Pan

Goat-legged Arcadian god of shepherds and the wild, son of Hermes.

Parentage

• parent: Hermes

Domains

• shepherds and wild

Powers

• Pipes enchanting music on his reed syrinx
• Strikes sudden irrational terror into crowds

Epithets

• αἰγιπόδης greek · aigipodes · hymnicGoat-footed; the goat-legged shepherd-godHymn. Hom. 19.2, 37 (to Pan) (primary)
• Λύκαιος greek · Lykaios · cultOf Mount Lycaeus; Pan of his Arcadian mountain cult-centrePaus. 8.38.5; Pind. fr. 90 (primary)
• Νόμιος greek · Nomios · cultOf the pastures / pastoral; guardian of shepherds and flocksFarnell, Cults of the Greek States V (Pan); cf. Theoc. Id. 1 (secondary)

Relations

• interpretatio: MinGreeks read the ithyphallic Min as Pan, renaming Akhmim 'Panopolis'. Preserves ithyphallic fertility and herding links; breaks on Min's harvest-royal festival cult — nothing of Pan's wild panic.Herodotus, Histories 2.46; Greek toponym Panopolis for Min's city Khemmis/Akhmim (Strabo 17.1.41) (primary)
• counterpart of: PanThe hymn addresses this deity in an Orphic ritual context; Greek genealogy is not imported.Orphic Hymns, 10 (Thomas Taylor numbering; modern hymn 11) (primary)

Sources

• existence: Homeric Hymn 19 (to Pan) 1 (primary)