Pan
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."
The Myth of Pan
Pan was the god of the wild, shepherds, flocks, and rustic music. He had the legs, horns, and beard of a goat, and his appearance was so startling that when his mother first saw him, she fled in terror. Yet Pan was generally good-natured, spending his days playing his reed pipes in the forests and meadows of Arcadia.
Pan's most famous invention was the syrinx — the pan pipes. He fell in love with the nymph Syrinx, who fled from him and was transformed into reeds by river nymphs. When Pan sighed in sorrow, his breath passing through the reeds created a haunting, beautiful sound. He bound the reeds together to create the first pan pipes.
Pan could inspire sudden, irrational fear in travelers who encountered him in lonely places. This unreasoning terror was called "panikon" — panic. He used this power in warfare too: during the Persian invasion, the Athenians claimed Pan caused a panic among the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.
Parents
Hermes and a nymph (varies)
Symbols
Fun Fact
The word "panic" comes directly from Pan — the sudden, unreasoning fear that seizes people in wild, lonely places.
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.
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.
Panic
💭 conceptFear, terror, sudden irrational dread
Sudden uncontrollable fear, from the god Pan whose shouts in the wilderness caused stampedes of terror.
Faunus
⚡ godForests, fields, flocks, prophecy
Roman god of the wild, forests, and flocks, equivalent to the Greek Pan
Panes
🐉 creaturenature spirits
A race of goat-legged nature spirits modelled after the god Pan, haunting wild mountains and forests
Satyrs
🐉 creaturewilderness, Dionysus
Half-human woodland spirits with horse or goat features who formed the raucous entourage of Dionysus, embodying untamed natural impulses.
Fauns
🐉 creaturewoodland, pastoral
Goat-legged woodland spirits of Roman origin that became conflated with Greek Satyrs and Pans in later mythological tradition.
Satyr
🐉 creatureSpirits of wild nature
Satyrs were rustic nature spirits of the woodlands, companions of Dionysus, depicted with horse-like ears and tails, known for their love of wine, music, and revelry.
Phobos
⚡ godGod of fear and panic in battle
Phobos was the god of fear who accompanied his father Ares into battle, spreading terror before the armies.
Thalia
⚡ godComedy and pastoral poetry
Muse of comedy and pastoral verse who inspires laughter and rustic song
Apollo
⚡ godGod of light, music, prophecy, and plague
Apollo was the most complex Olympian — god of light, music, poetry, prophecy, healing, plague, and rational thought, the divine embodiment of Greek civilisation.
Silvanus
⚡ godForests, boundaries, woodland
Roman god of forests and uncultivated land, protector of boundaries between wild and civilised spaces