Pan is the wild rustic god of shepherds, flocks and music. Originating in Arcadia, Greece, Pan embodies the essence of wilderness. He also rules the borders between pastoral lands and forest. Pan represents a mix of spontaneity, desire and freedom.
Many modern scholars consider Pan to be derived from the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European god *Péh₂usōn, an important pastoral deity of late Neolithic times. His early worship comes from the inhabitants of the Pontic-Caspian Steppe.
A multifaceted figure, Pan embodies not only the untamed beauty of nature but also the joy and spontaneity of life, serving as a protector of shepherds and a source of inspiration for musicians and poets alike. Pan can be one god, or a multitude.
He's equated with Roman Faunus, an ancient God of forests, fields and flocks. Faunus becomes a horned god after the introduction of Pan. At times Pan keeps company with Bacchus, the Roman God of Wine and equivalent of the Greek Dionysus.
Above: Pan teaches his eromenos (object of sexual desire) the shepherd Daphnis, to play the syrinx or reed pipes. This is a 2nd century AD Roman copy of a Greek marble original from the 3rd-2nd centuries BCE.
Pan is often caught between the human and animal worlds. His appearance reminds people of their connections to nature and wild instincts. This duality runs deep. A symbol of chaos, Pan brings balance to order, for without chaos, order does not exist.
His music can be ecstatic, beguiling, fearsome or soothing. His enchanting melodies resonate in the forests. Shepherds stop their work to listen. Flocks became calm and content in his ambience.
As a rustic god of the fields and wilderness, Pan receives worship in the outdoors, excepting a couple of temples. His tales are related and expanded by later scribes and storytellers. As time passes Pan develops a complex mythology.
He has notable attempted liaisons with three beautiful nymphs who factor into nature lore. Syrinx, fleeing his advances, becomes a stand of water reeds. From these he makes his pipes, thereafter called syrinx.
At one point he races around the hills and forests seeking the lovely nymph Echo, but can only hear her voice. Echo was in love with Narcissus, a vain young man. Stories differ, but she fades away until only her voice is left. This is the object of Pan's futile pursuit.
In another tale he pursues the mountain nymph Pitys, who becomes a pine tree to escape him. A more complex version has Pan and the north wind Boreas both lusting after her, and Boreas uproots trees to show her how powerful he is.
She just laughs and chooses Pan. This upsets Boreas so he blows her off a cliff to her death. Feeling sorry for her, the Goddess Gaia changes Pitys into a pine tree. Greco-Roman myth is fond of changing nymphs or mortal women to aspects of nature if pursued by a god.
Pan is a confirmed bachelor who will never change his wild ways. Although unmarried he has several children, twelve of which are named in mythology. As Faunus he's considered to be the father of the "Good Goddess" Bona Dea in Rome.
He's lord of the outdoors and he values his alone time. If he's woken from a nap in the woods his roar can cause panic among people and herds.
HIs strong sexuality equates Pan with fertility, spring and harvest seasons. Pan is sexually attracted to men, women, mortals, nymphs and animals, especially goats. Bisexual god Hermes (Roman Mercury) is named in myth as his father.
Pan becomes a Greco-Roman god as he takes part in the Roman Bacchanale, a heady time of wild drinking, feasting and horizontal fertility rituals. Pan is part of the general entourage of Bacchus.
The celebration is linked to the Cult of Dionysus in Greece. Attempts at suppression by authorities have little effect. The most famous followers of Dionysus are the Maenads, name meaning “to rave, to be mad; to rage, to be angry."
Besides rites and revels in the woods, the Maenads are known for their ferocity. They tear Dionysus / Bacchus to pieces thinking him a sacrificial bull. They also tear the bard Orpheus to pieces as he's in mourning for his lost love and repulses their sexual advances.
Women who have sexual relations with several men are known as "Pan girls." Two other Pans are well known. Aegipan, literally "goat-Pan," is entirely goatlike. When the Olympians flee from the giant Typhoeus, Aegipan assumes the form of a fish-tailed goat.
Later he comes to the aid of Zeus in the battle with Typhoeus, restoring the god's sinews ripped out by the monster. As a reward, Zeus places Aegipan among the stars as the constellation Capricorn.
Sybarios is an Italian Pan venerated in the Greek colony of Sybaris in Italy. The Sybarite Pan is born when a shepherd boy from Sybaris named Krathis copulates with a beautiful she-goat from his flock.
Shepherds of old often leave offerings in the Corycian Cave on the southern slopes of Mount Parnassus, believed to inhabited by Pan. The cave is sacred to Apollo, sun god of prophecy, whose Delphic Oracle is further down the mountain.
Caves are associated with chthonic or underworld gods and creatures. The formations, echoes and strange smells inspire a sense of awe in the caverns and unseen gods and spirits. A vast number of talus bones of sheep and goats are found in the cave by modern explorers.
Pan's melodies attract nymphs and woodland spirits and incite the urge to dance. During the harvest, local communities gather in fields and meadows to celebrate, make offerings and dance to his tunes. Sheep are especially sacred to Pan and many are sacrificed in his name.
Sacrifice involves ritual killing of the animal, with consumption of its flesh and use of its wool. Knucklebones for casting and prophecy are usually the ankle (talus) bones of sheep or goats.
Casting the bones is a common activity in Greece, Rome, and the Middle Ages in Europe. Ancient Romans also use entrails, usually livers of sheep, to divine the future in the practice of haruspicy.
Pan's Roman Counterparts: Silvanus and Faunus
In Roman lore, Pan finds parallels with gods such as Silvanus and Faunus, who also embody aspects of nature, pastoral life, and fertility. Silvanus is depicted as a rustic deity of forests fields and borders, and the syrinx is sacred to him.
Faunus, protector of flocks and herds, has similar characteristics as Pan. These connections highlight the enduring influence of Pan's mythology across cultures and the universality of themes surrounding nature, music, and fertility.
In the late 19th century Pan is increasingly portrayed in literature and art. Between 1890 and 1926 the Pan motif is especially popular. He appears in poetry, novels and children's books, and is referenced in the name of fictional wild child Peter Pan.
In 1933, Egyptologist Margaret Murray releases "The God of the Witches", proposing Pan is just one form of a horned god revered through Europe by a witch cult. This helps to shape the Neopagan concept of the Horned God.
In Wicca, the Horned God archetype holds significant importance. His legends run deep, and he is symbolized by deities like the Celtic Cernunnos, the Hindu Pashupati, and the Greek Pan.
Pan is also linked to dual aspect deity Baphomet aka the Goat of Mendes. The 19th century drawing by Eliphas Levi, below, has become the common pictorial reference to the modern concept of Baphomet.
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