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The mythical goat-footed and horned god - Pan (photos, pictures): the cheerful patron of shepherds and wild nature. The ugly god Pan The birth of the god Pan

The mythical horned, goat-footed god Pan is the oldest of the Greek gods. In ancient times, Pan patronized shepherds and protected herds and forests. Later, the goat-footed god begins to patronize nature.

Pan's father was the god Hermes, and his mother was the nymph Dryope. When Pan was born, Dryope was horrified by his appearance. The son of a beautiful nymph and a majestic god was born with goat horns, legs and a beard. The poor mother ran away in despair, and the father, delighted with his son, brought him to Olympus. All the gods had fun looking at Pan and congratulated their father.

Life on Olympus did not please Pan and he went into the forest. There Pan began to tend the flocks, playing the pipe. All the forest nymphs and satyrs gather around Pan when wonderful sounds fill the forest. The forest people are dancing and having fun to the music of the goat-footed god. Having had plenty of fun, Pan retires into the forest thicket. Woe to the one who dares to disturb his sleep. A hot-tempered guardian of the forest can send a terrible dream and panic, from which a random traveler will run away without making out the road, regardless of the danger. Even entire troops can be put to flight by Pan, instilling uncontrollable fear in them.

Below are photos - the god Pan in pictures, sculpture, painting:

When the anger passes, Pan becomes good-natured and merciful, protecting the flocks and patronizing the shepherds.

Lupercalia - festival of eroticism February 8th, 2011

Lupercalia is a festival of eroticism in honor of the goddess of “feverish” love Juno Februata and the god Faun (Luperc is one of his nicknames), the patron saint of herds, which was celebrated annually on February 15.

In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a month of ritual purification. At this time in the houses Ritual cleaning was carried out: houses were swept, then sprinkled with salt and wheat, called “spelt”.

On February 15, the famous Lupercalia was celebrated - originally a festival of shepherds in honor of the god Faun, nicknamed Lupercus in another spelling - Faunus, Lupercus. .
Faun in ancient Roman mythology is the god of forests and pastures, the patron saint of shepherds and hunters. In ancient Greek mythology, he corresponds to Pan.


According to myths, Pan is a cheerful god, accompanied by nymphs, wandering through the mountains and forests, dancing and playing the pipe. He seemed to the Greeks to be outwardly ugly, covered with hair, with horns, goat hooves, a beard and a tail. And therefore it caused horror, and this is where the expression “panic fear” comes from.

According to Plutarch in his “Comparative Lives,” purifying sacrifices - in order to revive the fertility of the land, herds and people themselves - were brought in the sacred grotto of Lupercal at the foot of the Palatine Hill, where, according to legend, there once lived a she-wolf (in Latin - lupa , in Russian - magnifying glass), who fed the brothers Romulus and Remus.


In ancient times, infant mortality was very high. In 276 BC. e. Rome nearly died out as a result of an “epidemic” of stillbirths and miscarriages. The oracle informed that in order to increase the birth rate, a ritual of corporal punishment (flogging) of women using sacrificial skin is necessary. People who, for whatever reason, had few or no children were considered damned and resorted to mystical rites to gain the ability to bear children.


The priests sacrificed a goat for fertility and a dog for spiritual purification. The blood was intended for ritual irrigation of crops. Young priests cut the skins into strips, dipped them in sacred blood, and began their ritual run around the Palatine Hill, spanking women with leather belts. Those, welcoming such touches, willingly offered, believing that cleansing blows healed infertility and contributed to gestation and easy childbirth.

But it turns out that this pagan “wolf” holiday of fertility and abundance did not end with this decorous ritual action. Lupercalia is also a time of riotous sensual bacchanalia: naked men (but wearing loin skins) gave rough caresses to the women they met - kissed them, lashed them with belts, wishing them to be fertile.


In ancient times, infant mortality was very high. In 276 BC. e. Rome nearly died out as a result of an “epidemic” of stillbirths and miscarriages. The oracle informed that in order to increase the birth rate, a ritual of corporal punishment (flogging) of women using sacrificial skin is necessary. People who, for whatever reason, had few or no children were considered damned and resorted to mystical rites to gain the ability to bear children.


According to The Illustrated History of Rod, written by William M. Cooper, the main part of the Lupercalia festival was naked men carrying goatskin straps running past women and beating them; women willingly exposed themselves, believing that these blows would give them fertility and an easy birth. This became a very common ritual in Rome, in which even members of noble families participated. Records say that even Mark Antony fled as Luperzi. At the end of the celebrations, the women also stripped naked.


It turns out that on the eve of Lupercalia, on February 14, Ancient Rome celebrated a holiday in honor of Juno, the goddess of marriage, motherhood and women, who is also the goddess of “feverish” love Juno Februata, Juno (Jun) Februata. On this day, the girls wrote their name on a piece of parchment and threw them into a large urn.

Bachelors who chose their passion before the next February 14th had no choice but to rely only on luck. At least the couple should have spent this holiday together, dancing and having fun. If fate turned out to be favorable to random partners, the lottery union grew into a marriage

These festivals became so popular that even when many other pagan holidays were canceled with the advent of
Christianity, this one existed for a long time.
The history of Valentine's Day dates back to the Lupercalia of Ancient Rome.

Birth of the god Pan. - The myth of Pan, defeated by the god Eros. - Nymph Syringa. - The myth of the transformation of the nymph Pitis into a pine tree. - The myth of the god Pan and the nymph Echo. - Panic fear.

Birth of the god Pan

Pan is a very ancient deity, mainly worshiped in Arcadia. Pan is the god of forests and pastures, patron of shepherds and guardian of flocks. The responsibility of the god Pan is to take care of the herds and their reproduction.

God Pan was born with horns, goat legs and a big beard. God Pan is considered the son of the god Hermes (Mercury), this messenger of the gods and mediator, and therefore, naturally, the father of the deity, transitional from the higher gods to the lower ones, who appear in the myths of ancient Greece in the form of animals.

Apparently, the birth of such a strange son made a very unpleasant impression on the mother of the god Pan, and the gods of Olympus, to whom Hermes, the father of Pan, showed him, greeted the appearance of the god Pan with universal laughter.

In one of the Homeric hymns, this incident is described as follows: “The god Hermes went to Arcadia to shepherd the flocks of a mere mortal, because there lived a beautiful nymph, the daughter of Drion, who conquered the heart of the cunning god. From this union a strange child was born with goat legs, a thick beard and a forehead decorated with two horns. The mother, overwhelmed with horror at the sight of such a monster, ran away, leaving her son to the mercy of fate, but Hermes, not at all embarrassed by his strange appearance, took him in his arms, and, proud and joyful, carried him to Olympus, where he showed him to the entire assembly of gods. All the immortals were amused at the sight of such a freak and called him Pan.”

In the Louvre there is a beautiful antique statue of the god Pan, in which all the animal features that characterize this deity are emphasized with great skill.

Sometimes, however, the god Pan is depicted with human legs. On some ancient coins, the god Pan even appears in the form of a young man, but with him the distinctive signs of the god Pan are always a shepherd's stick and a shepherd's pipe (σύριγξ).

Writers of antiquity always portrayed the god Pan as an old man and strikingly ugly.

God Pan did not remain on Olympus for long. He loves the forest, mountains and fields most of all. God Pan either makes his way through the thicket of forests, then climbs onto inaccessible rocks and from there watches the herds, or scours the mountains and jumps over abysses. God Pan is always on the move, and even in the evening, tired of his daily wanderings, Pan cannot rest peacefully, but plays the pipe, and its gentle sounds attract beautiful women who come to dance on the grass to these sounds. And the god Pan cannot sit still, he appears among them and rushes around in a wild dance, scaring the nymphs with his jumps.

The myth of Pan, defeated by the god Eros

All the nymphs laughed at the ugly god Pan, and he decided never to love anyone. But the cruel god (Cupid), with whom he once tried to fight, wounded the heart of the god Pan, ignited in him an undying love for the nymphs, and poor Pan constantly suffered for one of them.

Nymph Syringa

One day the god Pan met the chaste nymph Syringa. The only passion of the nymph Syringa was hunting. God Pan immediately became inflamed with love for Syringa, but the cruel nymph not only did not want to listen to the confessions of the god Pan, but also rushed to run away from him. Pursued by the god Pan, the nymph Syringa ran to the Ladon River, from which Syringa began to ask for protection. The river god Ladon turned the nymph Syringa into a reed. The distressed god Pan cut out several reeds of various sizes, tied them and began to extract from them tender, plaintive sounds, touching even the hearts of cruel nymphs.

Thus the shepherd's pipe (σύριγξ) was invented, which is the name Syringa This is exactly what it means when translated from ancient Greek. God Eros (Cupid), wanting to console the distressed Pan, predicted to him that his playing of the flute would attract all the beautiful nymphs to him. The prediction of the insidious god of love came true. The nymphs, as soon as they heard Pan's pipe, ran and danced around this ugly god.

The myth of the transformation of the nymph Pitis into a pine tree

God Pan soon forgot his love failure. Pan again liked the nymph Pitis, who, delighted with his music, approached the god Pan and began to answer his questions.

But the nymph Pitis was loved by the cold and terrible Boreas, the god of the north wind. Seeing his beloved, carried away by the game of another god, the god Boreas was inflamed with jealousy and began to blow with such force that the poor nymph Pitis, unable to stand on her feet, fell into the abyss and was broken.

The gods, touched by the sad fate of the nymph Pitis, turned her into a pine tree, and since then this tree has been dedicated to the god Pan, who is sometimes depicted with a wreath of pine branches on his head. The name itself Pitis means “pine” in translation from ancient Greek.

The myth of the god Pan and the nymph Echo

His attempt at union with the nymph Echo, who turned into a rock, also ended unhappily for the god Pan. All that was left of the nymph Echo was her voice - an echo.

Panic fear

God Pan, as a symbol of darkness, instills fear (panic) in people. God Pan also does not like it when his peace is disturbed by noise. Then the menacing voice of the god Pan is heard, causing fear and panic in everyone.

God Pan terrifies travelers with his sudden appearance on the road in front of them. Thanks to the god Pan, people often experienced panic fear- inexplicable horror.

In general, any fear or fear that appears without good reason was attributed to the influence of the god Pan. This panic also explained the sudden flight from the battlefields. For example, the Athenians believed that only with the help of the god Pan they defeated numerous Persians who fled the battlefield of Marathon. In gratitude for this, the Athenians dedicated a sacred place to the god Pan, placed many statues of Pan there and established a holiday in his honor with sacrifices and processions.

The cult of the god Pan, as the patron and guardian of domestic animals, dates back to the most ancient period in the history of ancient Greece. The primitive statues of the god Pan were equipped with a very real symbol of the god who cares about the reproduction and increase of the herd - the image of the phallus. In those distant times of the Greek archaic, such realism was not considered immoral.

But when the herds did not multiply, the shepherds showered the image of the careless deity with blows from their rods.

God Pan was also considered the god of light, noisy music and noisy fun.

Only later, under the influence of Orphic poetry, does the god Pan become the personification of the universe. The pipe of the god Pan about seven pipes in the philosophical interpretation of myths meant the harmony of the universe.

During the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, as legend tells, one day a loud, sorrowful cry was heard: “The Great Pan is dead, the Great Pan is dead.” Since then, no one has heard anything more about the god Pan. And this exclamation itself (“The great Pan has died!”) is considered a symbol of the end of ancient paganism.

ZAUMNIK.RU, Egor A. Polikarpov - scientific editing, scientific proofreading, design, selection of illustrations, additions, explanations, translations from Latin and ancient Greek; all rights reserved.

In Greek mythology, the god of forests, patron of shepherds

Alternative descriptions

In Greek mythology, the patron saint of all nature

In old Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine: landowner, master

Polite address to a man in Poland

Mister in Polish, in Ukrainian

Noble landowner

The gentleman who landed in Poland

Vrubel's painting

Goat-footed Greek god of herds, forests and fields

Forest god, patron of flocks and shepherds (Greek mythology)

Shepherd god

Polish feudal lord

Landowner, nobleman in Poland, Lithuania, pre-rev. Ukraine and Belarus

Prefix meaning all-inclusiveness

Roman by K. Hamsun

Saturn satellite

Poem by M. Lermontov

Greek equivalent of Faun

Polish gentleman

The one who didn't disappear

Mr. from Krakow

Which ancient Greek god corresponds to the Roman Faun?

The invention of the pipe is attributed to this Greek god

The novel by Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz “... Volodyevsky”

Opera by Ukrainian composer N. V. Lysenko “...Kotsky”

Poem by the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz “... Tadeusz”

Painting by the French painter N. Poussin “... and Syringa”

The mother was horrified to see her ugly and hairy child, but “high society” was amused by his appearance, so he was called “everyone’s favorite.”

Opera by Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov “... Voivode”

Goat-footed Greek god of forests and fields

. "head of the family" in Polish

Barin, boyar in Poland, Ukraine

God of the shepherds in ancient Greek mythology

In Greek mythology - the patron saint of all nature

Painting by Russian artist M. Vrubel

Forest god, patron of flocks and shepherds

Addressing a man in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Western Ukraine

Landowner, nobleman in Poland, Lithuania, pre-revolutionary Ukraine and Belarus

Card game

. “...or disappeared” (last)

Gospolin from Krakow

Or disappeared (verb.)

Senior from Krakow

Herr from Warsaw

Herr for Frau from Breslau

Hellenic god of shepherds

Herr for Polish Frau

Polish gentleman

Or disappeared

Polish guy

God of the Shepherds

Nobleman in Poland

Mister in Poland

Dear Pole

God of the forests from Vrubel's painting

Zyuzya from zucchini

Goat-footed god

Polish gentleman

Appeal to a Pole

Polish landowner

Herr for Frau from Warsaw

God of nature and shepherds

Bright noble...

Saturn satellite

Landowner, gentleman in the old days in Ukraine and Poland

In Greek mythology, the patron saint of all nature

Painting by M. Vrubel (1899)

Poem by M. Lermontov

. "Head of the family" in Polish

M. south zap. master, boyar. They lived pan and panya, tale. He lives as a gentleman, well, in abundance. Panok, half pan, small. Gentlemen, in various Russian lips Poles and Lithuanians, resettled in ancient wars, in the form of exile. Punks, forgotten descendants of the Mordovian Princes, like the Murzas of the Tatars. Panok, perm. Vyat. lead, nail, headstock or goat, filled with lead, striker; in the Academy Dictionary erroneously named folders. Chicken a trough for chopping meat in it? see punk. Punky pl. Sib., almost disappeared popular prints, heroic, joker and everything in general, except spiritual ones. Panych, little bard; single master; lady, young lady, girl; lady(s), lady. Mastership, the state of a master, lordship. Master, master, lord, live as a master. Panovanie Wed. master's life. Master and reign, for the time being. Panshchina southern panchizna zap. corvée, work for the landowner. You can't recycle panshchina. in the next world there will be lordship: we will put firewood under the gentlemen. Panovo is good, master; master's word, lordly. Master's goods, red, arshin, factory fabrics. Lord's ranks. Master's stockings, olon. knitted on five rods or knitting needles, to distinguish them from peasant ones, knitted on one. Panskoy, Tver. about things, dandy, made in a lordly manner; zap. south generally lordly. No wonder the gentleman has a good wife! Today he is master, and tomorrow he has fallen (or disappeared tomorrow). At home you are a gentleman, but in people you are a fool. It's either hit or miss. The vat is full, so you're on your own. There was a master, but he disappeared. You're not a big man, you can climb over it yourself. Ivan is rich, and so is the lord. If only I could live like a gentleman, everything would come for nothing! To live a dashing life as a gentleman, everything will go for nothing! The gentleman fell on the water, but did not drown and did not muddy the water (a leaf from a tree). All the gentlemen took off their caftans (zhupans), but one gentleman did not take off his caftan? deciduous trees and pine

Opera by Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov "... Voivode"

Opera by Ukrainian composer N. V. Lysenko "... Kotsky"

The novel by Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz "... Volodyevsky"

Which ancient Greek god corresponds to the Roman Faun

Poem by the Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz "... Tadeusz"

Painting by the French painter N. Poussin "... and Syringa"

The mother was horrified to see her ugly and hairy child, but “high society” was amused by his appearance, so they called him “everyone’s favorite.”

. "...or disappeared" (last)

Polish or Ukrainian gentleman

Decisive: "...or lost!"



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