Pan
The goat-footed god of shepherds, wilds, and rustic music whose sudden appearance caused the terror that bears his name: panic.
The Myth of Pan
Pan was the son of Hermes and a nymph (traditions vary on which one), born with goat legs, horns, and a beard so startling that his mother fled in terror. Hermes wrapped the infant in a hare skin and carried him to Olympus, where the gods — especially Dionysus — delighted in the wild child. Pan lived in Arcadia, playing his syrinx (pan-pipes) in mountain caves and pursuing nymphs through the forests. His pipes were fashioned from the reeds into which the nymph Syrinx transformed to escape him. Pan could induce sudden, irrational terror — panikon deima — in individuals or entire armies. At Marathon in 490 BC, the Athenians credited Pan with sending panic into the Persian ranks. In gratitude, they dedicated a cave sanctuary to him on the slopes of the Acropolis. Pan's death is uniquely famous: Plutarch records that during the reign of Tiberius, a voice cried across the sea, Great Pan is dead. This announcement was interpreted in late antiquity as marking the end of paganism.
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 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."
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
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.
Penelope
🌿 nymphnature, pastoral
A mountain nymph of Arcadia who, in one tradition, was the mother of Pan by Hermes — distinct from Odysseus's famous wife.
Satyrs
🐉 creaturewilderness, Dionysus
Half-human woodland spirits with horse or goat features who formed the raucous entourage of Dionysus, embodying untamed natural impulses.
Apollo
⚡ godGod of prophecy, music, and plague
The radiant god of light, prophecy, music, healing, and plague — the most complex deity in the Greek pantheon.
Fauns
🐉 creaturewoodland, pastoral
Goat-legged woodland spirits of Roman origin that became conflated with Greek Satyrs and Pans in later mythological tradition.
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.
Lyssa
⚡ godMadness and frenzy
Goddess of mad rage and rabid frenzy who drove Heracles to murder his own children