbols
Fun Fact
A "syringe" originally meant a tube or pipe — from the syrinx/panpipes, which were hollow tubes. The medical syringe preserves this nymph's name.
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
Ladon River
🏛 placegeography
An Arcadian river whose nymph daughter Syrinx was transformed into river reeds, giving Pan his pipes.
Arethusa
🌿 nymphNymph who became a freshwater spring
Arethusa was a nymph of Artemis who was pursued by the river god Alpheus and transformed into a freshwater spring on the island of Ortygia in Syracuse.
Minthe
🌿 nymphthe underworld, plants
A Naiad nymph of the Underworld river Cocytus who was trampled into the mint plant by a jealous Persephone.
Lotis
🌿 nymphtrees, escape
A nymph who fled the god Priapus and was transformed into the lotus tree to escape his assault.
Scylla
🌿 nymphBeautiful nymph transformed into a monster
Scylla was originally a beautiful sea nymph who was transformed into a six-headed monster by the jealous Circe or Amphitrite.
Antiope
🌿 nymphrivers, motherhood
A nymph or princess loved by Zeus, who bore the twins Amphion and Zethus, builders of Thebes' walls.
Metope
🌿 nymphrivers, motherhood
A river nymph, daughter of the river Ladon, who married the river god Asopus and bore him twenty daughters — many of whom were abducted by gods.
Thisbe
🌿 nymphsprings, cities
A Naiad nymph who gave her name to the Boeotian town of Thisbe, later immortalised in the Pyramus and Thisbe love story.
Aegle
🌿 nymphlight, healing
A nymph whose name means "radiance" — identified variously as a Hesperid, a daughter of Asclepius, or the most beautiful of the Naiads.
Pitys
🌿 nymphtrees, wind
A nymph pursued by Pan who was transformed into a pine tree — the reason pine trees moan in the wind.
Salmacis
🌿 nymphdesire
Water nymph of Caria whose desperate embrace of Hermaphroditus caused the gods to fuse them into a single dual-sexed being.
Aegina
🌿 nymphrivers, islands
A river nymph abducted by Zeus and brought to the island that bears her name.