Faunus
Roman god of the wild, forests, and flocks, equivalent to the Greek Pan
The Myth of Faunus
Faunus was a beloved rustic deity who protected shepherds and their flocks, made crops grow, and delivered prophecies through dreams and woodland sounds. He was celebrated at the Lupercalia on 15 February, one of Rome's oldest and wildest festivals: young men ran nearly naked through the streets, striking bystanders with goatskin thongs to promote fertility. The Lupercalia was so popular that it survived well into the Christian era and may have influenced the timing of Valentine's Day. Faunus was imagined as half-man, half-goat, and was said to cause the mysterious sounds heard in forests. His female counterpart, Fauna, was sometimes described as his wife or daughter.
Parents
Picus
Children
Latinus
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Lupercalia festival of Faunus may have directly inspired the date and customs of Valentine's Day
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Pan
⚡ godGod of the wild, shepherds, and panic
Pan was the goat-legged god of the wild, shepherds, and mountain meadows whose sudden appearance could cause "panic" — the irrational terror named after him.
Silvanus
⚡ godForests, boundaries, woodland
Roman god of forests and uncultivated land, protector of boundaries between wild and civilised spaces
Pan
⚡ godGod of the wild, shepherds, rustic music
The goat-legged god of wilderness, shepherds, and rustic music. Pan's sudden appearance caused irrational terror in travelers — the origin of the word "panic."
Panes
🐉 creaturenature spirits
A race of goat-legged nature spirits modelled after the god Pan, haunting wild mountains and forests
Pan
⚡ godGod of shepherds and wild panic
The goat-footed god of shepherds, wilds, and rustic music whose sudden appearance caused the terror that bears his name: panic.
Fauns
🐉 creaturewoodland, pastoral
Goat-legged woodland spirits of Roman origin that became conflated with Greek Satyrs and Pans in later mythological tradition.
Ceres
⚡ godAgriculture, grain, harvest, fertility
Roman goddess of agriculture and grain, identified with the Greek Demeter
Mars
⚡ godWar, agriculture, guardianship
Roman god of war and agriculture, second in importance only to Jupiter, far more honoured than his Greek counterpart Ares
Demeter
⚡ godGoddess of harvest and the Eleusinian Mysteries
Demeter was the goddess of grain, harvest, and fertility whose grief over Persephone's abduction explained the seasons and whose Mysteries promised hope beyond death.
Demeter Thesmophoros
⚡ godlaw, agriculture
An epithet of Demeter as bringer of divine law and civilised customs, honoured at the Thesmophoria, the most widespread festival in the Greek world.
Ops
⚡ godAbundance, harvest, earth
Roman goddess of abundance and the harvest, wife of Saturn, equivalent to the Greek Rhea
Thalia
⚡ godComedy and pastoral poetry
Muse of comedy and pastoral verse who inspires laughter and rustic song