Post by Ava on Aug 17, 2020 16:30:34 GMT
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Pan (/pæn/;[1] Ancient Greek: Πάν, romanized: Pán) is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs.[2] He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, wooded glens and often affiliated with sex; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. The ancient Greeks also considered Pan to be the god of theatrical criticism.[3] The word panic ultimately derives from the god's name.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(god)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(god)
Some food for thought here:
medium.com/@alasdairf/the-great-god-pan-18bb2e6e0a8a
Excerpt:
Etymology
The word ‘pan’ is Greek for ‘all’, as in all-encompassing, an affix that survives today in words such as ‘panacea’ and ‘pandemic’. While some scholars have suggested that the word ‘pan’ may be related to the Greek for ‘pasture’ or ‘companion’, this is merely conjecture. The surface-level meaning of ‘pan’ being ‘all’ fits the narrative and I believe is a clue to the true identity of the god known as Pan.
Mythology
The remaining myths of Pan paint him as a sort of happy-go-lucky character, frolicking through the forests having sex with nymphs (tree spirits), singing and dancing. What’s more telling is what Pan doesn’t do. He doesn’t really do anything. Pan doesn’t engage in power-struggles. Doesn’t fight the other gods. He’s not really in charge of anything, and he lives down on Earth, not up on top of Mount Olympus with the other gods. Pan acts more or less like the half-man and half-animal that he is: minding his own business and just doing what he does.
Notably Pan doesn’t fight, yet if threatened he lets out a scream so fearful that it induces panic (the origin of the word) in all who hear it. I think it worth noting that many animals roar to scare away those they consider a threat, or to express their displeasure.
The word ‘pan’ is Greek for ‘all’, as in all-encompassing, an affix that survives today in words such as ‘panacea’ and ‘pandemic’. While some scholars have suggested that the word ‘pan’ may be related to the Greek for ‘pasture’ or ‘companion’, this is merely conjecture. The surface-level meaning of ‘pan’ being ‘all’ fits the narrative and I believe is a clue to the true identity of the god known as Pan.
Mythology
The remaining myths of Pan paint him as a sort of happy-go-lucky character, frolicking through the forests having sex with nymphs (tree spirits), singing and dancing. What’s more telling is what Pan doesn’t do. He doesn’t really do anything. Pan doesn’t engage in power-struggles. Doesn’t fight the other gods. He’s not really in charge of anything, and he lives down on Earth, not up on top of Mount Olympus with the other gods. Pan acts more or less like the half-man and half-animal that he is: minding his own business and just doing what he does.
Notably Pan doesn’t fight, yet if threatened he lets out a scream so fearful that it induces panic (the origin of the word) in all who hear it. I think it worth noting that many animals roar to scare away those they consider a threat, or to express their displeasure.
Pan is associated with Capricorn which, in turn, is associated with Saturn (Satan)...no offense to my fellow Caps.
Perhaps this is one reason the Satanic Temple's idol Baphomet bears a resemblance to Pan, and is accompanied by children, no less. (See the discussion of pedophilia in the article @ medium.com.)
This article, while poorly formatted, addresses the discrepancy between the simple, nature-loving Pan and the more sinister view:
"The Demonization of Pan":
www.mesacc.edu/~thoqh49081/StudentPapers/pan.html
Summary:
The Christian demonization of a randy but otherwise benign nature god seems quite clear to one living in a secular century, and it must have been irritating to those who believed in him if they realized the purpose behind it at the time. From all ancient sources and archaeological evidence, Pan was obviously a greatly revered, rather than greatly feared, being at one point. It was only the ascetic values of the Judeo-Christian tradition that doomed him to play the role of the ultimate bad guy. Indeed, "it is a strange comment on a changed morality that this god... should have been turned by the Christian theologians into a devil" (Woods 86), for he was the god of all nature, and thus behaving naturally, not as the incarnation of evil.
