Pan, from Classical Mythology, is the Greek god of the mountainside, pastures, goats and sheep, most associated with the mountainous state of Arcadia in central Peloponnese. Son of the messenger god Hermes and Penelope, Pan is usually depicted as a shaggy wildman with goat-like horns, legs, and hooves. Like his Roman counterpart Faunus, he is a playful and energetic god often found dancing or playing on a syrinx - the pipes that he is credited with inventing. Actually, Syrinx was the name of a poor nymph who turned herself into a bed of reeds - the material used to make the pipes - to avoid Pan's licentious advances. This brings us to Pan's darker side.

Regarded as the spirit of the dark forests, Pan was indeed a wildman. He spent a great deal of his time wantonly chasing after the many nymphs of the woods and waters, and so he became associated with instinctual sexual desire and especially rape.

Pan could also be a very irritable, cranky god. So travellers, especially solitary travellers, through wooded areas were warned not to disturb him during his afternoon nap, else they would feel his divine presence and be overcome by a deep sense of fear and sudden panic. As you may well be aware, we get our word "panic" from this aspect of the god Pan. It was said that he could strike fear when he blew loudly on his conch shell. Indeed, his worship spread from Arcadia to Athens in 480 BC with the victory of the Athenians and Plataeans over the Persians. The Persians fled in panic over the great din caused by Pan.

I'm sure that I have felt the presence of Pan manifested by sudden fear and panic while on a lonely leisurely walk through the woods - oddly enough my walks are usually around midday, Pan's prime nap time! You hear a branch snap or the leaves rustling in a tree or bush and freeze in your tracks, your heart racing. "What was that!" you think to yourself and look around with images of a bear, wolf, or even a wildman (bigfoot often comes to my mind!) passing rapidly through your thoughts so you quicken your pace to get out of there!

Indeed, Pan's divine spirit still haunts the woods. Next time we'll have a closer look at what Pan represents as well as his association with panic and the wilder side of his divinity. Until then... be careful not to disturb him on your next walk in the woods...

Origins The parentage of Pan is unclear; in some myths he is the son of Zeus, though generally he is the son of Hermes, with whom his mother is said to be a nymph, sometimes Dryope or, in Nonnus, Dionysiaca (14.92), a Penelope of Mantineia in Arcadia.[1] His nature and name are alluring, particularly since often his name is mistakenly thought to be identical to the Greek word pan, meaning "all", when in fact the name of the god is derived from the word pa-on, which means "herdsman" and shares its prefix with the modern English word "pasture". In many ways he seems to be identical to Protogonus/Phanes. Probably the beginning of the linguistic misunderstanding is the Homeric Hymn to Pan, which describes him as delighting all the gods, and thus getting his name. The Roman counterpart to Pan is Faunus, another version of his name, which is at least Indo-European. However, accounts of Pan's genealogy are so varied that it must lie buried deep in mythic time. Like other nature spirits, Pan appears to be older than the Olympians, if it is true that he gave Artemis her hunting dogs and taught the secret of prophecy to Apollo. Pan might be multiplied as the Panes (Burkert 1985, III.3.2; Ruck and Staples 1994 p 132[2]) or the Paniskoi. Kerenyi (1951 p 174) notes from scholia that Aeschylus in Rhesus distinguished between two Pans, one the son of Zeus and twin of Arcas, and one a son of Kronos. "In the retinue of Dionysos, or in depictions of wild landscapes, there appeared not only a great Pan, but also little Pans, Paniskoi, who played the same part as the Satyrs".

Worship.

The worship of Pan began in Arcadia, and Arcadia was always the principal seat of his worship. Arcadia was a district of mountain people whom other Greeks disdained. Arcadian hunters used to scourge the statue of the god if they had been disappointed in the chase (Theocritus. vii. 107). Pan inspired sudden fear in lonely places, Panic (panikon deima). Following the Titans' assault on Olympus, Pan claimed credit for the victory of the gods because he had inspired disorder and fear in the attackers resulting in the word 'panic' to describe these emotions. Of course, Pan was later known for his music, capable of arousing inspiration, sexuality, or panic, depending on his intentions. In the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), it is said that Pan favored the Athenians and so inspired panic in the hearts of their enemies, the Persians.

The goat-god Aegipan was nurtured by Amalthea with the infant Zeus in Crete. In Zeus' battle with Typhon, Aegipan and Hermes stole back Zeus' "sinews" that Typhon had hidden away in the Corycian Cave.[3] Pan aided his foster-brother in the battle with the Titans by blowing his conch-horn and scattering them in terror. According to some traditions, Aegipan was the son of Pan, rather than his father. One of the famous myths of Pan involves the origin of his trademark pan flute. Syrinx was a lovely water-nymph of Arcadia, daughter of Landon, the river-god. As she was returning from the hunt one day, Pan met her. To escape from his importunities, the fair nymph ran away and didn't stop to hear his compliments. He pursued from Mount Lycaeum until she came to her sisters who immediately changed her into a reed. When the air blew through the reeds, it produced a plaintive melody. The god, still infatuated, took some of the reeds, because he could not identify which reed she became, and cut seven pieces (or according to some versions, nine), joined them side by side in gradually decreasing lengths, and formed the musical instrument bearing the name of his beloved Syrinx. Henceforth Pan was seldom seen without it.

Echo was a nymph who was a great singer and dancer and scorned the love of any man. This angered Pan, a lecherous god, and he instructed his followers to kill her. Echo was torn to pieces and spread all over earth. The goddess of the earth, Gaia, received the pieces of Echo, whose voice remains repeating the last words of others. In some versions, Echo and Pan first had one child: Iambe. Pan also loved a nymph named Pitys, who was turned into a pine tree to escape him.

Erotic aspects.

Pan is famous for his sexual powers, and is often depicted with an erect phallus. Diogenes of Sinope, speaking in jest, related the myth of Pan learning masturbation from his father, Hermes, and teaching the habit to his beloved shepherds. He was believed by the Greeks to have plied his charms primarily on maidens and shepherds, such as Daphnis. Though he failed with Syrinx and Pitys, Pan didn't fail with the Maenads— he had every one of them, in one orgiastic riot or another. To effect this, Pan was sometimes multiplied into a whole tribe of Panes. Pan's greatest conquest was that of the moon goddess Selene. He accomplished this by wrapping himself in a sheepskin to hide his hairy black goat form, and drew her down from the sky into the forest where he seduced her.

Pan and music.

Once Pan had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and to challenge Apollo, the god of the lyre, to a trial of skill. Tmolus, the mountain-god, was chosen to umpire. Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower, Midas, who happened to be present. Then Apollo struck the strings of his lyre. Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and all but Midas agreed with the judgement. He dissented, and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and turned Midas' ears into those of a donkey. In another version of the myth the first round of the contest was a tie so they were forced to go to a second round. In this round, Apollo demanded that they play standing on their heads. Apollo, playing on the lyre, was unaffected, however Pan's pipe couldn't be played while upsidedown, so Apollo won the contest.

Capricornus.

The constellation Capricornus is often depicted as a sea-goat, a goat with a fish's tail: see Aigaion or Briareos, one of the Hecatonchires. One myth[citation needed] that would seem to be invented to justify a connection of Pan with Capricorn says that when Aigipan, that is Pan in his goat-god aspect,[5] was attacked by the monster Typhon, he dove into the Nile; the parts above the water remained a goat, but those under the water transformed into a fish.

Epithets.

Aegocerus was an epithet of Pan descriptive of his figure with the horns of a goat.

History.

The worship and belief of Pan has been documented for millennia.

The Death of Pan.

If one were to believe the Greek historian Plutarch (in "The Obsolescence of Oracles" (Moralia, Book 5:17), Pan is the only Greek god who is dead. During the reign of Tiberius (A.D. 14-37), the news of Pan's death came to one Thamus, a sailor on his way to Italy by way of the island of Paxi. A divine voice hailed him across the salt water, "Thamus, are you there? When you reach Palodes,[8] take care to proclaim that the great god Pan is dead." Which Thamus did, and the news was greeted from shore with groans and laments. Robert Graves (The Greek Myths) suggested that the Egyptian Thamus apparently misheard Thamus Pan-megas Tethnece 'the all-great Tammuz is dead' for 'Thamus, Great Pan is dead!' Certainly, when Pausanias toured Greece about a century after Plutarch, he found Pan's shrines, sacred caves and sacred mountains still very much frequented.

Symbolism of Satan.

It is likely that the demonized images of the incubus and even the horns and cloven hooves of Satan, as depicted in much medieval and post-medieval Christian literature and art, were taken from the images of Pan.

Neopaganism.