Glimpses of the Left..

good nor evil, existing in its undifferentiated form. This is the force beyond
all rationality (alogos) of any rules
and laws. Servius describes Pan in the foHowing way:
"Pan is a rustic god, formed in similitude of nature, and so he is called Pan, i.e. All:
for he has horns in similitude of the rays of the sun and the horns of the moon; his
face is ruddy, in imitation of the aether; he has a fawn skin on his in
likeness of the stars; his lower parts are on account of the trees, shrubs, and
wild beasts; he has feet, to denote the of the he has a of
seven reeds, on account of the of the heavens, in which there are seven
sounds; he has a that is a curved staff, on account of the year, which runs
back on itself, because he is the of all nature".71
However, Pan is above all the of Matter, the mundane world of
humans. Hence the Arcadians called him "Ton tes Hules Kurion", "The
Lord of Matter", to the Greek term "hyIe", the world substance.
That is why the iconography includes an inverted pe'nta:grilm
pointing down, to the earth, which represents the superiority of Matter (the
four upper arms of the over the (the centered
the path of Pan is the path of instincts, basic nature, union
material world.
For the Greeks, Pan was the from Arcadia, dwelling in the Arcadian
woodlands and mountains. This region in became
the of the bucolic with sunny wild forests,
idyllic life in harmony with nature. Here dwelled the fabled and ,..,.,,,,.n,,",,
creatures, such as satyrs or fauns. was also the favourite
place of Pan. Symbolically, it was the kingdom of the Irrational, the magic
and the the of life, and vitality.
Arcadia was the region of music. From early childhood there
learned to hymns in praise of and each year there was a contest
in which, accompanied by flutes and other instruments, competitors
presented their artistic talents. Music was also the domain of Pan. His cult
included dancing, singing and music, and Pan himself was believed to
have invented the a kind of a with reeds of different length. He
was often while playing this instrument. to a myth, the
name "syrinx" derived the name of a who rejected Pan's
Pan chased her until she asked gods to her into a
Quoted in: Thomas Keightley: The Mythology oj Ancient Greece and Italy
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