slug: "hymns/pan"
lang: en
title: "Orphic Hymn to Pan"
pageCreated: "2026-04-17"
extends ../../../views/hymns/hymnsheet.pug
block navbar
ul
li.nav-arrow.nav-arrow-left: a(href="/hymns/physis") #[span.dingbat ☙] #[b(lang="grc") Φυσεως] #[i To Nature]
li.nav-current ΙΑʹ · XI
li.nav-arrow.nav-arrow-right: a(href="/hymns/heracles") #[i To Heracles] #[b(lang="grc") Ηρακλεους] #[span.dingbat ❧]
block ancient-pic
img(src="/hymns/thumbnails/pan-ancient.jpg" alt="Ancient mosaic of Pan")
block modern-pic
img(src="/hymns/thumbnails/pan-modern.jpg" alt="Modern painting of Pan")
block greek
h1 Πανός
div.offering Θυμίαμα ποικίλα
p.hymn-greek
:format-hymn
Πᾶνα καλῶ κρατερόν, νόμιον, κόσμοιο τὸ σύμπαν,
οὐρανὸν ἠδὲ θάλασσαν ἰδὲ χθόνα παμβασίλειαν
καὶ πῦρ ἀθάνατον· τάδε γὰρ μέλε’ ἐστὶ τὰ Πανός,
ἐλθέ, μάκαρ, σκιρτητά, περίδρομε, σύνθρονος Ὥραις,
αἰγομελές, βακχευτά, φιλένθεος, ἀντροδίαιτε,
ἁρμονίην κόσμοιο κρέκων φιλοπαίγμονι μολπῇ,
φαντασιῶν ἐπαρωγέ, φόβων ἔκπαγλε βροτείων,
αἰγονόμοις χαίρων ἀνὰ πίδακας ἠδέ τε βούταις,
εὔσκοπε, θηρητήρ, Ἠχοῦς φίλε, σύγχορε νυμφῶν,
παντοφυές, γενέτορ πάντων, πολυώνυμε Δαῖμον,
κοσμοκράτωρ, αὐξητά, φαεσφόρε, κάρπιμε Παιάν,
ἀντροχαρές, βαρύμηνις, ἀληθὴς Ζεὺς ὁ κεράστης.
Σοὶ γὰρ ἀπειρέσιον γαίης πέδον ἐστήρικται,
εἴκει δ’ ἀκαμάτου πόντου τὸ βαθύρροον ὕδωρ
Ὠκεανός τε πέριξ ἐν ὕδασι γαῖαν ἑλίσσων,
ἠέριόν τε μέρισμα τροφῆς, ζωοῖσιν ἔναυσμα,
καὶ κορυφῆς ἐφύπερθεν ἐλαφροτάτου πυρὸς ὄμμα.
βαίνει γὰρ τάδε ῥεῖα πολύκριτα σῇσιν ἐφετμαῖς·
ἀλλάσσεις δὲ φύσεις πάντων ταῖς σῇσι προνοίαις
βόσκων ἀνθρώπων γενεὴν κατ’ ἀπείρονα κόσμον.
ἀλλά, μάκαρ, βακχευτά, φιλένθεε, βαῖν’ ἐπὶ λοιβαῖς
εὐιέροις, ἀγαθὴν δ’ ὄπασον βιότοιο τελευτὴν
Πανικὸν ἐκπέμπων οἶστρον ἐπὶ τέρματα γαίης.
block english
h1 To Pan#[+sn(1)]
div.offering The fumigation from various odors
p.hymn-english I call strong Pan, the substance of the whole,#[br]ætherial, marine, earthly, general soul,#[br]immortal fire; for all the world is Thine,#[br]and all are parts of Thee, O pow’r divine.#[br]Come, blessed Pan, whom rural haunts delight,#[br]come, leaping, agile, wand’ring, starry light;#[br]the Hours and Seasons, wait Thy high command,#[br]and round Thy throne in graceful order stand.#[br]Goat-footed, horned, Bacchanalian Pan,#[br]fanatic pow’r, from whom the world began,#[br]whose various parts by Thee inspir’d, combine#[br]in endless dance and melody divine.#[br]In Thee a refuge from our fears we find,#[br]those fears peculiar to the human kind.#[br]Thee shepherds, streams of water, goats rejoice,#[br]Thou lov’st the chase, and Echo’s secret voice#[+sn(2)]: #[br]the sportive nymphs#[+sn(3)], Thy ev’ry step attend, #[br]and all Thy works fulfill their destin’d end.#[br]O all-producing pow’r, much-fam’d, divine,#[br]the world’s great ruler, rich increase is Thine.#[br]All-fertile Pæan, heav’nly splendor pure,#[br]in fruits rejoicing, and in caves obscure.#[+sn(4)]#[br]True serpent-horned #[span.theonym(greek="Zeus") Jove]#[+sn(5)], whose dreadful rage#[br]when rous’d, ’tis hard for mortals to assuage.#[br]By Thee the earth wide-bosom’d deep and long,#[br]stands on a basis permanent and strong.#[br]Th’ unwearied waters of the rolling sea,#[br]profoundly spreading, yield to Thy decree.#[br]Old Ocean too reveres Thy high command,#[br]whose liquid arms begirt the solid land.#[br]The spacious air, whose nutrimental fire,#[br]and vivid blasts, the heat of life inspire#[br]the lighter frame of fire, whose sparkling eye#[br]shines on the summit of the azure sky,#[br]submit alike to Thee, whole general sway#[br]all parts of matter, various form’d obey.#[br]All nature’s change thro’ Thy protecting care,#[br]and all mankind Thy lib’ral bounties share:#[br]for these where’er dispers’d thro’ boundless space,#[br]still find Thy providence support their race.#[br]Come, Bacchanalian, blessed power draw near,#[br]fanatic Pan, Thy humble suppliant hear,#[br]propitious to these holy rites attend,#[br]and grant my life may meet a prosp’rous end;#[br]drive Panic fury too, wherever found,#[br]from human kind, to earth’s remotest bound.
+sn(1)
p Pan, it is well known, is the same with the Universe, and is called by Orpheus #[i(lang="grc") προτογόνος] (Protogonos), as we are informed by Damascius #[i(lang="grc") Περὶ ἀρχῶν]. Now #[span.theonym(greek="Zeus") Jupiter] in the Orphic theology, is the demiurgus of the universe, or the first intellect; and #[span.theonym(greek="Apollon") Apollo], in the intellectual world, is the same with #[span.theonym(greek="Zeus") Jupiter], as we have shown in #[a(href="/hymns/helios") our notes to #[span.theonym(greek="Helios") the Sun]]. Hence the reason is obvious why Pan is called in this Hymn, all-fertile Pan. And if we compare the Orphic fragment, given in the Dissertation, with the present Hymn, we shall find a striking resemblance; as the king and father of universe, #[span.theonym(greek="Protogonos") Protogonus] or #[span.theonym(greek="Zeus") Jupiter] is there celebrated as being all things; and is represented under the symbol of a divine body, whole members are the various parts of the world.
+sn(2)
p Phurnutus informs us, that Pan is reported to dwell in solitary places, for the purpose of evincing his unity. For the World is one, and only-begotten. #[a.cite(href="https://archive.org/details/b30325067_0002" title="Opuscula mythologica physica et ethica Græce et Latine") Opusc. Mythol. p. 203].
+sn(3)
p This is because Pan rejoices in the exhalations produced from humid substances; without which the world cannot subsist. Phurnutus.
+sn(4)
p A cave, as we learn from Porphyry, #[a.cite(title="On the Cave of the Nymphs in the Odyssey" href="https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/porphyry_cave_of_nymphs_02_translation.htm") De antro Nympharum], is an apt symbol of the material world; since it is agreeable at its first entrance on account of its participation of form, but is involved in the deepest obscurity to the intellectual eye, which endeavours to discern its dark foundation. So that, like a cave, its exterior and superficial parts are pleasant; but its interior parts are obscure, and its very bottom, darkness itself.
+sn(5)
p The reason why Pan is horned, is, because #[span.theonym(greek="Zeus") Jove] is the mingler of all things, according to Orpheus, as we learn from #[i Jo. Diac. Allegor. in Hesiod. p. 305]; and the word κερασήσ is as Gesner observes, derived from the verb #[i(lang="grc") κεράννυμι], to mingle: so that horns are an occult symbol of the mingling and tempering power of the demiurgus of the world. But the literal meaning of the word #[i(lang="grc") κερασης] is horned serpent; and one of the heads of #[span.theonym(greek="Protogonos") Protogonus] is that of a serpent. We may add that Pan considered as the soul of the world, is with great propriety called #[span.theonym(greek="Zeus") Jove]; since that appellation is given by Orpheus to the mundane soul.
p [#[i If anyone is aware of what source “Jo. Diac. Allegor.” may be referring to, please let me know. —Ed.]]