Pan (mythology)

Pan
God of nature, the wild, shepherds, flocks, goats, of mountain wilds, and is often associated with sexuality
Pan teaching his eromenos, the shepherd Daphnis, to play the pipes, Roman copy of Greek original c. 100 BC, second century AD, found in Pompeii,
Abode	Arcadia
Symbol	Pan flute, goat
Consort	Syrinx, Echo, Pitys
Parents	many variations including: Hermes and Driope, Aphrodite, Penelope, or Hecate
Siblings	Satyrs, Laertes, Circe, Maenads
Children	Silenos, Iynx, Krotos, Xanthus (out of Twelve)
Roman equivalent	Faunus

In Greek religion and mythology, Pan (/ˈpæn/;Ancient Greek: , Pan) is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds and rustic music, and companion of the nymphs. His name originates within the ancient Greek language, from the word paein (πάειν), meaning "to pasture"; the modern word "panic" is derived from the name. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, and wooded glens; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. The ancient Greeks also considered Pan to be the god of theatrical criticism and impromptus.

In Roman religion and myth, Pan's counterpart was Faunus, a nature god who was the father of Bona Dea, sometimes identified as Fauna; he was also closely associated with Sylvanus, due to their similar relationships with woodlands. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Pan became a significant figure in the Romantic movement of western Europe and also in the 20th-century Neopagan movement.

Many modern scholars consider Pan to be derived from the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European god *Péh₂usōn, whom these scholars believe to have been an important pastoral deity. The Hindu god Pushan is believed to be a cognate of Pan. The connection between Pan and Pushan was first identified in 1924 by the German scholar Hermann Collitz. The name Pan is probably also a cognate with the Greek word πάειν (paein), meaning "to pasture", which shares an origin with the modern English word "pasture".