Iynx

Detail of an earring showing a figure of Eros holding aniynxtoy. Created in Northern Greece,c. 330–300 BC

InGreek mythology,Iynx(Greek:Ἴϋγξ,translit.Íÿnx) was anArcadianOreadnymph;a daughter of the godPanandEcho.In popular myth, she used an enchantment to cast a spell onZeus,which caused him to fall in love withIo.In consequence of this,Herametamorphosed her into the bird callediynx(Eurasian wryneck,Jynx torquilla).

Mythology

Iynx was anArcadiannymphand the daughter ofPanandEcho,orPeitho.She was the creator of a magical love-charm known as theiynx—a spinning wheel with a wryneck bird attached. Iynx used her enchantments to make Zeus fall in love with her or with the nymphIo.Hera was enraged and transformed her into a wryneck bird.

According to another story, she was a daughter ofPierus,and as she and her sisters had presumed to enter into a musical contest with theMuses,she was changed into the bird iynx.This bird, the symbol of passionate and restless love, was given byAphroditetoJason,who, by turning it round and pronouncing certain magic words, excited the love ofMedea.

Magic wheel

Iynx (bird wheel), a magic love charm. From Sterea Hellas Evoia, late 8th or early 7th century BC

Iynxtoys were small metal or wooden discs rotated by pulling attached strings, in a manner similar to more modernbutton whirligig toys.

See also

• Jinx
• Idyll II
• Love magic
• Magic in the Greco-Roman world

References

• Antoninus Liberalis,The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalistranslated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992).Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Entry forἴυγξin LSJ Greek Lexicon (via Perseus)– including magical uses of the word
• Pindar,Odestranslated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pindar,The Odes of Pindarincluding 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.
• ScholiatoLycophron'sAlexandra,marginal notes by Isaak and Ioannis Tzetzes and others from the Greek edition of Eduard Scheer (Weidmann 1881).Online version at the Topos Text Project..Greek text available on Archive.org

Attribution:

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