Faunus / Pan. Pan is a god in Greek mythology associated with nature, shepherds, flocks, and rustic music. He is often depicted in art as a symbol of fertility, wildness, and the untamed aspects of the natural world. Typically Pan is depicted as a half-human, half-goat figure, with the upper body of a man and the lower body, legs, and horns of a goat. This hybrid form, known as a faun or satyr, emphasizes his connection to nature and the animal world. Oftern he is playing a musical instrument, particularly the pan flute or pan pipes, which he is said to have invented. Pan is frequently depicted in natural settings, such as woodlands, forests, or mountains, reflecting his role as a god of nature and protector of wild places. He may be shown surrounded by trees, plants, or animals, emphasizing his connection to the environment. Also he portrayed in the company of nymphs, who are minor female deities associated with nature and the wilderness. One common theme is his pursuit of nymphs, who are often shown fleeing from his amorous advances. These scenes emphasize Pan's lustful and mischievous nature, as well as the contrast between his wild, untamed character and the grace and beauty of the nymphs. A popular episode from the myth of Pan involves his pursuit of the nymph Syrinx, who was transformed into a bed of reeds to escape his advances. In art, this scene may be depicted as a moment of tension and transformation, with Pan reaching out to grasp the elusive Syrinx as she changes form. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, wooded glens and often affiliated with sex; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. The ancient Greeks also considered Pan to be the god of theatrical criticism. The word panic ultimately derives from the god's name. In Roman religion and myth, Pan's counterpart was Faunus, a nature god who was the father of Bona Dea, sometimes identified as Fauna; he was also closely associated with Sylvanus, due to their similar relationships with woodlands. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Pan became a significant figure in the Romantic movement of western Europe and also in the 20th-century Neopagan movement. The connection between Pan and Pushan was first identified in 1924 by the German scholar Hermann Collitz. According to Edwin L. Brown, the name Pan is probably a cognate with the Greek word ὀ companion. In his earliest appearance in literature, Pindar's Pythian Ode iii. 78, Pan is associated with a mother goddess, perhaps Rhea or Cybele; Pindar refers to maidens worshipping Cybele and Pan near the poet's house in Boeotia. The worship of Pan began in Arcadia which was always the principal seat of his worship. Arcadia was a district of mountain people, culturally separated from other Greeks. Arcadian hunters used to scourge the statue of the god if they had been disappointed in the chase. Being a rustic god, Pan was not worshipped in temples or other built edifices, but in natural settings, usually caves or grottoes such as the one on the north slope of the Acropolis of Athens. These are often referred to as the Cave of Pan. The only exceptions are the Temple of Pan on the Neda River gorge in the southwestern Peloponnese-the ruins of which survive to this day-and the Temple of Pan at Apollonopolis Magna in ancient Egypt. In the 4th century BCE Pan was depicted on the coinage of Pantikapaion. The parentage of Pan is unclear; generally he is the son of Hermes, although occasionally in some myths of Dionysus, with whom his mother is said to be a wood nymph, sometimes Dryope or, even in the 5th-century AD source Dionysiaca by Nonnus, Penelope of Mantineia in Arcadia. In some early sources such as Pindar, his father is Apollo via Penelope, the wife of Odysseus. Herodotus, Cicero, Apollodorus and Hyginus all make Hermes and Penelope his parents.