Syrinx

In classical Greek myth Syrinx (Ancient Greek: Σῦριγξ, Súrinx, literally 'pipe') is an Arcadian wood-nymph and follower of Artemis who had vowed chastity. While fleeing the advances of Pan (and by general cultural context other satyrs), Syrinx fled to the banks of the river Ladon. In Ovid's account she appealed to river-nymphs and was transformed into hollow reeds to escape violation; Pan later cut those reeds to fashion the first set of panpipes, which were thereafter called a syrinx. A variant reported in later literature (Longus) has Syrinx vanish among reeds in a marsh without an explicit intervening agent; Pan still makes pipes from the reeds.

Classical sources characterise Syrinx simply as a beautiful Arcadian wood-nymph and a follower of Artemis; specific physical detail beyond 'beautiful' and her being a female nymph is not recorded in the supplied texts. Later visual art (Victorian paintings, 19th–20th century sculpture, and a cited image of Pan with a syrinx beside him) depicts her according to later artistic conventions as a classical female figure and depicts the syrinx instrument (sets of reeds/pipes) associated with her.

Syrinx's recorded actions in the myths are flight from sexual pursuit and (in some versions) the ability to obtain transformation as refuge: in Ovid she appeals to river-nymphs and is changed into reeds; in another variant she disappears among marsh-reeds. She does not display offensive or expansive supernatural powers in the supplied sources; her primary supernatural dimension is metamorphosis (whether granted by allied nymphs or effected by the environment). After transformation the hollow reeds produce a haunting sound when Pan blew across them, and Pan fashioned them into the first panpipes.