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There are many famous deities from the stories of Ancient Greece, and yet one of the most recognisable is not one of the main Olympians but is a non-humanoid god, and that god is Pan.

There are various stories about the birth of Pan, and although many point to Hermes as being his father, after a union with a nymph, but a more logical choice of parentage would be that Pan was the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. This logic would allow for the inclusion of several stories about Pan where he seems to predate the Olympian gods. Pan indeed is said to have been the one who taught Apollo about prophecy, and provided Artemis with her hunting hounds.

As previously mentioned Pan is one of the most recognisable of gods. Pan is normally described as having the lower half of his body as if he was a goat, in much the same way as satyrs and fauns were normally described. Additionally he was said to have a wrinkled face with a chin that projected out, and from his forehead there were two prominent horns. It was an image indeed that was taken onboard by Christians as descriptive of Satan.

The looks of Pan did not stop him from a achieving a revered position in Greek mythology, and Pan was worshipped as the god of shepherds and their flocks. The name itself, Pan, is normally said to have derived from the Greek Pa-on meaning herdsman. This association provided Pan with one of his emblems, that of the shepherd's crook.

Pan's other main emblems are linked with his love life, something that took up much of his time as he searched for conquests amongst shepherds, nymphs and maidens. Pan is of course most closely associated with the Panpipes. This instrument came about as Pan fell in love with a water nymph called Syrinx. It was though a love that the nymph did not reciprocate and so she fled into the care of her sisters. In order to disguise Syrinx she was changed into a reed, hidden amongst the others by the river. Pan though was not finished in the chase, and although unable to locate the exact reed that Syrinx had been changed into, he cut away seven reeds and made them into the instrument we know today.

Pan is also often depicted with a crown of pine needles, and again this is a reference to another lost love. Pitys was another nymph who sought to avoid the attention of Pan, and changed herself into a pine tree in order that Pan could not find her. Another nymph who turned down the advances of Pan, was the more famous Echo, and in some tales it was Pan who had the voice Echo separated

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