Pitys (mythology) Pitys (mythology) In Greek mythology— or more particularly in Ancient Greek poetry— Pitys (Πίτυς; English translation: "pine") was an Oread nymph who was pursued by Pan. According to a passage in Nonnus' "Dionysiaca" (ii.108) she was changed into a pine tree by the gods in order to escape him. Pitys is mentioned in Longus' "Daphnis and Chloe" (ii.7 and 39) and by Lucian of Samosata ("Dialogues of the Dead", 22.4). Pitys was chased by Pan as was Syrinx, who was turned into reeds to escape the god who then used her reeds for his panpipes. The flute-notes may have frightened
Greek mythology existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has changed over time to accommodate the evolution of their culture, of which mythology, both overtly and in its unspoken assumptions, is an index of the changes. In Greek mythology's surviving literary forms, as found mostly at the end of the progressive changes, it is inherently political, as Gilbert Cuthbertson has argued. The earlier inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula were an agricultural people who, using Animism, assigned a spirit to every aspect of nature. Eventually, these vague spirits assumed human forms and entered the local mythology as gods. When tribes from the north of the