Pan

According to the more accepted legend, he was the son of Hermes and the nymph Dryope. He was originally worshipped in Arcadia as the god of flocks and shepherds. Subsequently, he was given divine honours throughout Greece, his worship spreading from Athens whence it rapidly spread in the period of the Persian wars. According to the traditional story, Pan assisted the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon by spreading panic among the ranks of the enemy forces causing them to flee. Thus the origin of the word panic which today signifies uncontrolled flight as the only means of salvation. Ugly in form, monstrous to say the least, with a thick coat of hair on his chest, and hairy legs, with horns of a goat, he became with the passage of time the deity of healing, curer of evils, seer, and the inventor of the musical pipe of seven reeds known as the syrinx. Pan reflected with his power and his animal-like qualities the unfailing amatory passion and the irresistible forces to be found in nature. The principal symbols of the god who had a temple dedicated to him in Athens below the Acropolis, was the shepherd's reed pipe, the cymbal, the staff with which he slew hares and used as a shepherd's crook, and occasionally the flute. In the plant kingdom the pine which according to the tradition was a nymph changed into a tree to avoid his embraces, was sacred to him, as was the ivy. Among the fowl, the eagle and the vulture were associated with him. Pan, which signifies "all" or "everything", sometimes appeared in the retinue of Dionysos. [p. 52]

[Kyriazis, Constantine D. Eternal Greece. Translated by Harry T. Hionides. A Chat Publication.]

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