where he was worshiped together with the nymphs and other rustic gods in numerous
cave shrines. Contrary to the practice in Arcadia, where Pan was a tutelary god
with temples and sanctuaries like those of other deities, the rest of the Greek world
viewed the cave as the proper dwelling for this god of the wild places. After 490 BC, the
cults at these caves, including one near Marathon, gained a wider and more affluent
clientele who dedicated pots, small metal items, and marble votive reliefs. Menander’s
comedyDyscolusis set at one such shrine, the cave at Phyle in Attica. In the play, Pan
rewards a pious maiden by causing a wealthy youth to fall in love with her, and punishes
her neglectful father Cnemon, whose sour misanthropy offends against the god’s rule
of laughter and good cheer.
Folk traditions connected Pan with mysterious noises, particularly the echoes
heard in mountainous terrain, with ‘‘panic,’’ the phenomenon of sudden terror,
seemingly without cause, that comes over armies in the night; and with certain types
of illness involving apparent possession by the god (seizures). Pan’s theriomorphism
and association with madness also brought him into connection with ecstatic forms
of worship such as the cults of Dionysus and the Great Mother, though always
as a subordinate figure. Pan’s cult took root in Boeotia as a pendant to that of
the Mother, as we learn from the Theban poet Pindar (fr. 96 Snell), who calls
Pan ‘‘the dog of Meter.’’ One of the manifestations of the Theban Cabiri was the
father-and-son pair Hermes and Pan, who acted as attendants on a mother goddess.
Similarly at Lycosura in Arcadia, the sanctuary of Pan was located beside that of
Demeter and Despoena. It boasted an eternal flame and verse oracles delivered by
Arcas’ wife, the nymph Erato, which visitors were permitted to read (Pausanias
8.37.11).
Nourishers of the Young: The Rivers
The religious experience of most moderns diverges significantly from that of people in
antiquity because it is not intimately tied to one place. For the Greeks, place of birth
determined one’s relationships with the gods. Colonists leaving their old homes
brought with them fire from the hearth of their mother-city, and the cults of its
gods. Yet their children would be nurtured in the new land by its resident powers.
Like the nymphs, the river gods were closely associated with human fertility, the care
of children, and love of one’s homeland. These minor gods made up for their strictly
local influence by their great numbers: ‘‘it is difficult for a mortal to tell the names of
all, but those who dwell near them know their own’’ (Hesiod,Theogony69–70).
Babies were often given names evocative of local rivers: Asopodorus, Ismenodorus,
Acheloeus. In fifth-century Athens, a man named Cephisodotus co-founded a shrine
to the river Cephisus and other gods, including Hermes and the nymphs. The other
founder, Xenocratia, made offerings for the welfare of her son. She established an
altar for a number of gods concerned with children, including the rivers Cephisus and
Achelous; the trio Apollo, Artemis, and Leto; Eileithyia; and the local nymphs. Again,
we are reminded of Peleus’ prayers to the river Spercheus for his son’s safety. The
offering of a lock of hair to the local river was a widespread custom; in Aeschylus’
Choephoroi(6), Orestes calls this offering to Inachus athrepte ̄rion, a recompense for
his upbringing.
64 Jennifer Larson