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PAN (" pasturer ")
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See also:PAN (" pasturer ") , in See also:Greek See also:mythology, son of See also:Hermes and one of the daughters of Dryops (" See also:oak-See also:man "), or of See also:Zeus and the nymph See also:Callisto, See also:god of shepherds, flocks and forests. He is not mentioned in See also:Homer or See also:Hesiod. The most poetical See also:account of his See also:birth and See also:life is given in the so-called Homeric hymn To Pan. He was See also:born with horns, a See also:goat's See also:beard and feet and a tail, his See also:person being completely covered with See also:hair. His See also:mother was so alarmed at his See also:appearance that she fled; but Hermes took him to See also:Olympus, where he became the favourite of the gods, especially See also:Dionysus. His life and characteristics are typical of the old shepherds and goatherds. He was essentially a rustic god," a See also:wood-spirit conceived in the See also:form of a goat," living in See also:woods and caves, and traversing the tops of the mountains; he protected and gave fertility to flocks; he hunted and fished; and sported and danced with the See also:mountain See also:nymphs. A See also:lover of See also:music, he invented the shepherd's See also:pipe, said to have been made from the See also:reed into which the nymph See also:Syrinx was transformed when fleeing from his embraces (See also:Ovid, Metam. i. 691 sqq.). With a See also:kind of See also:trumpet formed out of a See also:shell he terrified the See also:Titans in their fight with the Olympian gods. By his unexpected appearance he sometimes inspires men with sudden terror—hence the expression " panic " fear. Like other See also:spirits of the woods and See also:fields, he possesses the See also:power of See also:inspiration and prophecy, in which he is said to have instructed See also:Apollo. As a nature-god he was brought into connexion with See also:Cybele and Dionysus, the latter of whom. he accompanied on his See also:Indian expedition. Associated with Pan is a number of Panisci, male and See also:female See also:forest imps, his wives and See also:children, who send evil dreams and See also:apparitions to terrify mankind. His See also:original See also:home was See also:Arcadia; his cult was introduced into See also:Athens at the See also:time of the See also:battle of See also:Marathon, when he promised his assistance against the Persians if the Athenians in return would See also:worship him. A See also:cave was consecrated to him on the See also:north See also:side of the See also:Acropolis, where he was annually honoured with a See also:sacrifice and a See also:torch-See also:race (See also:Herodotus vi. 105). In later times, by a misinterpretation of his name (or from the See also:identification of the Greek god with the See also:ram-headed See also:Egyptian god Chnum, the creator of the See also:world), he was pantheistically conceived as the universal god (TO rag). The See also:pine and oak were sacred to him, and his offerings were goats, See also:lambs, cows, new See also:wine, See also:honey and See also:milk. The See also:Romans identified him with Inuus and See also:Faunus. In See also:art Pan is represented in two different aspects. Sometimes he has goat's feet and horns, See also:curly hair and a See also:long beard, See also:half See also:animal, half man; sometimes he is a handsome youth, with long flowing hair, only characterized by horns just beginning to grow, the shepherd's crook and pipe. In bas-reliefs he is often shown presiding over the dances of nymphs, whom he is sometimes pursuing in a See also:state of See also:intoxication. He has furnished some of the attributes of the See also:ordinary conception of the See also:devil. The See also:story (alluded to by See also:Milton, See also:Rabelais, Mrs See also:Browning and See also:Schiller) of the 'See also:pilot Thamus, who, sailing near the See also:island of Paxi in the time of Tiberius, was commanded by a mighty See also:voice to proclaim that " Pan is dead," is found in See also:Plutarch (De orac. defectu, 17). As this story coincided with the birth (or crucifixion) of See also:Christ it was thought to See also:herald the end of the old world and the beginning of the new. According to See also:Roscher (in Neue Jahrbiicher See also:fur Philologie, 1892) it was of Egyptian origin, the name Thamus being connected with Thmouis, a See also:town in the neighbourhood of Mendes, distinguished for the worship of the ram; according to Herodotus (ii. 46), in Egyptian the goat and Pan were both called Mendes. S. See also:Reinach suggests that the words uttered by the " voice " were See also:eaµous, Oaµo"us, sravµeyas, TEBv17Ke (" Tammuz, Tammuz, the all-See also:great, is dead "), and that it was merely the lament for the " great Tammuz " or See also:Adonis (see L. R. Farneil in The See also:Year's See also:Work in Classical Studies, 1907). See W. Gebhard, Pankultus (See also:Brunswick, 1872) ; P. Wetzel, De Jove et See also:Pane dis arcadicis (See also:Breslau, 1873); W. Immerwahr, Kulte et Mythen Arkadiens (1891), vol. i., and V. See also:Berard, De l'Origine See also:des cultes arcadiens (1894), who endeavour to show that Pan is a See also:sun-god (4av, 4'alvu) ; articles by W. H. Roscher in Lexikon der Mythologie and by J. A. Hild in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionnaire des See also:Anti-guiles.; E. E. Sikes in Classical See also:Review (1895), ix. 70; O. Gruppe, GriechischeMythologie (1906), vol. ii. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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