Monday 1 February 2010

Faun and Pan

In Roman mythology, fauns are place-spirits (genii) of untamed woodland. Romans connected their fauns with the Greek satyrs, wild and orgiastic drunken followers of Bacchus (Greek Dionysus). However, fauns and satyrs were originally quite different creatures. Both have horns and both resemble goats below the waist, humans above; but originally fauns had goat-like hooves, satyrs human feet. The Romans also had a god named Faunus and goddess Fauna, who, like the fauns, were goat-people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauns

In Roman paganism and its mythology, Faunus was the horned god of the forest, plains and fields; when he made cattle fertile he was called Inuus. He came to be equated in literature with the Greek god Pan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faunus

Pan (Greek Πάν, genitive Πανός), in Greek religion and mythology, is the companion of the nymphs,[1] god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music. His name originates within the Greek language, from the word paein (Πάειν), meaning "to pasture".[2] He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is recognized as the god of fields, groves, and wooded glens; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. The ancient Greeks also considered Pan to be the god of theatrical criticism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_%28god%29

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