Pan and Syrinx, by Peter Paul Rubens
A priapic director, dressing gown flapping open, chasing a pretty actress round his hotel room. A seedy image but hardly a new one. As old as myth and fable.
A fable that gave us two of the most scary objects ever made by man.
Syrinx was a chaste nymph who was pursued by the God Pan, the goat legged wild spirit who represents the wilderness and fertility. In a bid to avoid him Syrinx appealed to the water nymphs to hide her, and they turned her into hollow reeds. As he passed Pan sighed and the hollow reeds resonated. So he cut them and created the pan pipes. So next time you are accosted by a brightly clad troupe of Peruvian troubadours in Subway, Underground or Metro you can blame it on the Ancient Greek Harvey Weinstein. Pan pipes – a particular form of torture!
But for the ultimate torture comes another word derived from Syrinx herself. The hollow reed was the model for the hollow needle, from which we get the word Syringe. Next time you are at the doctor or dentist and this object of medieval torture emerges you know who to blame.
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