Pan
Publié le 22/02/2012
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Greek An ancient deity from the mountainous
region of Arcadia, in Greece. Pan was a deity of
herds and flocks, fertility, forests, and wildlife. He is
usually depicted as half man, half goat. The Romans
called him Faunus.
Pan was a notable musician, playing the syrinx
(panpipes, or Pipes of Pan), a seven-reed flute still
played by Arcadian shepherds. In one myth, Pan challenged
the god Apollo to a musical contest (see Midas
and the Donkey's Ears, under Midas). Some sources say
Pan is the son of the god Hermes and of the Nymph
Penelope. People worshiped Pan as a fertility symbol
and thought of him as lusty and playful, though at
times a little sinister. They believed Pan was the cause
of a sudden, terrifying, unreasoning fear in humans
and beasts, a feeling given the name panic, from Pan.
Almost every region in Greece had its own Pan, a
primitive, ancient deity. (See Aristaeus and Priapus.)