Pan (Greek Πάν, genitive Πανός), in Greek religion and
mythology, is the god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain
wilds, hunting and rustic music, as well as the companion of
the nymphs.[1] His name originates within the Greek language,
from the word paein (Πάειν), meaning "to pasture."[2] He has
the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same
manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic
Arcadia, he is recognized as the god of fields, groves, and
wooded glens; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility
and the season of spring. The ancient Greeks also considered
Pan to be the god of theatrical criticism.[3]
In Roman religion and myth, Pan's counterpart was Faunus, a
nature god who was the father of Bona Dea, sometimes
identified as Fauna. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Pan
became a significant figure in the Romantic movement of
western Europe, and also in the 20th-century Neopagan
movement.[4]...
Read More
（Πάν), the great god of flocks and shepherds among the
Greeks; his name is probably connected with the verb πάω.
Lat. pasco, so that his name and character are perfectly in
accordance with each other. Later speculations, according to
which Pan is the same as τὸ πᾶν, or the universe, and the
god the symbol of the universe, cannot be taken into
consideration here. He is described as a son of Hermes by
the daughter of Dryops (Hom. Hymn. 7.34), by Callisto
(Schol. ad Theocr. 1.3), by Oeneis or Thymbris (Apollod.
1.4.1; Schol. ad Theocrit. l.c.), or as the son of Hermes by
Penelope, whom the god visited in the shape of a ram (Hdt.
2.145; Schol. ad Theocrit. 1.123 ; Serv. ad Aen. 2.43), or
of Penelope by Odysseus, or by all her suitors in common.
(Serv. ad Virg. Georg. 1.16; Schol. ad Lycoph. 766; Schol.
ad Theocrit. 1.3.) Some again call him the son of Aether and
Oeneis, or a Nereid, or a son of Uranus and Ge. (Schol. ad
Theocrit. 1.123; Schol. ad Lycoph. l.c.) From his being a
grandson or great grandson of Cronos, he is called Κρόνιος.
(Eur. Rh. 36.) He was from his birth perfectly developed,
and had the same appearance as afterwards, that is, he had
his horns, beard, puck nose, tail, goats' feet, and was
covered with hair, so that his mother ran away with fear
when she saw him ; but Hermes carried him into Olympus,
where all (πάντες) the gods were delighted with him, and
especially Dionysus. (Hom. Hymn. 7.36, &c.; comp. Sil. Ital.
13.332; Lucian, Dial. Deor. 22.) He was brought up by
nymphs. (Paus. 8.30.2.)
The principal seat of his worship was Arcadia and from
thence his name and his worship afterwards spread over other
parts of Greece; and at Athens his worship was not
introduced till the time of the battle of Marathon. (Paus.
8.26.2; Verg. Ecl. 10.26; Pind. Frag. 63, ed. Boeckh.; Hdt.
2.145.) In Arcadia he was the god of forests, pastures,
flocks, and shepherds, and dwelt in grottoes (Eur. Ion 501;
Ov. Met. 14.515), wandered on the summits of mountains and
rocks, and in valleys, either amusing himself with the
chase, or leading the dances of the nymphs. (Aeschyl. Pers.
448; Hom. Hymn. 7.6, 13, 20 ; Paus. 8.42.2.) As the god of
flocks, both of wild and tame animals, it was his province
to increase them and guard them (Hom. Hymn. 7.5; Paus.
8.38.8; Ov. Fast. 2.271, 277 ; Virg. Eclog. 1.33); but he
was also a hunter, and hunters owed their success to him,
who at the same time might prevent their being successful.
(Hesych. s. v. Ἀγρεύς.) In Arcadia hunters used to scourge
the statue, if they hunted in vain (Theocrit. 7.107); during
the heat of mid day he used to slumber, and was very
indignant when any one disturbed him. (Theocrit. 1.16.) As
god of flocks, bees also were under his protection, as well
as the coast where fishermen carried on their pursuit.
(Theocrit. 5.15; Anthol. Palat. 6.239, 10.10.) As the god of
every thing connected with pastoral life, he was fond of
music, and the inventor of the syrinx or shepherd's flute,
which he himself played in a masterly manner, and in which
he instructed others also, such as Daphnis. (Hom. Hymn. 7.15
; Theocrit. 1.3; Anthol. Palat. 9.237, 10.11; Verg. Ecl.
1.32, 4.58; Serv. ad Virg. Edloq. 5.20.) He is thus said to
have loved the poet Pindar, and to have sung and danced his
lyric songs, in return for which Pindar erected to him a
sanctuary in front of his house. (Pind. P. 3.139, with the
Schol.; Plut. Num. 4.) Pan, like other gods who dwelt in
forests, was dreaded by travellers to whom he sometimes
appeared, and whom he startled with a sudden awe or terror.
(Eur. Rh. 36.) Thus when Pheidippides, the Athenian, was
sent to Sparta to solicit its aid against the Persians, Pan
accosted him, and promised to terrify the barbarians, if the
Athenians would worship him. (Hdt. 6.105 ; Paus. 8.54.5,
1.28.4.) He is said to have had a terrific voice (V. Fl.
3.31), and by it to have frightened the Titans in their
fight with the gods. (Eratosh. Catast. 27.) It seems that
this feature, namely, his fondness of noise and riot, was
the cause of his being considered as the minister and
companion of Cybele and Dionysus. (V. Fl. 3.47; Pind. Fragm.
63, ed. Boeckh; Lucian, Dial. Deor. 22.) He was at the same
time believed to be possessed of prophetic powers, and to
have even instructed Apollo in this art. (Apollod. 1.4.1.)
While roaming in his forests he fell in love with Echo, by
whom or by Peitho he became the father of lynx. His love of
Syrinx, after whom he named his flute, is well known from
Ovid (Ov. Met. 1.691, &c.; comp. Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. 2.31;
and about his other amours see Georg. 3.391; Macr. 5.22).
Fir-trees were sacred to him, as the nymph Pitys, whom he
loved, had been metamorphosed into that tree (Propert. 1.18.
20), and the sacrifices offered to him consisted of cows,
rams, lambs, milk, and honey. (Theocrit. 5.58; Anthol.
Palat. 2.630, 697, 6.96, 239, 7.59.) Sacrifices were also
offered to him in common with Dionysus and the nymphs.
(Paus. 2.24.7; Anthol. Palat. 6.154.) The various epithets
which are given him by the poets refer either to his
singular appearance, or are derived from the names of the
places in which he was worshipped. Sanctuaries and temples
of this god are frequently mentioned, especially in Arcadia,
as at Heraea, on the Nomian hill near Lycosura, on mount
Parthenius (Paus. 8.26.2, 38.8, 54.5), at Megalopolis
(8.30.2, 3.31.1), near Acacesium, where a perpetual fire was
burning in his temple, and where at the same time there was
an ancient oracle, at which the nymph Erato had been his
priestess (8.37.8, &c.), at Troezene (2.32.5), on the well
of Eresinus, between Argos and Tegea (2.24.7), at Sicyon
2.10.2), at Oropus (1.34.2), at Athens (1.28.4; Hdt. 6.105),
near Marathon (1.32. in fin.), in the island of Psyttaleia
(1.36.2 ; Aeschyl. Pers. 448), in the Corycian grotto near
mount Parnassus (10.32.5), and at Homala in Thessaly.
(Theocrit. 7.103.)
The Romans identified with Pan their own god Inuus, and
sometimes also Faunus. Respecting the plural (Panes) or
beings with goat's feet, see SATYRI. In works of art Pan is
represented as a voluptuous and sensual being, with horns,
puck-nose, and goat's feet, sometimes in the act of dancing,
and sometimes playing on the syrinx. (Hirt, Mythol. Bilderb.
ii. p. 161, &c.) - A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography
and mythology, William Smith, Ed.
Read More
