See U in History
Pan
The God
of The Wild
Pan, the God of the woods and forests, always struggled with his peers’ contempt.
He was considered an aberration, since his body was a mishmash of goat and man.
Such condition prompted his mother to abandon him when he was a child.
The God Hermes retrieved him and raised Pan among the Gods of the Olympus.
The Gods made fun of his ugliness and overall oddness.
Which always made him feel
rejected.
When he reached adulthood, Pan decided to leave the Olympus and started to live in the woods of Arcadia.
During the battle between Zeus and Typhon,
Pan helped Hermes to retrieve Zeus’ tendons, which had been stripped off by the monster.
As a gesture of gratitude, the Supreme God consecrated Pan as the God of the woods and plains.
Then he started to be worshiped, particularly by shepherds.
Nevertheless, despite his title, he was deeply dreaded by those entered into his forests.
When they heard the God’s powerful roar, they desperately ran in fear.
Pan were the origin of the word Panic.
The nymphs of the woods also avoided him due to his terrifying looks.
And so Pan considered himself doomed, as he would never be able to love.
Eros, the God of love, despite having noticed Pan’s grief,
decided to play with the God.
He threw one of his arrows and hit the God’s heart.
The latter hopelessly fell in love with the nymph Syrinx.
But she despised him as well.
Pan refused to give up and started to chase her.
The nymph ran as she tried to escape from her chaser.
However Pan was determined to
catch her.
Syrinx reached the edge of the rapids of the Ladon river.
Trapped, she prayed to be
rescued by the Naiad nymphs.
Pan jumped to grab the trapped young girl.
But when he finally managed to catch her,
he noticed that his hand was holding just a bunch of reed.
Sad for having lost his love,
Pan sighed and the exhaust air entered the pipes of the reed,
making an interesting sound.
Intrigued, Pan noticed that reed of different sizes created different sounds.
And so he decided to join several tubes, hence creating a brand new musical instrument.
He called it Syrinx, in tribute to his beloved,
but this instrument also became known as the pan flute.
The God was extremely skillful with his instrument,
as he was capable of producing a beautiful sound.
The nymphs stopped to run away from Pan due to his appearance.
From that day forward, he was often found playing his songs, with the most beautiful nymphs dancing around him.
