God of shepherds and goatherds. He resembled a goat himself with his pointed beard, shaggy legs, and cloven feet. He was goatlike in his habits, too, pursuing every nymph he saw- diving into the river to swim after naiads, and searching the groves for dryads. His parentage is uncertain, although Hermes is often claimed to have been his father. Other stories say he is the eldest god of all, the original nature god, older then Zeus, and he has been named as father of all fauns and satyrs. One legend says that it was he, not Hermes or Apollo, who invented music; that one day he pursued a nymph named Syrinx, who fled from him across the field and down to the riverbank and changed herself into a reed. The bank was thick with reeds and Pan did not know which one she was. He picked a bunch of reeds and cut them into the Pan-pipe upon which he blew enchanting melodies, inspired by the sound of the wind moving among the river reeds. Later, it is said, Hermes stole this pipe from him and sold it to Apollo. Pan was useful to Zeus and the young gods in thier fight against Cronus. For Pan had a war cry which paralyzed whoever heard it. At a critical point in the battle he shouted, freezing the Titans with fear, and tipped the odds in favor of the Olympians. The fear inspired by his cry gives us our word: panic. For this deed, Zeus forgave Pan much mischief. In Roman mythology, Pan was known as Faunus. Show less «