Faunus



Statue of Pan. Hever Castle, Kent, England.
Click on image for full size (84K JPEG)
Image courtesy of Corel Corporation.
Faunus was a Roman pastoral god. The Romans identified him with the Greek god Pan . Like Pan, Faunus had the legs and horns of a goat.

Faunus was an oracular deity. He was able to predict the future that was revealed to him in dreams or by supernatural voices coming from sacred groves.

Pan was a great musician, and one day stated that he was better than Apollo. A contest was held, and the judge ruled that Apollo was better. King Midas disagreed, and so the judge turned his ears into donkey ears.

Faunus



Statue of Pan. Hever Castle, Kent, England.
Click on image for full size (84K JPEG)
Image courtesy of Corel Corporation.
Faunus was a Roman pastoral god. The Romans identified him with the Greek god Pan. Some times the Greek god Pan was associated with the different Roman deity Silvanus, the god of wild nature. Like his Greek counterpart, he had the legs and horns of a goat.

Faunus was an oracular deity. He was able to predict the future that was revealed to him in dreams or in supernatural voices coming from sacred groves. He was also considered a very good musician.

Pan was singing one day and boasted he was a better musician than Apollo. A contest was held between the two, with Tmolus serving as judge. Apollo had a much better instrument than Pan, and was chosen the winner. Even though Tmolus chose Apollo as the winner, King Midas disagreed. Tmolus turned the king's ears into donkey ears as punishment.

Faunus



Statue of Pan. Hever Castle, Kent, England.
Click on image for full size (84K JPEG)
Image courtesy of Corel Corporation.
Faunus was a Roman pastoral god. The Romans identified him with the Greek god Pan. Some times the Greek god Pan was associated with the different Roman deity Silvanus, the god of wild nature. Like his Greek counterpart, he had the legs and horns of a goat.

Faunus was an oracular deity. He was able to predict the future that was revealed to him in dreams or in supernatural voices coming from sacred groves. Faunus had followers called fauns, who were similar to the Greek satyrs but more benign.

He was also a very good musician. One day while playing his lyre and singing, Pan boasted he was a better musician than Apollo. A contest was held between the two, with Tmolus serving as judge. Pan was forced to play rusty old pipes, while Apollo used a beautiful lyre made with ivory and stones. Tmolus chose Apollo as the winner.

King Midas, however, disagreed with Tmolus. He argued that Pan was the better player. Tmolus was angered, and turned the king's human ears into ass's ears. King Midas tried to hide this embarassment, but his barber discovered his secret. Promising not to tell, the barber dug a hole in the ground and whispered the secret into it.

However, the next year reeds grew from the ground. It is told that whenever the winds blow through the reeds, you can hear them say, "King Midas has ass's ears."




Last modified prior to September, 2000 by the Windows Team

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