Pan Mythology

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The Origin of Pan

One of the famous myths of Pan involves the origin of his trademark flute. Syrinx was a beautiful nymph beloved by the satyrs and other wood dwellers. As she was returning from the hunt one day, Pan found her. She ran away and didn't stop to hear his compliments, and he pursued her from Mount Lycaeum until she came to the bank of the River Ladon where he overtook her. She had only time to call on the water nymphs for help. Just as Pan laid hands on her, she formed into the river reeds. When the air blew through the reeds, it produced a plaintive melody. After which Pan took some of the reeds to make an instrument which he called a syrinx, in honor of the nymph.

Echo the nymph was a great singer and dancer and scorned the love of any man. Pan was angry, a lecherous god, and he instructed his followers to kill her. Echo was torn to pieces and spread all over earth. The goddess of the earth, Gaia, received the pieces of Echo, whose voice remains repeating the last words of others. In some versions, Echo and Pan first had one child: Iambe.

Pan also loved a nymph named Pitys, who turned into a pine tree to escape him.

One of pans greatest stories was that of the moon goddess Selene. He accomplished this by wrapping himself in a sheepskin to hide his hairy black goat form, and drew her down from the sky into the forest where he seduced her.

Pan Worship

Pan Worship began in Arcadia, and Arcadia was always the principal seat of his worship. Arcadia  mountain people whom other Greeks disdained. Arcadian hunters used to scourge and damage the statue of the god if they had been disappointed in the chase.

Pan inspired sudden fear in lonely places, Panic. Following the Titans' assault on Olympus, Pan claimed credit for the victory of the gods because he had inspired disorder and fear in the attackers resulting in the word panic to describe these emotions. Of course, Pan was later known for his music, capable of arousing inspiration, sexuality, or panic, depending on his intentions. In the Battle of Marathon (490 B.C.), it is said that Pan favored the Athenians and so inspired panic in the hearts of their enemies, the Persians.

The Music of Pan

Pan also had the audacity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and to challenge Apollo, the god of the lyre, to a trial of skill. Tmolus, the mountain god, was chosen to umpire. Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower, Midas, who happened to be present. Then Apollo struck the strings of his lyre. Tmolus at once awarded the victory to Apollo, and all but Midas agreed with the judgment. He dissented, and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer, and turned Midas ears into those of a donkey.

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