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Myths about the Roman God Pan
The most common
opinion is, that he was the son of Mercury and Penelope. As
soon as he was born, his father carried him in a goat's skin
to heaven, where he charmed all the gods with his pipe, so
that they associated him with Mercury in the office of their
messenger. After this he was educated on Mount Maenalus, in
Arcadia, by Sione and the other nymphs, who, attracted by
his music, followed him as their conductor.
Pan, though devoted to the pleasures of rural life,
distinguished himself by his valor. In the war of the giants
he entangled Typhon in his nets. Bacchus, in his Indian
expedition, was accompanied by him with a body of Satyrs,
who rendered Bacchus great service. When the Gauls invaded
Greece, and were just going to pillage Delphi, Pan struck
them with such a sudden consternation by night, that they
fled without being pursued: hence the expression of a Panic
fear, for a sudden terror. The Romans adopted him among
their deities, by the names of Lupercus and Lycaeus, and
built a temple to him at the foot of Mount Palatine.
He is represented with a smiling, ruddy face, and thick
beard covering his breast, two horns on his head, a star on
his bosom, legs and thighs hairy, and the nose, feet, and
tail of a goat. He is clothed in a spotted skin, having a
shepherd's crook in one hand, and his pipe of unequal reeds
in the other, and is crowned with pine, that tree being
sacred to him.
Pan probably signifies the universal nature, proceeding from
the divine mind and providence, of which the heaven, earth,
sea, and the eternal fire, are so many members. Mythologists
are of opinion that his upper parts are like a man, because
the superior and celestial part of the world is beautiful,
radiant, and glorious: his horns denote the rays of the sun,
as they beam upwards, and his long beard signifies the same
rays, as they have an influence upon the earth: the
ruddiness of his face resembles the splendor of the sky, and
the spotted skin which he wears is the image of the starry
firmament: his lower parts are rough, hairy, and deformed,
to represent the shrubs, wild creatures, trees, and
mountains here below: his goat's feet signify the solidity
of the earth; and his pipe of seven reeds, that celestial
harmony which is made by the seven planets; lastly, his
sheep-hook denotes that care and providence by which he
governs the universe.
Myths about the Roman God Pan
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