Pan is the ancient God of Forests...though his name means 'all' or 'everything.' So he is in a sense, the God of all places, things, and people.
Pan has the well-known appearance of the half-goat horned young, playing pan pipes, and lounging in the forests.
This honored image of a well-loved God, was stolen and reshaped into a feared demon, the 'devil' of the Christian churches.
But the two have nothing in common beyond that.
Pan is much older than the Christian Devil who only was created in the last 2000 years that the Christian faith has been around, itself.
Pan was worshiped long before the rise of any of the modern monotheist faiths, as one of the old Gods of the southern European region.
Pan was in no way threatening like the devil that was modeled after him either.
He was playful and above all a comic. He was not a warrior like most of His fellow Greek Gods.
Moon Rainbow By Don Blanding
Staid people say that Pan is dead
But they are wrong. His shaggy head
I saw but yesterday at noon,
And once before when shone the moon
Across Manoa Valley where The ginger blooms.
The evening air
Was still…so still it made me fear
That if I shivered He might hear.
I waited while a silver mist
Skimmed down the sky. A moonbeam kissed
The gauzy veil. Pan looked around
And piped. A magic arch of sound
Curved out upon the misty air…
A lunar rainbow shimmered there.
He is the God of Sheppards and their charges, as well as will animals of the woods.
He is a God of Music after turning the nymph Syrinx into reeds which He then fashioned into His trademark pan pipes.
The story from the ancient Ovid : Metamorphoses text follows:
"A famous Naiad dwelt
among the Hamadryads, on the cold
Arcadian summit Nonacris, whose name
was Syrinx. Often she escaped the Gods,
that wandered in the groves of sylvan shades,
and often fled from Satyrs that pursued.
Vowing virginity, in all pursuits
she strove to emulate Diana's ways:
and as that graceful goddess wears her robe,
so Syrinx girded hers that one might well
believe Diana there. Even though her bow
were made of horn, Diana's wrought of gold,
vet might she well deceive.
Now chanced it Pan.
Whose head was girt with prickly pines, espied
the Nymph returning from the Lycian Hill,
and these words uttered he: "--But Mercury
refrained from further speech, and Pan's appeal
remains untold. If he had told it all,
the tale of Syrinx would have followed thus:--
but she despised the prayers of Pan, and fled
through pathless wilds until she had arrived
the placid Ladon's sandy stream, whose waves
prevented her escape. There she implored
her sister Nymphs to change her form: and Pan,
believing he had caught her, held instead
some marsh reeds for the body of the Nymph;
and while he sighed the moving winds began
to utter plaintive music in the reeds,
so sweet and voice like that poor Pan exclaimed;
"Forever this discovery shall remain
a sweet communion binding thee to me."--
and this explains why reeds of different length,
when joined together by cementing wax,
derive the name of Syrinx from the maid."
The pipes are the only weapon Pan takes up, and only then to drive people away in a 'panic' when they hear His frightful song.
Protecting the creatures of the forests, yet He harms none, though at times He curses those who cross Him with bearing the ears of an ass, or such comical punishments.
Pan was called, like most of the Gods, by many names, over the years.
Sylvanus and Faunus were two of His most common other names. He was called Mendes by the Egyptians who considered Him one of their Gods.
That is why goats were never sacrificed in Egypt,
as they were considered sacred to Mendes, and in fact, were called by His name.
A Pan Sketch I did on my first trip to Greece in 2011.
