PAN, god of woods, fields, and fertility, was the son of Hermes, messenger of
the gods, and a nymph. Part animal, with the horns, hoofs, and ears of a goat,
he was a rollicking deity, the god of the shepherds and the goatherds. A
wonderful musician, he accompanied, with his pipe of reeds, the woodland nymphs
when they danced. He invented this pipe when the nymph Syrinx, whom he was
pursuing, was transformed into a bed of reeds to escape him; Pan then took reeds
of unequal length and played on them. The god was always wooing one of the
nymphs by playing on his pipes, but was always rejected because of his ugliness.
Pan's haunts were the mountains and caves and all wild places, but his favorite
spot was Arcady, where he was born.

The word panic is supposed to have been derived from the fears of travelers who
heard the sound of his pipes at night in the wilderness.