Disclaimer: 1) I am focusing more on cultus and less on myth. This is a religious post after all. 2) A lot of the information here comes from Philippe Bourgeaud’s work The Cult of Pan in Ancient Greece.
Pan rules over wilderness and most especially, the frontiers between civilization and wilderness.
It is why he is found in more than forests. He does dwell in the forest, but also in the mountains and coasts. He is at the eschatiai, the edges of city life. Where the land belongs to no one, making him the god of no man’s lands.
A good example of this notion comes from the diviner Artemidorus in Oneirocritica (which is about dream interpretation), where seeing Pan in a city setting is considered a bad omen of conflict and upheaval. On the contrary, seeing Pan in his natural wilderness is a sign of success and happiness.
Pan is less a god of agriculture than a god of transhumance (and snow).
As such, he is nomadic. Herders leave a long time in the wilderness when it is time to move the livestock to the higher pastures. On the contrary, the Greeks considered transhumance to be what links the shepherd to civilization. A shepherd who insists on staying up in the mountains when the bad weather arrives is risking himself against Pan’s power aka snow. Snow covers the flock and the path that led them there, and the land becomes hostile and directionless. Snow is Pan’s way of claiming back those mountains, and they are his realm.
Let’s also note that Pan doesn’t rule over the finished product of agriculture (like cheese for example). This is Aristaeus’ domain, which more directly serves mankind. Pan is uncivilized by nature.
Caves and grottoes are sacred to Pan
His cultus started in the mountains of Arcadia, and it was then (5th century BC and before) considered best to “build” a temple directly in rock or in a cave, rather than build a temple. This mindset changed over time when his cultus spread further than Arcadia alone. Again, caves and grottoes are one of the places where civilization doesn’t dwell.
I wish I could find more information on that statement but I don’t have access to the author’s source. Anyway, noon is supposed to be the hour at which Pan is most powerful and, logically, the most dangerous in the panic, manic sense.
I will probably do a part 2 of this with information on other aspects such as sex, music and hunting probably.
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