Semi-Academic, Miscellaneous Research

Hello! Here i'll be posting stuff about things i find cool. Feel free to send asks or suggest research topics. Current topic of interest: Greek god Pan. Always feel free to tell me if I'm wrong about something, I'm always happy to learn more and improve! I'm not a classics student, so there's a chance i might misunderstand some things that i read about.

[dragolie]

Allow me to advertise this absolute masterpiece. It is a free database that has all the known inscriptions of the ancient Greek language published in the CIG (Corpora Inscriptionum Graecarum), in digital form.

It also has a search function for your convenience.

[theprettyinthemundane]

Who’s right about the myths and what does it mean to be culturally Christian? (using Pan as an example)

Thanks to @will-o-the-witch for looking over the part on Judaism!! : )

Disclaimer:

The ancient world was incredibly diverse and ideas about the gods themselves and the myths varied a lot across space and time, which is something I’ll be mentioning again later. I feel like it’s important to have a better understanding about the myths since they’re so prevalent in culture. Essentially, while many people today may tend to think there’s only one “right” way to see the myths or a god this was and is not the case for many faiths. To show this, I wanted to use Pan and his parentage as an example. This also connects to a broader idea: cultural Christianity (which isn’t “bad” or “good”, it’s just something to be aware of). This isn’t about Christians either, just about how cultural Christianity can affect peoples’ perception of other faiths. Whether or not someone is Christian themselves, growing up in a Christian place can incorrectly inform how they learn about other faiths which can lead to misinformation being spread. Sometimes it can (even accidentally) reinforce very harmful ideas that can contribute to bigotry like antisemitism, which we have to fight against!  (Seriously, bigotry sucks! Also I hope the way I word all this makes sense because it’s something I care a lot about!)

So, who are Pan’s parents and who’s right?

Pan is often known as Hermes’ son, even the Homeric hymn to Pan says so (1). Hermes is widely known as the “second youngest Olympian”, which would make Pan among the very youngest if this genealogy is considered (2).

           However, that isn’t the genealogy everyone in the ancient world used to describe Pan. There are many variations on his parentage, and I think it’s worth going over because of how interesting it is. Who Pan’s parents are often changes depending on who you ask or where you ask it. For example, at times he has been called the son of Hermes (1, 3: pg90,151), if you ask 5th century Athenians he is the son of Chronos (3: pg42, 88), he was also known as the son of Zeus and twin of Arcas’ (3: pg43), the great grandson of Pelasgos who was a mortal, bother or foster brother of Zeus (3: pg113) and in Thebes he was believed to be the son of Apollo (3: pg180). He was also called Son of Aix (the solar goat too bright to look at, equated with Amalthea nurse of Zeus) (3: pg100). There were likely other variations too that were lost to history.

           One thing worth noting is that Pan originated in Arcadia and before the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, his worship was mainly preformed here and it was only after that battle that his worship spread widely to the rest of Greece (4, 5). So, the myths of Pan from Arcadia are typically older and reflected older views that worshipers held of him. One example is that Pan helped Zeus in the war against the titans and these myths point to Pan’s father being Chronos (or at least placing him before Hermes’ birth):

 Pan has been described as “the source of that "panic" fear with whose aid he helped the gods in their war against the Titans …” and the son of Cronos and a she-goat (3: pg42). In fact, Aeschylus believed Pan to be two gods: both of which had the power of panic and one of them fought against the titans with Zeus (3: pg42) this is interesting because in other myths Pan was able to split up into a swarm of pans, so Pan being a multiplicity  of gods and also a single god isn’t unheard of (3: pg100). Overall, most people understood him to be one god (like we do today), but this just shows how much diversity there was in how people saw him.

And in Egypt he was viewed similarly to the Pan who fought in the war with the titans (as one of the oldest gods):  

“…the Egyptians Pan is considered very ancient and one of the eight gods said to be the earliest…(6)”

Here he was identified with the Egyptian god Min, which may seem a bit problematic to some because otherwise they were revered as different gods (6). However, the practice of identifying gods with other gods (aka syncretism) was not uncommon in the ancient world; Hekate-Artemis, Selene-Hekate, and Selene-Artemis were identified with each other commonly (7, 8). Other syncretisms were between Isis and Demeter, Isis and Persephone, Isis and Aphrodite, and Isis and Venus (9: pg 20). I am not a classics student, but what I have taken away from this is that the identity of the ancient gods is somewhat fluid and many worshipers could have differing and even contradictory views without either of them being “wrong”, even though some likely did argue or disagree to some extent (6). I’m not claiming there wasn’t debate in the ancient world about the gods, there definitely was. What I’m saying is that people did not fight to discredit new or different ideas just because they conflicted with already established ideas. There was a great deal of variation in how people worshiped and most weren’t interested in a one “right way” to do things.

           This isn’t only an ancient practice: it still happens today in Shinto in general and with the kamisama* Inari Ōkami (稲荷大神), who has been portrayed as a group of kamisama, as masculine, androgynous, and feminine (10). So in general this practice of seeing kamisama (or supernatural beings, or gods) in many different ways with acceptance is more common than one might expect (10, 11). This also happens today in Judaism, where debate is very common:

“Nevertheless, the general trend throughout Jewish history is to value debate and not to stifle it, and the history of Jewish texts supports that trend. (12)” Some examples of this are how many Jewish people debate the Talmud (a religious text) and how there are many different sects of Judaism.

          One important thing for people who are interested in this subject and were raised in a Christian culture (even if they aren’t religious) is to not overextend the characteristics of Christianity onto other religions ancient or modern (this is often accidental, which makes it even more important to be aware of it). This is relevant to both ancient and modern religions such as Shinto and Judaism because misunderstanding these faiths can contribute to terrible things like antisemitism and xenophobia (more so with Judaism). So, we need to guard against bigotry like that by being open to learning and changing our opinions when they are wrong both for learning and fighting bigotry. 

          In fact, one scholar noted that even in Arcadia Pan’s cult and myth were not standardized although what I have mentioned before was certainly the more popular (13: pg 63) So, even though Herodotus heard from people in Egypt who worshiped Min, it is not unheard of or unreasonable to understand that some people did understand him that way. To answer the question I asked earlier: each myth about Pan’s parentage has some element of truth to it and none of them are completely “right” or “wrong”. For example, Hermes being Pan’s father echoes the fact that both of them are liminal deities and usually are shown being close to mortals (3: 178).

Conclusion:

          Pan is commonly considered the son of Hermes, however there was immense variation in how others saw him, both across space and time. One specific idea- that Pan helped Zeus in the war against the titans and that he is among the eldest of the gods- would contradict the Hermes genealogy and was prevalent in some areas. This is the case in Egypt where he was conflated with the local god Min. While this could seem confusing to modern readers (both the Min thing and the various genealogy thing), many faiths both ancient and modern do not push for one “right way” of seeing things and this is important to understand when learning about these things.

              Another way of looking at this concept is the idea of cultural Christianity. It does not matter if a person is religious or even Christian, by growing up in a culturally Christian place their assumptions about other faiths are automatically informed by Christianity, which does not reflect most other faiths. This is not good or bad, it’s just something to be aware of and work around so that we can better understand these other faiths. It is especially important to keep in mind today as misunderstandings about religions can contribute to dangerous bigotry like antisemitism, which we must stand against!

*In Shinto kami (or kamisama) are supernatural beings who inspire awe, they are the main object of worship in Shinto. Please don’t call Shinto kamisama “gods”, it’s inaccurate and doesn’t represent how people see them. Due to how Shinto and Japanese mythology are different from Western mythology we need to take care when talking about it to keep it in its original context.

Citations:

1: Hymn 19 to Pan Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Ed. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=HH+19

2: da Costa Martins, P. A., Leptidis, S., & De Windt, L. J. (2014). Nuclear Calcium Transients: Hermes Propylaios in the Heart. Doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.114.010675

3: Borgeaud, P., & Atlass, K. (1988). The cult of Pan in ancient Greece. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 13: 9780226065953

4: GARTZIOU-TATTI, A. (2013). GODS, HEROES, AND THE BATTLE OF MARATHON. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement, (124), 91-110. Retrieved June 23, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/44216258

5: Haldane, J. (1968). Pindar and Pan: Frs. 95-100 Snell. Phoenix, 22(1), 18-31. doi:10.2307/1087034

6: Griffiths, J. G. (1955). The orders of Gods in Greece and Egypt (according to Herodotus). The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 75, 21-23. Doi: 10.2307/629164

7: MANOLEDAKIS, M. (2012). Hekate with Apollo and Artemis on a Gem from the Southern Black Sea Region. Istanbuler Mitteilungen, 62, 289-302.

8: E. Hijmans, S. (2012). Moon deities, Greece and Rome. In The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (eds R.S. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C.B. Champion, A. Erskine and S.R. Huebner). doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17276

9: Witt, R. E. (1997). Isis in the ancient world. JHU Press. ISBN-13: 978-0801856426

10:  Smyers, K. (1996). "My Own Inari": Personalization of the Deity in Inari Worship. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 23(1/2), 85-116. Retrieved June 23, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/30233555

11: Lya. 2015. Interview with Gary Cox - Inari Faith International (VO) https://www.equi-nox.net/t10647-interview-with-gary-cox-inari-faith-international-vo

12: Mjl. Conversation & Debate. www.myjewishlearning.com. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/conversation-debate/

13: Ogden, D. (Ed.). (2010). A companion to Greek religion. John Wiley & Sons. Print ISBN:9781405120548 |Online ISBN:9780470996911 |DOI:10.1002/9780470996911

[theprettyinthemundane]

Earliest art of Pan!

Thanks to @thegrapeandthefig​ for finding this for me! : )

We’ve all seen Pan depicted as a satyr, so when I read that the first depiction of Pan was of him as a goat I really wanted to see what that looked like (this is from “The cult of Pan in ancient Greece” by Borgeaud  btw). Anyway, here it is! I thought I would share it here in case anyone else was interested!

Here’s a picture that shows the other stuff around him

This is from 500—490 BCE and was found in Arcadia (Pan’s origin) it was probably painted by an Attic craftsman. The paper states that this was a representation of a demonic Pan but I’m not sure what that means exactly. Ofc Pan wasn’t generally considered a demon (and what that word means for ancient Greeks is probably different than what it means to us today). And if someone who knows more about this has something to add I’d love to hear it! Anyway yeah! Pan is cool and this is literally the earliest art of him that we still have today and I think that’s pretty neat!

Sources below also as always if I got anything wrong please let me know : )

Keep reading

[thegrapeandthefig]

The term daimones tends to have several meanings but we can cite this: 

τοὺς δὲ δαίµονας οὐχὶ ἤτοι θεούς γε ἡγούµεθα ἢ θεῶν παῖδας; φῂς ἢ οὔ; πάνυ γε. 

And do we not truly reckon daimones to be gods (theos) or the children of gods? Do you affirm this or not? Certainly, yes.

- Socrates,  Apology

For Plato, a daimon has a liminal accept in the sense that it serves as a mediator between men and gods. I think this is where the article is getting at there in the sense that Pan in his goat form is more fitting to the world of mortals than the world of gods. A goat wouldn’t play the aulos tho. Details. 

[theprettyinthemundane]

Fabulous, thank you : ) ! Pan did act as a mediator between the other gods and mortals and was often described as liminal, so that makes perfect sense. Also in Arcadia some other gods also were portrayed as animals or part animal so maybe that was part of it. (For more see “The Cult of Pan in ancient Greece” by Boregaud)

[honorthegods]

Here’s an interesting article on the etymology of “daimon” and how the meaning of the word changed over time:  https://greekerthanthegreeks.com/2016/10/lost-in-translation-word-of-day-demon.html

[theprettyinthemundane]

Earliest art of Pan!

Thanks to @thegrapeandthefig​ for finding this for me! : )

We’ve all seen Pan depicted as a satyr, so when I read that the first depiction of Pan was of him as a goat I really wanted to see what that looked like (this is from “The cult of Pan in ancient Greece” by Borgeaud  btw). Anyway, here it is! I thought I would share it here in case anyone else was interested!

Here’s a picture that shows the other stuff around him

This is from 500—490 BCE and was found in Arcadia (Pan’s origin) it was probably painted by an Attic craftsman. The paper states that this was a representation of a demonic Pan but I’m not sure what that means exactly. Ofc Pan wasn’t generally considered a demon (and what that word means for ancient Greeks is probably different than what it means to us today). And if someone who knows more about this has something to add I’d love to hear it! Anyway yeah! Pan is cool and this is literally the earliest art of him that we still have today and I think that’s pretty neat!

Sources below also as always if I got anything wrong please let me know : )

Keep reading

[thegrapeandthefig]

The term daimones tends to have several meanings but we can cite this: 

τοὺς δὲ δαίµονας οὐχὶ ἤτοι θεούς γε ἡγούµεθα ἢ θεῶν παῖδας; φῂς ἢ οὔ; πάνυ γε. 

And do we not truly reckon daimones to be gods (theos) or the children of gods? Do you affirm this or not? Certainly, yes.

- Socrates,  Apology

For Plato, a daimon has a liminal accept in the sense that it serves as a mediator between men and gods. I think this is where the article is getting at there in the sense that Pan in his goat form is more fitting to the world of mortals than the world of gods. A goat wouldn’t play the aulos tho. Details. 

[theprettyinthemundane]

Fabulous, thank you : ) ! Pan did act as a mediator between the other gods and mortals and was often described as liminal, so that makes perfect sense. Also in Arcadia some other gods also were portrayed as animals or part animal so maybe that was part of it. (For more see "The Cult of Pan in ancient Greece" by Boregaud)

[theprettyinthemundane]

Earliest art of Pan!

Thanks to @thegrapeandthefig​ for finding this for me! : )

We’ve all seen Pan depicted as a satyr, so when I read that the first depiction of Pan was of him as a goat I really wanted to see what that looked like (this is from “The cult of Pan in ancient Greece” by Borgeaud  btw). Anyway, here it is! I thought I would share it here in case anyone else was interested!

Here’s a picture that shows the other stuff around him

This is from 500—490 BCE and was found in Arcadia (Pan’s origin) it was probably painted by an Attic craftsman. The paper states that this was a representation of a demonic Pan but I’m not sure what that means exactly. Ofc Pan wasn’t generally considered a demon (and what that word means for ancient Greeks is probably different than what it means to us today). And if someone who knows more about this has something to add I’d love to hear it! Anyway yeah! Pan is cool and this is literally the earliest art of him that we still have today and I think that’s pretty neat!

Sources below also as always if I got anything wrong please let me know : )

Book i mentioned in the beginning:

Borgeaud, P., & Atlass, K. (1988). The cult of Pan in ancient Greece  Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 13: 9780226065953

Art/Pottery from :

Hübinger, U. 1992. On Pan’s Iconography and the Cult in the Sanctuary of Pan on the Slopes of Mount Lykaion. In Hägg, R. (Ed.), The Iconography of Greek Cult in the Archaic and Classical Periods: Proceedings of the First International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult, organised by the Swedish Institute at Athens and the European Cultural Centre of Delphi (Delphi, 16-18 Novembre 1990). Presses universitaires de Liège. doi:10.4000/books.pulg.204

Potentially helpful thing: Usually if you want to read a paper you can copy/paste the doi into sci-hub.tw to get a pdf of it for free!

[theprettyinthemundane]

A list of Pan’s epithets and things Pan was called (mostly) from the ancient world:

(I haven’t seen many posts making a somewhat comprehensive list of Pan’s epithets, so I thought I would put this out there)

Here’s what Theoi.com lists, it is definitely a good list:

goat-herd (aipolos) Plato, Cratylus 400d & 408b (trans. Lamb) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) (From Theoi.com)

“Pan lord of the woodlands and of war” Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 3. 46 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : From Theoi.com

Also, for additional context for “sea roaming:

Suidas s.v. Haliplanktos ff : "Haliplanktos (Sea-roaming) : Thus Pan is called . . . because he is in love with Ekho (Echo); the sea is noisy." (also from Theoi.com)

https://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Pan.html#Hymns

Here are some other things from other sources:

“Shepherd’s patron” (Brown, E. 1977)

“Lusty” (like a he-goat) (Rinkevich, T. E. 1973)

“Lyterios (“the one who releases from disease)” (Petridou, G. (2016). Theoi.com lists this one, but this paper adds more context.

““krotos-loving” (φιλόκροτος) (suggesting that he has particular affection for percussive sounds, whether the noise of dancing feet, the clapping of hands, or the clacking of krotala)” “finger snapping” is also a form of this  (Laferrière, C. M. 2019; Lynch, T., & Rocconi, E. 2020: 51 )

 “Εὔοδος (giverof- good-roads), Σωτήρ (savior),

Ἐπήκοος (he who listens to prayer), and

Εὔαγρος (of the good-hunt).”

(Stern, K. 2013, Mairs, R. 2010).

“keen-eyed god”    (Homeric hymn 19, to Pan)

“a lover of merry noise, All-fertile, fanatic,

serpent horned Jove/Zeus”    (Orphic hymn 10, to Pan)

“…the trupanon of the goatherd (…the symbolism of the trupanon is that of the phallos, as the active member in intercourse. A trupanon is a wooden drill used to make fIre which was invented by Hermes, Pan's father…)” (Pierce, N. 2006: 40)

“Goatboy-Penetrator Pan” (Wills, G. 1998)

“the most powerful of the gods in accomplishing men's prayers and requiting the wicked for their misdeeds” (Winter, F. E. 2005) (this one wasn’t a specific epithet the ancients gave him, but it does seem accurate, so I thought I would include it).

 The numbers in parentheses below this are page numbers since they are from a book, I tried to break it up so it’s a bit easier to read. 

“Lord of Arcadia / Pan of Paiania (3) (Dillon, M. 2003: 236; Wills, G. 1998),

Huntsman, protector of game, keeper of goats, one who made fertile the little flocks, Most ancient and most honored (4), god of little flocks (5), goat god (43),

a god who treads the heights (58), god of mountains/ snow/forests/rocky coast/the sea (60),

theronomos/herdsman of wild animals (64), slayer of beasts (64), god of the hunt (64), Pan Aktios god of river banks and ocean promontories where goats come for water and salt (65; Haldane, J. 1968), goat footed (65; MASTRAPAS, A. 2013)

devine-he-goat-shepherd (67),  indispensable patron of fertility of small flocks (75), duseros / unlucky in love (77, 115) god of noise and movement (111), golden horned pan (117), keeper and protector of the flocks (125), dog of the Mother of the gods (173; Haldane, J. 1968), most accomplished dancer (175)”

 (Borgeaud, P. 1988).

Lastly: Epithets are complex and deserve content of their own (of which there is a lot!), so I don’t mean to diminish the complexity of epithets and their use, this is just meant to be helpful for those who want to learn more about Pan. Some epithets may be a bit redundant, but I think it’s better to have too many than too few, because I haven’t seen much of this information floating around her. Also, as usual, please feel free to correct me if I’ve made any mistakes in this post. Thanks!

 Sources:

 Borgeaud, P., & Atlass, K. (1988). The cult of Pan in ancient Greece. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 13: 9780226065953

Brown, E. (1977). The Divine Name "Pan". Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-), 107, 57-61. doi:10.2307/284025

Dillon, M. (2003). Girls and women in classical Greek religion. Psychology Press. ISBN: ISBN 9780415319164

Haldane, J. (1968). Pindar and Pan: Frs. 95-100 Snell. Phoenix, 22(1), 18-31. doi:10.2307/1087034

Laferrière, C. M. (2019). Sacred Sounds: The Cult of Pan and the Nymphs in the Vari Cave. Classical Antiquity, 38(2), 185-216. Doi: 10.1525/ca.2019.38.2.185

Lynch, T., & Rocconi, E. (2020). A companion to ancient Greek and Roman music. Hoboken: Wiley.

Mairs, R. (2010). Egyptian ‘Inscriptions’ and Greek ‘Graffi ti’at El Kanais in the Egyptian Eastern Desert. In Ancient graffiti in context (pp. 169-180). Routledge.

MASTRAPAS, A. (2013). THE BATTLE OF MARATHON AND THE INTRODUCTION OF PAN'S WORSHIP TO ATHENS: THE POLITICAL DIMENSION OF A LEGEND THROUGH WRITTEN EVIDENCE AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement, (124), 111-122. Retrieved July 18, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/44216259

Petridou, G. (2016). Healing shrines. A companion to science, technology, and medicine in ancient Greece and Rome, 434-449.

Pierce, N. (2006). The Placement of the Sacred Caves in Attica, Greece (Doctoral dissertation).

Rinkevich, T. E. (1973). Comic structure in Theocritus 1-7 (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).

Slater, W. J. (1971). Pindar’s house. Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 12(2), 141-152.

STERN, K. (2013). Vandals or Pilgrims?: Jews, Travel Culture, and Devotional Practice in the Pan Temple of Egyptian El-Kanais. In Hodge C., Olyan S., Ullucci D., & Wasserman E. (Eds.), "The One Who Sows Bountifully": Essays in Honor of Stanley K. Stowers (pp. 177-188). Society of Biblical Literature. doi: 10.2307/j.ctt14bs6fv.20

Wills, G. (1998). The Real Arcadia. The American Scholar, 67(3), 15-27.

Winter, F. E. (2005). Arkadian Temple-designs. The Norwegian Institute at Athens

 Research tip: (almost) any article with a doi # can be found for free using sci-hub.tw! Even if you have access to things like JSTOR and Ebsco, (imo) if you have the doi it’s faster to find it and download it using this free and legal website! It’s been super helpful to me, so if you ever have a doi # but still can’t get the article, definitely give this a try.

[thegrapeandthefig]

Pan, god of music and noise

This is the follow-up to this post. I will be writing assuming that you have read it, so I recommend you read it first if you haven’t. 

The cult of Pan alongside the Nymphs in Athens was deeply connected to music and dance. In this part, I will go into the details of why this is a thing and how this ties together with caves as a place of worship.  

Pan’s traditional instrument is the syrinx, or panflute. It is a wind instrument made out of reeds. He can also be represented playing an aulos, which was a double-reeded flute. However, Pan is not only a musician. His dominion goes beyond the realm of man-made music to encompass all natural sounds. As such, Pan is a god that is heard instead of seen.

In myth, Pan falls in love with the nymph Echo and chases her in vain. In his wrath of being rejected, he creates a panic amongst the sheperds in the mountains who tear her up in pieces. Gaia decides to intervene and collects the pieces to saves her from death by allowing her to live through the imitation of the sounds and voices of others. As I’ve pointed out in part one, Pan’s homeland is Arkadia, a very mountainous land. It, thus, makes sense for him to be associated with the phenomenon of echo. It is a sound that is specific to mountains, and it is also now easier to see why the Athenians thought of caves as an appropriate place to install his cult. Caves, like mountains, tend to speak back.

Aside from myth, we can also find some hints in literature. In Menander’s Dyskolus we can find the line “that no man should approach this god without making any noise”, the Homeric Hymn to Pan uses the epithet “noise-lover” (φιλόκροτος) and the Suda lexicon states that “women are accustomed to celebrate Pan with clamor”. We are now starting to have an idea of the importance of noise in Pan’s cult. Sound and noise is part of the god’s identity. It is how he lets himself be known. He is a god with a voice.

The Vari cave: an examplary case

Now, let’s go back to the Vari Cave and see how this all plays out with a specific example. First, we can point out again that one of the reliefs found in the cave depicted Pan holding a syrinx, asserting the importance of musicality in his cult. Actually, out of the seven votive reliefs discovered in the Vari Cave, Pan is represented as a musician on five of them. The nymphs represented on the reliefs are seen dancing with him. 

Another point is the landscape created by the cave itself. Anyone who steps there will experience a change in perception due to the darkness of the cave, the smell of moss, the amplified sound of dripping water etc.. The reliefs found in the cave were set up throughout the hill, most likely set into a hole drilled down and surrounded by a rock frame. With this setup, the images of the god and nymphs would have been visible at eye-level to the worshippers as they approached. Senses, visual, auditory and olfactory seem to have played an important role in the religious experience, all of which were enhanced by the natural predispositions of the location and man-made additions.

In the previous part, I have stated that Menander tells us about how the ritual would be followed by music and dance. The reliefs found in Vari also affirm this idea, as most of them show Pan and the Nymphs either playing music or dancing. Finally, there is a spot in the Vari Cave where small rocks have been gathered and used to fill holes, which some interpret as a form of dance floor. And this is a pattern noticeable with other caves around Attica, which only confirms that music and dancing were an integral part of the worship given to both Pan and the Nymphs. 

On a more scientific note, the acoustic research that has been done in the Vari Cave (alongside another Pan cave) has showed the incredible acoustic quality of the location, making it easily comparable, if not better, to the other (modern) places of worship taken as reference for the study. 

(One of the marble reliefs found at Vari, National Archaeological Museum © Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sport Archaeological Receipts Fund)

Bibliography for both part 1 and 2 under the cut.

Keep reading

[theprettyinthemundane]

This post is great! I would just like to add some things (from the same papers even), if that's alright. I'm trying to avoid being redundant because your post was really good, I just have some thoughts related to this that I want to yeet out there.

What makes “krotos-loving” (φιλόκροτος) so great is that it isn't just one sound per se, it describes percusive sounds in general (1). This includes clapping, stomping feet, and playing certain instruments like you would while worshiping Pan (1). To his worshipers, Pan generally seems to be felt in both noises from the natural world and his worshipers (2,3). In this sense it doesn't matter if the noise is from the worshipers or their surroundings, both are united under Pan (2, 3). By extension, maybe his worshipers felt this connected them more deeply to the natural world and Pan.

Like your post says, Pan's worship in caves was much more than a random choice, or because caves were very "natural". To them, being in a cave would so clearly and directly allow them to focus their experience on Pan and the noises they felt him in, whether natural or man made or a mix of both (2, 3). Especially because caves are dark, it could be easier to focus on Pan and the things they felt him in. I think this ties into Pan's liminality and how he was generally seen as closer to humans than other gods (4: pg 102). Mountains may not seem "alive" to some, but I think Pan's domain over them and his connection to Echo show us how he's connected to the liveliness within them, their movement and noise and his connection with alive-ness and movement more generally.

Tl;dr : Your post is really great! Also imo the use of caves in Pan worship and his epithet "φιλόκροτος" show us how noises in music, the natural world, and his worshipers were united together as manifestations of Pan. As a result of this, Pan's domain over the natural world and various human activities are united in the fact that they're "alive" and full of movement, just like how worshipers view Pan.

Ok, hopefully that made sense and wasn't redundant. Feel free to let me know if anything I said was a bit of a stretch or something.

Sources:

1: Laferrière, C. M. (2019). Sacred Sounds: The Cult of Pan and the Nymphs in the Vari Cave. Classical Antiquity, 38(2), 185-216. Doi: 10.1525/ca.2019.38.2.185

2: Yioutsos NP. (2019) Pan Rituals of Ancient Greece Revisited. In: Büster L., Warmenbol E., Mlekuž D. (eds) Between Worlds. Springer, Cham

3: Haldane, J. (1968). Pindar and Pan: Frs. 95-100 Snell. Phoenix, 22(1), 18-31. doi:10.2307/1087034

4: Borgeaud, P. (1988). The cult of Pan in Ancient Greece. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226065952

(want to read one of these? Have the doi? Copy / paste into Sci-hub.tw and read the paper for free! : ) also sorry I'm on mobile, hopefully the formatting is ok!

[theprettyinthemundane]

Screaming in metal music counts as a kind of non lexical vocable

[theprettyinthemundane]

Some Tips on Finding Good Papers (Research)

Here are some of my tips when it comes to doing research (I’m sure I’m missing some stuff, this is just what I have found useful as I’ve researched stuff before, so take it with a grain of salt) :

1: Use google scholar to find what you’re looking for. It has a better search engine imo than databases like Ebsco and JSTOR. Find it on google scholar and then search that article on your database of choice.

2: Use sci-hub.tw! All you need is the doi # of your paper and you copy/paste it and get it for free! Ofc it doesn’t have *every paper*, but it’s been sooo helpful to me! One thing though: it’s really helpful for specific papers, not so helpful for full books. But overall very useful!

3: Use databases like JSTOR, Ebsco, and Proquest if you have them! Those are the ones I use the most, but I’m sure there’s plenty of other great ones out there. Basically these give you access to peer reviewed papers, which means the papers generally have more integrity and are more likely to be based in fact since they’re written by scholars of that subject.

4: Check your local library! Not only are libraries amazing and underappreciated, but many of them can have great resources either on the shelf or on their computers. Some even give you access to databases if you have a library card. So if you haven’t checked there, give it  a try : )

5: If all else fails you can email the author of your paper directly. May academics/scholars (not sure if there’s a better term) would be more than happy to send you a copy of their paper! : )

These are just some things I have found useful, I hope you do too! : ) Feel free to add anything or correct me if I got something wrong!

[theprettyinthemundane]

Greek Culture and Why It’s Essential to Better Understanding the Greek Gods (Examining Pan as an Example)

                 Everyone knows the Greek gods are Greek, but what does that mean to us? I think that understanding the culture around the Greek gods is extremely helpful for understanding them better and I’d like to use the Greek god Pan as an example to illustrate just how important I think this is. Greek culture (both ancient and modern) is just as interesting and worth studying too, which is another reason I wanted to talk about it.

                A quick note: The ancient word was incredibly diverse and covered a long period of time. Even between cities practices, myths, and views could be very different, so it is important to point out that there is no “one way” to see most things, even though there are some general things people do agree on. Even the genealogy of gods sometimes varied depending on location and gods themselves could be understood differently across Greece both in location and time (1, 2, 3, 4). Myths were often stories made to be entertaining, not to accurately and completely reflect how gods were seen in a religious sense, so the view of a god that a myth and religious text portrayed were often different. For some deities, understanding Greek culture better may make the difference between a loose group of unrelated domains vs a constellation of domains that paint a bigger, more cohesive picture of how they were viewed, like how something may be greater than the sum of its parts. This is how I think of Pan and his domains. Of course, it is also important to note that Pan is extremely complex, and this post is not meant to be comprehensive, just informative. With that said, let’s talk about the goat god Pan and Greek culture.

            Why Pan? Well, unlike many gods whose origins lay in mythical places, Pan’s origin is Arcadia, a region in the south of Greece (this region has changed since ancient times, but it remains as its own region) (1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) . Why does this matter? Because Pan was viewed as an Arcadian (god); even in Thebes and in Athens worshipers connected Pan to this region (1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 11). In other words, how the Greeks viewed Arcadia as a region and culture influenced how they viewed and understood Pan.

            Then first, we should ask, what is Arcadia?

(credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia)

(source: 12)

              Arcadia (Αρκαδία) is a mountainous region in the Peloponnese whose capital is Tripoli (Τρίπολη ) (12).  In ancient times it was seen as a place of harsh wilderness (forests, plains, glens) where most people were shepherds (1, 5). It was “out of the way”, “hard to reach”, even viewed as “spooky” (5) and “uncivilized” (1, 13). This is related to many, if not all of Pan’s domains. In fact, Pan was known as the “ruler of Arcadia” (1, 5, 13) and it was even said that,    

“The region was sometimes called Panland - in Greek, Pania. Pan was as rough as the country, half goat, half god…” (5)  

           Arcadia is the earliest center of Pan’s worship and it was done in formal sanctuaries (1,2, 14). After the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, Pan’s worship spread more widely to the rest of the Greek world (1, 6, 9). After this many people (in Thebes and Athens for example) worshiped Pan in grottos or caves (1, 2, 4, 10, 11). This difference actually reflects how people in those places connected Pan and Arcadia; for them, a cave or grotto  was a wild place, like Arcadia, and since they had few other “wild” spaces this space kept Pan and his connection to the natural world within their worship. A scholar on Pan noted that “his lodging (in a cave at the Acropolis) marks him as connected to origins”(1) and others have pointed out this as well (10, 11) . This makes it clear that this cultural connection was important for how they worshiped and thought of Pan.

The first example: Pan’s relation to music? That was related to Pan being Arcadian;

“The simple, moving music of the shepherds (from Arcadia) gained a wide appreciation over all the Greek world. In time, this pastoral … music began to inspire highly educated poets …” (13)

“The one quality that softened the brutishness of Arcadian life was music, whether performed by the goatherds or played by Pan”(13).

Music is a fundamental part of Pan and he has been called: “a lover of merry noise” (Homeric Hymn to Pan) “a most accomplished dancer, a god of noise and movement, beautiful dancer”, and a “lord of the dances of the gods” (1). Just as music was a big part of other Greeks viewed Arcadia, it was a big part of how people saw Pan; Pan was even said to have created the panpipes and music was an essential part of his cult (1, 14, 15). In fact, the idea that Pan could manifest as music and in natural sounds was popular at times (9, 11). This isn’t to say music was unique to Pan (it wasn’t) or that music was not used to worship other deities (it was) but that music was an essential part of how ancients understood Pan, so we should be aware of that and the potential significance it has.  

           Music was an essential part of Greek and Arcadian education, even according to Plato and Socrates (1, 16). While I do not study the classics, I do think that Pan’s connection to music is symbolic of something more than just “pretty sounds” although I do not feel confident enough in my understanding to make any specific connections to his other domains or aspects. Music was essential to the ancient Greeks and was thought to be important for character / personal development, it was thought to deeply affect the soul and I think this is also reflected in Epidaurus’ hymn to Pan;

“The Epidaurus Hymn reminds us that Pan's music and dance restore a threatened cohesion. Dance, laughter, and noise become, in the festival, signs of a recovered closeness (1).” (cohension was threatened by a recent war)

          Just as music was thought to affect people deeply, Pan also was associated with panic and mania (related to possession), which similarly has a strong affect on people spiritually and emotionally (1). If I were to make any connections between his musical domain and another domain, I would say that Pan’s domain of music seems connected to his domain of nature since his style of dance was called “animalistic”, he was called a “leaper” and for the fact that he was believed to be able to manifest himself in natural sounds, like was mentioned before (1, 9, 11).

A second example: Pan’s nature as a goat/shepherd and a god of fertility is reflective of Arcadia’s reliance on shepherding to sustain life: Pan has been called “divine-he-goat-shepherd”, “indispensable patron of fertility...” and “keeper and protector of the flocks” (1). Pan was a very positive figure because he was thought to help sustain life itself; as one scholar points out, Arcadia is “first and foremost a land fit for herding.” (1).  One noticeably unique thing about Pan compared to the other Greek gods is how he is part goat. Interestingly, Pan was first depicted as a he-goat standing upright, not as a satyr and it seems that Pan was only depicted as a satyr (at least widely) after his cult left Arcadia (1, 17). If one was not aware of how central goats were to Greek (especially Arcadian) society then this may seem random or superficial, but it clearly is not.

             Pan was a fertility god, but this domain is concerned with more than just lust and sex (even though these were important aspects of Pan) but also abundance both sexual and platonic; for example, the birth of twin goats (as opposed to a single goat) was attributed to Pan (1). Another example of this connection between sex and (platonic/ nonsexual) abundance is the description of the meaning of a dream where Pan and the dreamer have sex written by Atermidorus in his Interpretation of Dreams in the 2nd century CE:

“If he (Pan) gives someone something or has sexual intercourse with someone, it fortells great profit, especially if he does not weigh that person down” (18)

This theme of abundance and goats/fertility is related to Pan’s domain of rustic music as well: In a hymn found in the Palentine Anthology, a resource that showed the traditions of herdsmen and shepherds, one poem asks for Pan to play his pipes so that the she-goats might give them lots of milk;

“The poet here attributes to the god's music a power elsewhere expressed in the image of a sexual union with animals. The "divine message" (or "sacred voice": hieron phatin) of the syrinx brings about an abundance of milk. (1)”

            Pan’s domain of shepherding/goats is also related to his role as a god of hunting. Unlike Artemis, Pan’s domain of hunting was only concerned with the type of hunting shepherds would do, that is, hunting small game and hunting to protect the flock (1). Goats were also associated with hunting because mountain goats were hunted for sport (1). In fact, “Arcadians thought Pan responsible for the abundance, and correspondingly for the scarcity, of meat, whether obtained by hunting or by herding” (1). Without understanding this distinction someone might mistakenly think Pan and Artemis were interchangeable in hunting.

        Because we see such a concrete connection here drawn by an ancient Greek, Atermidorus, I think it is more than reasonable to say that the fertility domain was also connected to abundance more generally. Another example is in the story of how Artemis visited Pan in Arcadia and he gifted her hounds which he had bred himself (15, 19). Despite the mention of how the dogs had recently given birth, in this story Pan is “devoid of eroticism”, which further supports this connection between fertility and nonsexual abundance (19.). The hounds represent the fertility aspect of Pan (they recently gave birth) and platonic/non-sexual abundance (Pan gifted them to Artemis and as the author notes, the story is “devoid of eroticism”). Hunting (done by shepherds, associated with Pan) also served to protect the flock, protecting this abundance (1).

Conclusion: Without the context of Arcadia as Pan’s origin, it is hard to have as deep an understanding of him, which I think shows us why culture is also important to learn about.  Without this context people may misunderstand Pan’s domains of fertility/shepherding, hunting music, and nature as disconnected or random, however by understanding Pan’s cultural context (Arcadia / Greece) a clearer and more meaningful image can be seen. These elements are closely related and interrelated, which I think is important because seeing these domains as “somewhat connected” is significantly different than seeing them as “interconnected”.

Here’s a table to summarize what I think we can better understand about Pan with this knowledge:

A disclaimer: This isn’t meant to be all encompassing as Pan is an extremely complex god. I have only focused on the way Pan was viewed by some ancient Greeks, more was written about Pan later. Pan also was not simply a “positive”, or “friendly” god, he was also perceived as terrifying and that aspect of Pan shouldn’t be forgotten or underappreciated. This post was designed to show how important culture is and so I have focused on aspects of Pan that help us see this clearly. That said, I do feel I have touched on most of Pan’s major domains (fertility/shepherding/goats, hunting, music/dance, nature, and panic). I have tried to give a better sense of Pan using context, not take anything out of context, so if you think I have made a mistake or misunderstood anything then please let me know. I am not a classics student, so there is a chance I misinterpreted something along the way. This post serves two purposes: to demonstrate how Greek culture is important for understanding the Greek gods and to shed some more detailed light onto Pan (which requires the first bit). I also do not think everyone interested in Greek gods or mythology needs to write long posts like these, I just want to emphasize that thinking holistically is important. We should just be aware of how everything is interconnected and be open to learning more about different things that can help improve our understanding.

Citations:

1 : Borgeaud, P., & Atlass, K. (1988). The cult of Pan in ancient Greece (p. 58). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 13: 9780226065953

2: Ogden, D. (Ed.). (2010). A companion to Greek religion. John Wiley & Sons.

3: Zolotnikova, O. A. (2017). Becoming Classical Artemis: A Glimpse at the Evolution of the Goddess as Traced in Ancient Arcadia. Journal of Arts and Humanities, 6(5), 08-20. Doi: 10.18533/journal.v6i4.1157

4: David Gilman Romano, & Mary E. Voyatzis. (2014). Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project, Part 1: The Upper Sanctuary. Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 83(4), 569-652. doi:10.2972/hesperia.83.4.0569 doi: 10.2972/hesperia.83.4.0569

5: WILLS, G. (1998). The Real Arcadia. The American Scholar, 67(3), 15-27. Retrieved May 31, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/41212784

6:  GARTZIOU-TATTI, A. (2013). GODS, HEROES, AND THE BATTLE OF MARATHON. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement, (124), 91-110. Retrieved May 31, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/44216258

7: Yioutsos, N. P. (2014). Pan Rituals of Ancient Greece: a multi-Sensory Body Experience. In Archaeoacoustıcs: The Archaeology of Sound, Publication of the 2014 Conference in Malta (Vol. 57).

8: Parker, R. (2011). Analyzing Greek Gods. In On Greek Religion (pp. 64-102). Ithaca; London: Cornell University Press. doi:10.7591/j.ctt7zgrm.7

9: Haldane, J. (1968). Pindar and Pan: Frs. 95-100 Snell. Phoenix, 22(1), 18-31. doi:10.2307/1087034

10: Yioutsos, N., Kamaris, G., Kaleris, K., Papadakos, C., & Mourjopoulos, J. (2018). Archaeoacoustic Research on Caves dedicated to Pan and the Nymphs in Attica, Greece.

11: Yioutsos NP. (2019) Pan Rituals of Ancient Greece Revisited. In: Büster L., Warmenbol E., Mlekuž D. (eds) Between Worlds. Springer, Cham. Doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-99022-4_7

12: Arcadia. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica - https://www.britannica.com/place/Arcadia-region-Greece

13: Ruff, A. (2015). The Classical Origins of Arcadia. In Arcadian Visions: Pastoral Influences on Poetry, Painting and the Design of Landscape (pp. 1-14). Oxbow Books. Retrieved May 31, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt19704rw.5 , eISBN: 978-1-909686-69-4

14: Yioutsos, N. P. (2014). Pan Rituals of Ancient Greece: a Multi-Sensory Body Experience. In Archaeoacoustıcs: The Archaeology of Sound, Publication of the 2014 Conference in Malta (Vol. 57).

15: Rinkevich, T. E. (1973). Comic structure in Theocritus 1-7 (Doctoral dissertation, The Ohio State University).

16: Stamou, L. (2002). Plato and Aristotle on music and music education: Lessons from ancient Greece. International Journal of Music Education, (1), 3-16.

17: Campbell, G. L. (Ed.). (2014). The Oxford handbook of animals in classical thought and life. Oxford Handbooks. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199589425.001.0001 , ISBN: 9780199589425

18: Stewart, C. (2002). Erotic Dreams and Nightmares from Antiquity to the Present. The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 8(2), 279-309. Retrieved May 31, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/3134476

19: Faulkner, A. (2013). Et in Arcadia Diana: An Encounter with Pan in Callimachus’ Hymn to Artemis. Classical Philology, 108(3), 223-234. doi:10.1086/672004

Homeric Hymn to Pan: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0138%3Ahymn%3D19

[theprettyinthemundane]

Offerings to Pan

Here are some offerings that were given to Pan in the past! To read more about this please read Phillipe Borgeaud’s The Cult of Pan in Ancient Greece , it has so much information about the history, cultus, and myths. An important note: This is merely descriptive a simple exploration of what the literature has to say about this topic. This is not meant to be all inclusive, there are likely many things this post does not include and certainly feel free to comment or message me if I have made any mistakes. Thank you!

Like offerings to other gods, honey, cheese, milk, and cakes were set around the altar and offered to Pan and Pan received libations of wine (1, p. 163). Although the offerings most proper to Pan … according to Pharsalia … are laughter and good humor (a good spirit) and … “a just excess”(1, p. 139). One aspect of Pan that gets forgotten is his connection to laughter dance, and music which were related to his role as a fertility god, so that’s where this is coming from (probably). Pan was also “honored by clapping the hands… krotos so dear to the god; it is a ritual act proper to his cult (1, p. 149). Music and dance were also important parts of his cult, fundemental even (1). This relates back to his origin in Arkadia and a few other things that deserve their own post, so I won't dwell on it very much right now.

A related side note: according to tradition it was forbidden to approach Pan in silence, as “approaching the god in silence would mean turning oneself over to the acoustic illusion that are his specialty” (1. P. 166). Also, at some of Pan’s sanctuaries (namely one at the Akropolis ) couples would have sex there (1, 2). This does not seem to have been specifically to honor Pan, although one author notes “Pan, a god with a tendency to lust, would never refuse to offer protection” (3). To me this appears to be connected to how Pan was a positive symbol to many as opposed to a symbol of panic alone.

If this topic interests you be sure to check out the theoi project page too!

Pan was the ancient Greek god of shepherds and hunters, and of the meadows and forests of the mountain wilds. His unseen presence aroused pa

Citations:

1) Borgeaud, Philippe. The Cult of Pan in Ancient Greece. University of Chicago Press, 1988.

2) Scott, Michael. “Mapping the Religious Landscape: The Case of Pan in Athens.” Theoretical Approaches to the Archaeology of Ancient Greece: Manipulating Material Culture, edited by Lisa C. Nevett, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2017, pp. 212–229. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.8287082.14.

3) MASTRAPAS, ANTONIS. “THE BATTLE OF MARATHON AND THE INTRODUCTION OF PAN'S WORSHIP TO ATHENS: THE POLITICAL DIMENSION OF A LEGEND THROUGH WRITTEN EVIDENCE AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS.” Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement, no. 124, 2013, pp. 111–122. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44216259.

[theprettyinthemundane]

Resources for Researching Pan

If there is anyone else interested in Pan, I'm reccomending the book The Cult of Pan in Ancient Greece by Philippe Borgeaud . It's a book detailing Pan's history from a god only worshiped in Greece's rugged Arcadia, to Pan's arrival in Athens (in 490 BC) after the battle of Marathon and how the Greeks viewed him.

This book analyzes some key features: Pan's identity as an Arcadian and what that implied in Ancient Greece (including some information about their legends), Pan's connection to sexuality and music, panic and possession, fear, desire, and animality. Borgeaud takes the previously existing academic discourse surrounding the goat god and flies by that at light speed, giving us this concise tour-de-force that not only looks at Pan from a historical, mythical, or cultic view but giving us the intersection of the three. It also includes several photos of artifacts it references, which is helpful. If you want to learn about Pan this book is a wonderful pick, it is informative, analytical, and clearly a labour of love in the best ways. While The Cult of Pan in Ancient Greece is expensive, I've seen a full pdf of it somewhere for free.

Edit:[Another thing I wanted to add is the Orphic hymn to Pan (Orphic hymn 10). I feel like it touches on a lot of different aspects, it's really insightful if you want to know more: https://www.theoi.com/Text/OrphicHymns1.html#10 ]

ORPHIC HYMNS 1-40 - Theoi Classical Texts Library

There are other books on Pan and I'll likely upate or expand on this at some point, but for now I wanted to throw this out there in case someone felt stuck at theoi.com , which to be fair is a great resource. I'm going to post more about this book as a lot of my research involves this book, but I wanted to recommend this in case anyone else is interested too. Feel free to suggest other books too!