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Pan ( or Satyr . , the shepherd Daphnis , to play the panpipes''' 2nd c. AD Roman copy of Greek original ca. 100 BC attributed to Heliodorus Found in Pompeii ]] ORIGINS The parentage of Pan is unclear; in some Myth s 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 , ''Dioysiaca'' (14.92), a Penelope of Mantineia in Arcadia.This is not the Penelope who was the wife of Odysseus. 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. But 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's 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 132Pan "even boasted that he had slept with every maenad that ever was—to facilitate that extraordinary feat, he could be multiplied into a whole brotherhood of Panes.")) 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 Arkas , and one a son of Cronos . "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 Satyr s". 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 B.C.), it is said that Pan favored the Athenians and so inspired panic in the hearts of their enemies, the Persians. MYTHOLOGY The goat-god Aigipan was nurtured by , ''Moralia'' 293c) and detects a note of kinship betrayal. Pan aided his foster-brother in the Battle With The Titans by blowing his conch-horn and scattering them in terror. One of the famous myths of Pan involves the origin of his trademark Pan Flute . Syrinx was a beautiful Nymph beloved by the satyrs and other wood dwellers. She scorned them all. As she was returning from the hunt one day, Pan met her. She ran away and didn't stop to hear his compliments, and he pursued from Mount Lycaeum until she came to the bank of the River Ladon where he overtook her. She had only time to call on the water nymphs for help. Just as Pan laid hands on her, she was turned into the river reeds. When the air blew through the reeds, it produced a plaintive melody. The god took some of the reeds to make an instrument which he called a Syrinx , in honor of the nymph. . Pan also loved a nymph named Pitys , who was turned into a pine tree to escape him. 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 judgment. 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 . Capricornus The , he dove into the Nile; the parts above the water remained a goat, but those under the water transformed into a fish. HISTORY AND ACCOUNTS 1900]] It is likely that the demonized images of the Incubus and even the horns and Cloven Hooves of Satan , as depicted in much Christian literature and art, were taken from the images of the highly sexual Pan. If one were to believe the Greek historian (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 , "Where or what was Palodes?" . 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. Despite the declaration of his death, however, Pan is widely worshipped by Neopagans and Wicca ns today, where he is considered a powerful deity and an Archetype of male virility and sexuality, called the Horned God . A modern account of several purported meetings with Pan is given by R. Ogilvie Crombie (born Edinburgh , lived 1899-1975), in the books "The Findhorn Garden" (Harper & Row, 1975) and "The Magic Of Findhorn" (Harper & Row, 1975). Crombie claimed to have met Pan many times at various locations including Edinburgh , on the island of Iona and at the Findhorn Foundation , all in Scotland . FAUNUS See Also: Faunus In Roman Mythology , Pan's counterpart was Faunus , a nature spirit who was the father of Bona Dea ( Fauna , his feminine side) PAN IN FICTION AND LITERATURE
Grover searches for Pan in Percy Jackson.
NOTES REFERENCES SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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