Pan, the little half-man, half-goat with horns, god of Greek mythology, speaks of such basic instincts and has so many names and attributes that he is probably one of the oldest Greek gods, perhaps even the predator of Greek religion as we know it.
In Classical Mythology, he is the original bad boy. He watches over flocks, forests, mountains, and all things wild. He shares this aspect with Apollo. But he also shares with Apollo a taste for chasing and stripping maidens, usually forest nymphs.
Stories about Pan
Two of the most famous stories about him suggest that, like Byron, he was “mad, bad, and dangerous to know”:
In the story of the origin of his pan pipes, he fell in love with—or probably just lusted after—a beautiful wood nymph named Syrinx, the daughter of a river god. She ran away without listening to his pleas.
She fled to her sisters for safety, and when she arrived, they turned her into a reed that made a mournful melody when the air blew through it. Pan was still in love with her, but he didn’t know what reed she had been turned into. So he took several, cut them into pieces, and fixed them side by side in a set of pipes. Forever, Pan was rarely seen without his pan flute. He named it Syrinx in her honor.
But if he could be sentimental, his lust could also make him very cruel. In another story, the nymph Echo angered him because she despised all men. He sent his followers to tear her to pieces and scatter her across the earth. Mother Earth Gaia received her, and her voice, repeating the words of others, remains.
On the other hand, he could also be gentle and kind. It is said that he convinced Psyche not to commit suicide because of her unrequited love for the god Eros.
Most common attributes
In addition to his goat horns and hairy hips, he is often depicted with his panther in ancient paintings, sculptures, and representations, and is often seen touching her.
His main strengths—he is lustful and a skilled musician—are more or less the same as his main weaknesses—he is lustful and likes loud music. In fact, he likes loud and chaotic noise in general.
His mischievous side can turn very dark in an instant. He can incite “panic,” a senseless fear or rage, sometimes at the behest of the goddess Rhea. His presence was said to cause men to panic when they crossed dark and lonely forests.
And he wasn’t averse to tearing people apart from time to time. If you find yourself in his vicinity, you may notice his slightly musky or goat-like odor.
Origins
Pan is often said to be the son of Hermes and Dryope, a tree nymph. In ancient times, he was associated with Arcadia, a beautiful but wild part of Greece. Even today, Arcadia, in the central Peloponnese, is a rustic and sparsely populated area of the country.
The name Pan is also a Greek prefix meaning “all,” and at one point, Pan may have been a much more powerful and complete figure. Less familiar stories give him powers as a sea god with the epithet Haliplanktos; he is also considered a healer of epidemics through cures revealed in dreams, and a god-oracle.
These many attributes suggest very ancient Proto-Indo-European origins. Some of them, such as his appearance as a sea god, even puzzled classical Greek writers, suggesting again that his tradition of origin was so ancient that it was forgotten by classical times.
Temples of Pan
As a rustic god of wild places, Pan had many shrines, but they were not in buildings. Instead, they were probably in grottoes and caves. Some ancient writers have mentioned temples and altars in Arcadia, but these places no longer exist and therefore cannot be verified. There is a tradition of the ruins of a Temple of Pan found near the source of the Neda River at the base of Mount Lykaion in the Western Peloponnese.
This river valley has a fairy-tale quality and has long been associated with ancient myths and stories. But the connection with a temple dedicated to Pan is probably more imaginative and romantic than true.
