In Greek mythology, various authors describe Pan as the son of Hermes and Penelope (/pəˈnɛləpiː/ pə-NEL-ə-pee; Greek: Πηνελόπη, Pēnelópē). This Penelope is apparently the same person as Penelope, the wife of Odysseus in the Odyssey. It has been suggested, however, that the Penelope given as Pan's mother was originally a nymph, and a separate figure to Odysseus' wife.
Alternatively, Pindar and Hecataeus state that she is Pan's mother by Apollo, while according to the historian Duris of Samos, the birth of Pan is the result of her sleeping with all of her suitors.
See also
Notes
- Herodotus, 2.145; Apollodorus, E.7.38; Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods 2 (pp. 244–7). Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.22.56 (pp. 340, 341) and Hyginus, Fabulae 224 state that Pan is the son of Mercury and Penelope. Nonnus, Dionysiaca 14.87–94 (pp. 478, 479) states that she is the mother of "Pan Nomios" by Hermes.
- Hard, p. 215; March, s.v. Pan, p. 582; Apollodorus, E.7.38.
- According to Hard, p. 215, that Pan's mother was Odysseus' wife "is so odd that it is tempting to suppose that this Penelope was not originally the wife of Odysseus, but an entirely different figure, perhaps an Arcadian nymph or the above-mentioned daughter of Dryops". Gantz, p. 839 n. 63 to p. 110 states that Brommer's Satyroi argues for the existence of such a figure, who was later forgotten and conflated with the wife of Odysseus. See Haldane, pp. 24–5 for a more extensive discussion.
- Gantz, p. 110; Pindar, fr. 90 Bowra; FGrHist 1 F371 .
- BNJ 76 F21a ; so too Scholia on Theocritus' Idylls 1.3/4c (Wendel, p. 27–8) .
References
- Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Bowra, Cecil Maurice, Pindari carmina: cum fragmentis, Oxford, E. Typographeo Clarendoniano, 1947. Internet Archive.
- Cicero, Marcus Tullius, De Natura Deorum in Cicero: On the Nature of the Gods. Academics, translated by H. Rackham, Loeb Classical Library No. 268, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, first published 1933, revised 1951. ISBN 978-0-674-99296-2. Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive.
- Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
- Haldane, Joan A., "Pindar and Pan: frs. 95-100 Snell", in Phoenix, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 18–31. JSTOR 1087034.
- Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 9780415186360. Google Books.
- Herodotus, Histories, translated by A. D. Godley, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1920. ISBN 0674991338. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
- Homeric Hymn 19 to Pan, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Lucian, Dialogues of the Dead. Dialogues of the Sea-Gods. Dialogues of the Gods. Dialogues of the Courtesans, translated by M. D. MacLeod, Loeb Classical Library No. 431, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1961. ISBN 978-0-674-99475-1. Online version at Harvard University Press.
- March, Jenny, Cassell's Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Cassell & Co., 2001. ISBN 0-304-35788-X. Internet Archive.
- Nonnus, Dionysiaca, Volume I: Books 1–15, translated by W. H. D. Rouse, Loeb Classical Library No. 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1940 (revised 1984). ISBN 978-0-674-99379-2. Online version at Harvard University Press. Internet Archive (1940).
- Wendel, Carl, Scholia in Theocritum vetera, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Leipzig, Teubner, 1914. Internet Archive. Online version at De Gruyter (1966 reprint).