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The Great God Pan: The Survival of an Image
Among the gods of classical antiquity Pan – that distinctive figure combining the physical characteristics of man and goat – is one of the few to have retained a special place in the imaginations of writers and artists, even into modern times.
In this, the twenty-ninth Walter Neurath Memorial Lecture, the eminent classical scholar Sir John Boardman describes how the concept of Pan – originally a rustic deity associated with the herdsmen in southern Greece – and his familiar pipes developed and was adapted in later times.
Whether viewed as a personification of country ways, equated with the excesses of Bacchic revels or treated as a demon figure, the presence of Pan was felt in the literature and art of antiquity, the mediaeval period and notably in Renaissance and later paintings. More recently, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, he was adopted by many Romantic artists and writers and has also served as a medium for topical caricatures.
Although the ideals which Pan represented in ancient Greece and Rome may have passed into ancient history, the traditional image associated with his name remains as vivid as ever in the minds of modern man.
In this, the twenty-ninth Walter Neurath Memorial Lecture, the eminent classical scholar Sir John Boardman describes how the concept of Pan – originally a rustic deity associated with the herdsmen in southern Greece – and his familiar pipes developed and was adapted in later times.
Whether viewed as a personification of country ways, equated with the excesses of Bacchic revels or treated as a demon figure, the presence of Pan was felt in the literature and art of antiquity, the mediaeval period and notably in Renaissance and later paintings. More recently, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, he was adopted by many Romantic artists and writers and has also served as a medium for topical caricatures.
Although the ideals which Pan represented in ancient Greece and Rome may have passed into ancient history, the traditional image associated with his name remains as vivid as ever in the minds of modern man.
48 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 3, 2026
Why I read it: I have an interest in ancient history, and an affinity for deities associated with wild places. I started reading this in July and then I lost it at the bottom of a massive pile of comics I kept not putting away, and I've only just re-found it, flipped it open, and finished it.
Thoughts: Short read, short review. I read this as one might listen to a lecture (which I believe this actually was, in 1997), and I didn't think to take notes or anything, as I was just... enjoying it. I particularly liked this, in the introduction:
I also liked that the author worked backwards in time, more or less, starting with Pan's post-antiquity appearances, then finally circling back to the Homeric Hymns, Pan's birth, and his representation in art more contemporary to his worship. He closes the lecture by addressing the "Great Pan is dead" incident, which is incidentally one of my favourite things. I do like reading interpretations of it ("In the Greek, [X] is said and it actually translates as [Y]" and "Ah but the pilot's name refers to [Z]" and "Considering the time period, this is about the death of Christ" and so on), but reading it at face value, as so many have done, still plucks all the right strings in my tender heart. From the lecture:
I have yet to find any trope or story element more moving than "the end of an era" (sometimes I think about Tolkien's elves passing to the west and get teary).
As a final note, here is the list of Walter Neurath lectures... so many seem interesting, so I might try and get my hands on more of them.
Thoughts: Short read, short review. I read this as one might listen to a lecture (which I believe this actually was, in 1997), and I didn't think to take notes or anything, as I was just... enjoying it. I particularly liked this, in the introduction:
However, all of us who keep our eyes and ears open know that Pan is not dead. Of all the gods and demigods of classical antiquity, besides perhaps Hercules, his image and reputation are the most readily recognized in the modern world. He has often been evoked to express much that seems relevant to various aspects of society and human behaviour, and in using him each author and artist commonly reveals more about themselves than about the god.
I also liked that the author worked backwards in time, more or less, starting with Pan's post-antiquity appearances, then finally circling back to the Homeric Hymns, Pan's birth, and his representation in art more contemporary to his worship. He closes the lecture by addressing the "Great Pan is dead" incident, which is incidentally one of my favourite things. I do like reading interpretations of it ("In the Greek, [X] is said and it actually translates as [Y]" and "Ah but the pilot's name refers to [Z]" and "Considering the time period, this is about the death of Christ" and so on), but reading it at face value, as so many have done, still plucks all the right strings in my tender heart. From the lecture:
[Elizabeth Browning's] view of the event finds in it a portent of the approaching end of the pagan classical world, in which one might rejoice, as in the passage from darkness to light; or for which one might mourn, since it marked the passing of the simple, if sometimes violent, Arcadian life - where Pan, his pipes and cry, could soothe or terrify the hearts of man and beasts, and where the god himself suffered the agonies of his ugliness and live - and the arrival of a modern worlds in which pan could be remembered only as a symbol, either of lost rustic innocence or of the most basic and deeply felt passions of that noblest of animals, Man.
I have yet to find any trope or story element more moving than "the end of an era" (sometimes I think about Tolkien's elves passing to the west and get teary).
As a final note, here is the list of Walter Neurath lectures... so many seem interesting, so I might try and get my hands on more of them.
April 20, 2017
A nice overview of the depiction of the Arcadian deity Pan, the first section on post-classical art, the second on classical.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews