Iynx

In Greek mythology, Iynx (Greek: Ἴϋγξ, translit. Íÿnx) was an Arcadian Oread nymph; a daughter of the god Pan and Echo. In popular myth, she used an enchantment to cast a spell on Zeus which caused him to fall in love with Io. In consequence of this, Hera metamorphosed her into the bird called iynx (Eurasian wryneck, Jynx torquilla).[2]

Detail of an earring showing a figure of Eros holding an iynx toy. Created in Northern Greece, 330-300 BC[1]

Iynx toys were small metal or wooden discs rotated by pulling attached strings, in a manner similar to more modern button whirligig toys.[3]

Mythology

Iynx was an Arcadian nymph and the daughter of Pan and Echo, or Peitho. She was the creator of a magical love-charm known as the iynx—a spinning wheel with a wryneck bird attached. Iynx used her enchantments to make Zeus fall in love with her or with the nymph Io. Hera was enraged and transformed her into a wryneck bird.[4]

According to another story, she was a daughter of Pierus, and as she and her sisters had presumed to enter into a musical contest with the Muses, she was changed into the bird iynx.[5] This bird, the symbol of passionate and restless love, was given by Aphrodite to Jason, who, by turning it round and pronouncing certain magic words, excited the love of Medea.[6]

Notes

"Пара серег" (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-07-26.
Scholia on Theocritus 2. 17, on Pindar, Pythian Ode 4. 380, Nemean Ode 4. 56; Tzetzes on Lycophron 310. (cited in Smith)
Hoorn, Gerard van (1951). Choes and Anthesteria. Brill Archive. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
"II. Epistula IIb ad Serapionem und Epistula III ad Serapionem", Athanasius Werke Band 1, Teil 1: Epistulae I-IV ad Serapionem, Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, pp. 418–424, 2010, doi:10.1515/9783110227710.32, ISBN 978-3-11-022771-0, retrieved 2021-02-09
Antoninus Liberalis 9. (cited in Smith)
Pindar, Pythian Ode 4. 380, &c.; Tzetzes on Lycophron 310 (cited in Smith)

References

Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Entry for ἴυγξ in LSJ Greek Lexicon (via Perseus) – including magical uses of the word
Pindar, Odes translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pindar, The Odes of Pindar including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Leonhard Schmitz (1870). "Iynx". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 2. p. 692.

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[1] "Пара серег" (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-07-26.

[2] Scholia on Theocritus 2. 17, on Pindar, Pythian Ode 4. 380, Nemean Ode 4. 56; Tzetzes on Lycophron 310. (cited in Smith)

[3] Hoorn, Gerard van (1951). Choes and Anthesteria. Brill Archive. Retrieved 22 August 2022.

[4] "II. Epistula IIb ad Serapionem und Epistula III ad Serapionem", Athanasius Werke Band 1, Teil 1: Epistulae I-IV ad Serapionem, Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, pp. 418–424, 2010, doi:10.1515/9783110227710.32, ISBN 978-3-11-022771-0, retrieved 2021-02-09

[5] Antoninus Liberalis 9. (cited in Smith)

[6] Pindar, Pythian Ode 4. 380, &c.; Tzetzes on Lycophron 310 (cited in Smith)

Iynx

Mythology

See also

Notes

References