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“…..That dismal cry rose slowly

And sank slowly through the air,
Full of spirits melancholy
And eternity’s despair;
And they heard the words it said –
Pan is dead – Great Pan is dead,
Pan, Pan is dead.”
- “A Musical Instrument “- 1859

Almost 150 years ago, Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote that Great Pan is Dead. Throughout

history Pan has become a symbol of the wild – at – heart and of the carefree soul of man. Other poets such

as Milton and Shelley have extolled his virtues. But just who is Pan, where did he come from, and why

does he evoke such thoughts?

The most recognized of all Greek gods, Pan is often described as a satyr. Author Dion Fortune

called Pan the Goat Foot God. He has the body of a man with the hindquarters of a goat and horns. The

worship of Pan pre-dates the Olympian gods. Pan was an Arcadian god of shepherds and of Nature. With

the arrival of the Olympian gods new myths were told to explain his presence. Pan’s relationship to the

gods is varied. One myth tells that Pan is a son of Kronos and the foster brother of Zeus. In another he is

the son of Hermes and the nymph Dryope. Some have said that his mother was Queen Penelope the wife of

Odysseus, and that his father was all of here suitors. Whatever Pan’s origins he went from being a God of

shepherds to a God of all creation. He is associated with bee keeping, music, and fertility, and with dance.

He is also a god of prophecy. To the Greeks both the Fir and the Oak tree were sacred to Pan. In fact, myth

tells that the god Apollo obtained from Pan the power of prophecy in order to control the oracle at Delphi.

He is best known, however for his sexual escapades.

The Nymph Syrinx escaped his passion for her by having herself turned into a clump of reeds by

the gods. Pan plucked a handful of the reeds and created the Syrinx or Panpipes. He remembers her with his

music. Pan seduced the Nymph Pitys away from Boreas, the North wind. This caused her death, for Boreas

was enraged and killed her. The Goddess Gaia changed Pitys into a Pine tree to save her. Pan seduced the

goddess Selene when he changed into a white Ram and lured her into the forest. The nymph Echo spurned

Pan’s advances and in his anger his followers tore her to pieces. Once again the goddess Gaia saved Pan’s

Lover. Gaia saved Echo’s voice but not her body, Pan cried out in anguish and Echo returned his cry to
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him. With the goddess Aphrodite Pan produced a son Priapus, who like his father is a god of human

sexuality.

The worship of Pan centered on the region of Arcadia until the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE

Greece was being invaded by the Persians and Athens sent a runner to Sparta for help. On his return trip the

runner Pheidippides, encountered Pan in Arcadia. Making his presence known, Pan told Pheidippides that if

the Athenians would worship him, he would aid them in battle. It is said that Pan’s cry caused a panic

amongst the Persian army. In Athens a shrine to Pan was built in the wild places below the acropolis. The

cave of Pan still exists today. As the Greeks traveled, so too did Pan. To the West of Greece the Romans

called him Faunas or Sylvanus and associated him with Baccus. The Slavic or Russian people to the North

called him Ljeschi or Leshey. To them he was a nature spirit and a forest god that had the horns, ears, and

legs of a goat. According to Herodotus, the Egyptians called Pan the Goat of Mendes. Mendes being the

name of both a He- Goat and of Pan.

Pan is unique among the other Greek gods in that he is the only one with a story of his death. The

philosopher Pluarch wrote of an event that took place during the reign of the Roman Emperor Trajan

around 100 C. E. A merchant ship was plying its trade amongst the Greek isles. When the ship neared the

isle of Paxi, a great voice called out the name of the Egyptian steersman Thamus. The voice asked Thamus

that when he came to Palodes, a nearby island, to tell them that “Great Pan is Dead”. Thamus steered

toward Palodes and when he came upon the island he did as he had been asked. From the island came many

sounds of grief and of despair that echoed through the ages. Pan was dead. The death of Pan seemed to

signal the death of all of the Gods. In Greek Pan literally means All.

But Pan is not dead. Authors such as Kenneth Grahame who called him the “piper at the gates of

dawn” in his book the Wind in the willows have immortalized him. He has become a cartoon sidekick to

Hercules, in a popular Walt Disney movie. Fantasy writers have written of Great Pan. The musical group

the Waterboys have popularized him in their song The Return of Pan. Pan has become the embodiment of

all things wild and carefree. In short, Pan Lives. He is now a cultural icon in the modern age. Long Live

Pan.