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Pan, god of the forest


pan1.jpg - 15.80 KPan, the son of Hermes, was the Greek god of shepherds and flocks. He was depicted as a satyr, with a reed pipe, and a shepherd's crook. In Greek mythology the satyrs are deities of the woods. They are half human and half beast; they usually have a goat's tail, with hooves. While the upper part of the body is that of a human, they also have the horns of a goat. They are the companions of Dionysus, the god of wine and darkness, and they spent their time drinking, dancing and fulfilling their carnal desires.

Fear of Pan
As the legend goes, when Pan was born and the nurse saw the face and the beard of the newborn child, she was afraid and fled, and also for this it has been said that irrational terrors (panic) come from Pan. Pan represents also our own human nature. The idea of this pagan myth of Pan is that our fear of beholding him comes from the irrational fear of our own 'dark side' or sinful human nature, which we ought to embrace with joy… but instead, we run from it in fear.

The Music of Pan
Pan fell in love with the Nymph Syrinx, who had until then eluded the pursuit of other gods. Syrinx refused to love someone who was both man and goat. So, escaping from Pan, who pursued her, she came to the stream of the river, and not being able to escape, she asked to the Nymphs of the river to change her form into something else. The Nymphs listened to her request, and turned her into marsh reeds. So when Pan wished to hold her there was nothing left of her except the reeds and the sound, which the air produced in them. On hearing it Pan was charmed and, thinking of the Nymph, said to himself in triumph: "This converse, at least, shall I have with you." So, joining reeds of different sizes, he invented the musical instrument that was named syrinx after her, or sometimes the Pan flute, after him.

The worship of Pan spread far beyond Greece into many other countries such as Egypt, and equivalents of him began to appear all over the world.


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