Pan in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Pan

41 passages from 10 ancient authors that tell of Pan, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Pan was the god of the wild, hunting and companion of the nymphs. He was depicted as being half human, while having the legs and horns of a goat, just... For the story in one place, read our article on Pan.

Homer (1)

Homer, The Homeric Hymns 19.1–49Hymn 19 to PanPan, the goat-footed, two-horned son of Hermes, roams the wooded glades and mountain peaks with dancing nymphs, and the hymn describes him hunting at evening and playing his pipes. It tells how Hermes brought the newborn Pan to the gods, who were delighted, and gave him the name Pan, meaning all.

Sophocles (1)

Sophocles, Ajax 693–814Second stasimon: the sailors' joy; the Messenger's warningThe Chorus sing a joyful song to Pan, thinking that Ajax's trouble is over. A Messenger arrives from Teucer, whom the army has been abusing, and tells them that the seer Calchas has said that Ajax must be kept in his tent that day, since Athena's wrath will last only that day, and that if he goes out he will die. Tecmessa and the Chorus rush out to search for him.

Euripides (2)

Euripides, Electra 685–746Electra's vow; second choral song on Atreus and ThyestesElectra says that if Orestes dies in the struggle she will die too, and that she will keep a sword ready in her hand, and tells the women to give a shout when the deed is done. The Chorus sings of the golden lamb that Pan brought and that was the cause of the quarrel between Atreus and Thyestes, and of how the sun and the stars turned back on their paths, and says that Clytemnestra killed her husband.
Euripides, Ion 429–508Ion rebukes Apollo; first choral song on childrenLeft alone, Ion wonders why the stranger lady hints at reproaches against the god, and rebukes Apollo for ravishing a maiden and leaving her child to die, saying that the gods should keep the laws that they make for men. The Chorus calls on Athena, Victory and Artemis, and prays that the house of Erechtheus may have the blessing of children. It sings that the childless life is hateful, and recalls Creusa's exposed baby on the slopes of Macrae.

Callimachus (1)

Callimachus, Hymns 3.1–268Hymn to Artemis: the goddess's childhood wishesAs a small girl on her father's knees, Artemis asks Zeus to let her stay a maiden for ever and to give her a bow, a short tunic, sixty nymphs of Oceanus for her choir and twenty nymphs of Amnisus to tend her hounds, and Zeus smiles and grants it, adding cities. She visits the Cyclopes on Lipara for her arrows, takes hounds from Pan in Arcadia and captures four golden-horned deer for her chariot. The poet praises her favourite places and companions, among them Britomartis, Cyrene and Atalanta, and her shrines at Miletus and Ephesus. He ends with a warning to those who wronged her, such as Oeneus, Otus and Orion.

Theocritus (4)

Theocritus, Idylls 1.1–152Idyll 1: Thyrsis' lament for DaphnisA goatherd persuades the shepherd Thyrsis to sing the song of the sufferings of Daphnis, and offers him a carved ivy-wood cup, whose scenes he describes. In the song the Nymphs are called to mourn as Daphnis wastes away for love, and Hermes, Priapus and the herdsmen come to ask what ails him. Daphnis answers Aphrodite's taunts, bids the wild beasts farewell, and dies.
Theocritus, Idylls 5.1–150Idyll 5: Comatas and Lacon's singing matchComatas and Lacon trade insults over a stolen goat-skin and a stolen pipe, and then challenge each other to a singing match with Morson as judge. They sing in turn, with taunts and rustic wishes. Morson awards the lamb to Comatas.
Theocritus, Idylls 27.1–44aIdyll 27: Daphnis and the maidenA neatherd named Daphnis wins a girl by a quick dialogue in which she refuses and then gives way, so that she goes in as a maiden and comes out a wife. The two lie together, and each goes back contented to their flocks.
Theocritus, Idylls 7.1–157Idyll 7: The Harvest FeastThe speaker walks with Eucritus and Amyntas from the city to a harvest feast of Demeter, and on the way they meet the goatherd Lycidas. They exchange songs, Lycidas wishing a safe voyage to the beloved Ageanax and Simichidas singing of his friend Aratus' love. They reach the farm and lie down among poplars and elms to feast.

Aristophanes (2)

Aristophanes, Lysistrata 1–76bPrologue: Lysistrata waits for the womenLysistrata complains that the women she has summoned have not come, though they would flock to a festival of Bacchus or Pan. Calonice arrives and learns that Lysistrata has a scheme on which the safety of all Greece depends, and that the women's finery will be the means of saving the States. Women from Anagyre and Myrrhina arrive at last, and Lysistrata says that they must wait for the women of the Peloponnese and Boeotia.
Aristophanes, Lysistrata 829–1013Episode: Myrrhine teases Cinesias; the Spartan heraldCinesias comes to the Acropolis in a plainly wretched state, and Lysistrata and Myrrhine, his wife, agree to torment him. Myrrhine comes down, refuses to give in until he promises to vote for peace, and keeps leaving him to fetch a bed, a pillow, a coverlet and a flask of scent, until she slips away and leaves him unsatisfied. A Spartan herald arrives in the same state, and the Magistrate tells him to go home and send envoys with full powers to make peace.

Ovid (3)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.689–746Pan and Syrinx; the death of ArgusHermes (Mercury) tells how the nymph Syrinx fled from Pan to the river Ladon and was turned into reeds, from which Pan made his pipes. Argus falls asleep and Hermes kills him, and Hera (Juno) sets his eyes in the tail of the peacock. She then torments Io until Zeus (Jupiter) promises to leave her alone, and Io is restored to her old shape.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.146–193Pan and Apollo; Midas' earsMidas, abhorring riches, follows Pan, who boasts of his piping and challenges Apollo to a contest before the mountain Tmolus. Tmolus judges in favour of Apollo, and Midas alone disagrees, and Apollo gives him the ears of an ass, which Midas hides under a turban. His barber, unable to keep the secret, whispers it into a hole in the ground, and the reeds that grow there repeat it.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.440–526Diomedes' companions; the wild oliveMacareus ends his tale, and Aeneas' nurse is buried at Caieta. Aeneas wins the daughter of King Latinus, and Turnus, to whom she was promised, makes war on him. Venulus is sent to Diomedes for help, and Diomedes refuses, telling of the sufferings of the Greeks on their return from Troy and of how his own companions were turned into birds after Aphrodite's (Venus') anger. He also tells of the Apulian shepherd who mocked the nymphs and was turned into a wild olive.

Pausanias (12)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.54.1–7The Alpheus and the roads from Tegea: Orestes' tomb and Mount PartheniusPausanias describes the Alpheus, which rises at Phylace and repeatedly sinks underground, rising again at Asea and Pegae and flowing under the sea to mix with Arethusa at Syracuse. He lists what lies on the roads from Tegea: the tomb of Orestes, a sanctuary of Pan and the oak grove with temples of Demeter and Mystic Dionysus. On Mount Parthenius are the precinct of Telephus and a sanctuary of Pan, where Pan appeared to Philippides, and tortoises sacred to Pan. The boundary with Argos is at Hysiae, which closes his account of the Peloponnese.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.38.1–11Lycosura and Mount Lycaeus: the oldest city, the sacred precinct and Hagno's springPausanias calls Lycosura the oldest city on earth, the first the sun saw. He describes Mount Lycaeus, which the Arcadians say is the true Crete where Zeus was reared by the nymphs Thisoa, Neda and Hagno, and where the priest of Lycaean Zeus makes rain by stirring the spring of Hagno with an oak branch. On the mountain are a sanctuary of Pan, a hippodrome, the forbidden precinct of Lycaean Zeus where creatures cast no shadow and the festival of Parrhasian Apollo.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.30.1–10Megalopolis: the market-place, Lycaean Zeus and PolybiusPausanias describes the river Helisson, which divides Megalopolis in two, and the northern quarter with its market-place. He lists the enclosure and altars of Lycaean Zeus, a stone Pan Oenois, the bronze Apollo brought from Bassae, the Philippian Colonnade, the government offices and the Myropolis colonnade built from the spoils of Aristodemus' victory over the Spartans. He also describes the relief portrait of the historian Polybius, whose advice the Romans followed, the Council House, and the sanctuary of Saviour Zeus with images by Cephisodotus and Xenophon.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.36.1–10Methydrium, Mount Maenalus and the road to the MistressPausanias describes Methydrium, named for its position between two rivers, with a temple of Horse Poseidon and Mount Thaumasius, where the Methydrians place Rhea's deceit of Cronus. Leaving Megalopolis by the Gate to the Marsh he lists the temple of the Good God, the grave of Aristodemus, the sanctuary of Athena the Contriver, the precinct of the North Wind and the grove of Demeter in the Marsh. He then covers Mount Maenalus, sacred to Pan, and the Meetings of Three Ways, and the road to Macareae, Daseae and the Acacesian Hill.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.32.1–7Attica: the mountains and the plain of MarathonPausanias names the mountains of Attica, Pentelicus, Parnes and Hymettus, with their images and altars of Zeus and the honey of Hymettus. At Marathon he describes the graves of the Athenians, the Plataeans and the slaves, the tomb of Miltiades, the nightly sounds of battle, the hero Echetlaeus, the trophy, the spring Macaria and the legend of the children of Hercules, the marsh, the mangers of Artaphernes’ horses and the grotto of Pan.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.32.1–10Troezen: Hippolytus’ precinct, the acropolis and the roads from the cityPausanias describes the precinct of Hippolytus with its temple, annual rites and offerings of maidens’ hair, the stadium and the temple of Peeping Aphrodite above it, Phaedra’s myrtle and tomb. He then covers the temple of Athena Sthenias on the acropolis, the sanctuary of Pan the Deliverer, temples of Isis and Aphrodite of the Height, the rock of Theseus, and sanctuaries of Poseidon and Demeter. He ends with the harbour, Genethlium, the twisted olive and the sanctuary of Saronian Artemis.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.15.1–12Olympia: more altars, the Prytaneum and the monthly sacrificesPausanias lists the altars near the Leonidaeum, the Wild Olive of the Fair Crown, the starting-place of the chariots and the Wedge, and those behind the Heraeum and near the Prytaneum. He describes the Prytaneum’s hearth of ashes, the monthly sacrifices of incense, wheat and honey, and the libations at which the Eleans honour Libyan Ammon and the Elean heroes. He ends with the banqueting room for Olympic victors.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.37.1–12Arcadia: the sanctuary of the Mistress, Damophon's cult images and AnytusPausanias describes the sanctuary of the Mistress near Acacesium, with a temple of Leader Artemis, a colonnade of reliefs including one honouring Polybius, and altars to Demeter and the Great Mother. The images of the Mistress and Demeter, carved by Damophon from a single block, are flanked by Artemis and the Titan Anytus. He covers the Curetes and Corybantes, the Hall where the Arcadians perform mysteries, the grove, and the sanctuary of Pan with an undying fire and oracles delivered by the nymph Erato.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.42.1–13Phigalia: the cave of Black Demeter and Onatas' statuePausanias describes the cave of Black Demeter on Mount Elaius, where, according to the Phigalians, Demeter mourned Proserpine in black until Pan found her and the Fates calmed her. The old wooden image had a horse's head with serpents and beasts, a dolphin and a dove, and after it burned and the rites lapsed, a famine and a Delphic oracle led the Phigalians to commission a bronze image from Onatas of Aegina. He dates Onatas by his work for Hiero's offerings at Olympia. Pausanias also describes the bloodless offerings of fruit and wool, and notes that the image had been destroyed by falling stones.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.28.1–11Athens: Acropolis offerings, the Areopagus and the courts of justicePausanias lists offerings on the Acropolis, including Phidias’ bronze Athena from the Marathon spoils and the Lemnian Athena, then the Pelasgian wall and a cave sanctuary of Apollo. Below it he describes the Areopagus, the sanctuary of the Venerable Ones (the Furies) and the tomb of Oedipus. He ends with the Athenian law courts, from the Parabystum and the Heliaea to the Palladium, Delphinium, Prytaneum and Phreattys, with the stories of Demophon, Theseus, the Ox-slayer’s axe and Teucer.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.36.1–6Salamis, Psyttalia and the Sacred Way: tombs of Anthemocritus and CephisodorusAt Salamis Pausanias notes a sanctuary of Artemis, a trophy of the sea-fight and a shrine of Cychreus, and on Psyttalia some rude idols of Pan. He then follows the Sacred Way from Athens to Eleusis, noting the tomb of Anthemocritus, murdered by the Megarians, the place Scirum named after a Dodonaean seer, and the tomb of Cephisodorus, who brought Roman help against Philip V of Macedonia.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.26.1–8Heraea and Aliphera: Dionysus, the grave of Coroebus and the Fly-catcherPausanias describes Heraea on the Alpheus, with its riverside avenues, baths, temples of Dionysus and Pan and the ruined temple of Hera, and names Damaretus as its most famous athlete. He gives the boundary with Elis at the grave of Coroebus, winner of the first Olympic race after the revival by Iphitus. He then describes Aliphera, where Athena is said to have been born and bred, with its altar of Zeus Lecheates, its bronze Athena by Hypatodorus and its sacrifice to the Fly-catcher, and ends with Melaeneae and the springs of the Buphagus.

Nonnus of Panopolis (14)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 16.71–227Book 16: Dionysos woos Nicaia and is refusedDionysos sees Nicaia's colours in the flowers of a meadow and offers to carry her hunting gear, spread her bed with fawnskins under a vine, and give her dogs, handmaids and the Graces as servants. Nicaia answers that he must first win Athena or Artemis, her comrades, and threatens to chain him as the sons of Iphimedeia chained Ares. Left behind, Dionysos talks to the hound Pan gave him and promises to make it a star near Seirios if it will track the girl.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 16.302–405Book 16: Nicaia's grief; the birth of Telete and the founding of NicaiaPan and a Satyr envy Dionysos his wine and bewail their own unlucky loves. Nicaia wakes and understands what has happened; in grief and anger she tries to find and shoot Dionysos, swears never to drink from the spring again and thinks of hanging herself. She bears a daughter, Telete, and Dionysos founds the city of Nicaia, named after the nymph and the victory over the Indians.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 6.258–388Book 6: The flood; Pan and Galateia; the earth renewedLand and sea creatures mingle in the flood, and Pan and Galateia talk as she swims past him. The rivers Nile, Alpheios and Pyramos wander in search of their loves. Deucalion floats in his ark, and Poseidon splits a mountain to let the water run off, so that cities are built again.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 42.196–321Book 42: Pan's advice and Dionysos' failed wooingDionysos confides in the lovesick Pan, who advises him to feign modesty and indifference, praise Beroe's beauty above the goddesses', and win her by hints and silent gestures. Dionysos tries to woo her with words about vines, fields and harvest and offers to be her labourer, but she answers nothing. He then takes her hunting-net and pretends to admire it.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 6.207–257Book 6: Zeus punishes the Titans and sends the floodZeus learns the trick of the mirror and burns the Titans and the whole earth with his thunderbolts. Oceanos weeps, and Zeus, pitying the scorched land, covers the sky with cloud. The heavenly bodies stand in their houses as the rain begins and the waters rise over the hills.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 14.0–104Book 14: Rheia arms the gods; Cabeiroi, Telchines, Cyclopes and PansRheia summons all the gods and nature spirits. The Cabeiroi, the Cretan Corybants, the Telchines of Rhodes, the Centaurs and the Cyclopes come to join Dionysos, though Polyphemos stays behind for love of Galateia. The twelve horned Pans are named, and old Seilenos arrives with his three sons.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 14.228–320Book 14: Dionysos marches through PhrygiaDionysos sets out armed with a thyrsus and a horn of wine, and the army passes the rock of Niobe, which warns the Indians not to fight a god. In Ascania the people submit. Hera, in the shape of an Indian, urges the captain Astraios to fight, and he drives off the heralds Pan and the Satyrs.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 48.653–810Book 48: Aura's madness and her labourAura wakes to find herself violated and, in her frenzy, kills herdsmen, hunters and vintagers across the hills. She finds that she is pregnant and thinks of killing herself and the child, and Echo answers her cries. In her labour she refuses to call on Artemis, and Artemis delays the birth to punish her.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 1.344–408Book 1: Zeus takes Europa and enlists CadmosZeus takes his human shape and lies with Europa, and the Bull is set among the stars. He then meets Cadmos with Eros and Pan and devises a plan: Cadmos is to pipe as a herdsman and charm Typhoeus so that the weapons can be recovered. Zeus promises him Harmonia as his wife.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 10.0–138Book 10: Athamas' madness; Ino leaps into the seaAthamas, driven mad, flogs a she-goat for his wife, hunts his son Learchos as a stag and kills him, and boils Melicertes in a cauldron. Ino snatches the child and runs to the sea, calling on Zeus and Hermes. She leaps in and is received by Poseidon as Leucothea, and Semele mocks her from heaven.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 42.322–437Book 42: Dionysos dreams of Beroe and reveals himselfDionysos falls asleep on anemone leaves and dreams of marrying Beroe, then wakes to find only emptiness. He hunts beside her father Adonis, and she hides her face from him. Appearing as a god before her, he tells his name and deeds and warns her of Poseidon's record, offering her praise instead of gold, but she stops her ears with her fingers.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 43.143–224Book 43: Poseidon's threats; the Tritons and Pan fight on the wavesPoseidon mocks Dionysos as a god who fled from Lycurgos and threatens to drown the Bacchants. He calls up his Tritons and yokes his sea-horses. Triton sounds the charge, Glaucos drives a team over the surface, and Pan skips on the water chasing the echo of his own pipes.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 45.169–272Book 45: The giant Alpos; Pentheus binds a bull instead of DionysosTeiresias adds the story of the giant Alpos, who terrorised the Alpine slopes until Dionysos pierced his throat with a thyrsus. Pentheus, unmoved, sends soldiers to arrest the god, who vanishes and then reappears as a soldier leading a bull. Pentheus is tricked into chaining the bull as Dionysos and jailing the Bassarids in a dungeon.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 48.474–652Book 48: Dionysos' wine-spring and the sleeping AuraLovesick and unable to speak to the unyielding Aura, Dionysos sees the shade of Ariadne reproach him in a dream. Remembering how he won another nymph by a potion, he opens a spring of wine on the rock when Aura is parched with thirst at midday. She drinks, falls asleep, and Dionysos binds her hands and feet and takes her while she sleeps.

Orpheus (attributed) (1)

Orpheus (attributed), Orphic Hymns 8–11Hymns 8-11: the Sun, the Moon, Nature, PanThe Sun is addressed as the golden Titan whose eternal eye surveys the whole sky, and the Moon as a silver-lit, bull-horned goddess who wanders through the gloom of night. Nature is hailed as the ancient, divine, all-parent mother of things, and Pan as the universal soul of the world, a goat-footed, horned god who is aetherial, marine and earthly at once.