What do you think of, when someone asks you to picture a Greek God or Goddess? I am sure you, like most people picture a tall, athletic, beautiful person. Well did you know that not all of the gods fit that profile? Most people have also heard of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, but have you heard of the god Pan? What do you think of when you hear his name? No, he wasn’t the god of cookware. Pan was the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of the mountain wilds and rustic music. Although he wasn’t one of the most well known gods, Pan was very interesting, and was an integral part of the ancient greeks mythology. If an ancient Greek wanted to pay tribute to the god Pan, the best place to build his temple wouldn’t have been in a city. Pan would have most likely wanted a temple in the middle of the wild, because “PAN was the god of shepherds and hunters, and of the meadows and forests of the mountain wilds.” (theoi.com) Pan was depicted as being half human, while having the legs and horns of a goat. While his appearance …show more content…
Pan was considered Lord of Arcadia and guardian of its sanctuaries. One enclosure dedicated to Pan stood on Mount Lycaeus and functioned as a sanctuary for animals that were stalked by the wolf, consistent with the idea that Pan protected all creatures. His ability to bestow sterility or fertility upon domesticated animals gave him particular significance in the worship of Arcadian hunters and shepherds. In fact, Theocritus notes that if Arcadian hunters or shepherds had been disappointed in the chase or with the sterility of their animals, respectively, they would undertake a rite in which the statue of Pan was whipped and scourged in hopes of calling back the god from inactivity.Arcadians believed that Pan was the keeper of the mountainous lands in which he lead his own flocks, and also considered such places to be his sanctuaries.