Myth Library · Divine Birth And Welcome

The Birth of Pan

1 source witness · 1 source-scoped variant · reviewed 2026-08-30

Homeric Hymn 19 makes Hermes the father of Pan and the bearer who presents the goat-footed infant to the delighted Olympians.

Canonical narrative

Homeric Hymn 19 places Hermes among the rugged hills of Arcadia, tending the flocks of a mortal because he desires that man’s daughter. The woman is identified only as the daughter of Dryops. She bears Hermes a child with goat feet, two horns, a loud voice, and a laughing face.

The nurse recoils and flees. Hermes does not abandon the newborn. He takes the child in his arms, wraps him in the thick skins of a mountain hare, and carries him to Olympus. The immortals delight in the strange child, Dionysus above all. The hymn connects the name Pan with the pleasure he gives them all.

This witness preserves one specific genealogy beside other ancient accounts. It does not name the mother beyond her Dryopian descent, and its fear, welcome, and naming belong to this source-scoped birth story.

Episodes in this myth

Episode 1

Hermes and the daughter of Dryops

While tending a mortal’s flocks in Arcadia, Hermes loves the unnamed daughter of Dryops.

Episode 2

Pan is born

The child is born goat-footed, horned, noisy, and laughing; his nurse flees in fear.

Episode 3

Hermes carries Pan to Olympus

Hermes wraps the child in mountain-hare skins and presents him to the gods, who rejoice, Dionysus especially.

Participants and roles

Hermes

father who serves as a shepherd in Arcadia and carries the newborn Pan to Olympus

The hymn makes Hermes both father and bearer of the child.

Pan

newborn god with goat feet and horns who delights the immortals

Hymn 19 supplies a source-specific birth and naming account.

Daughter of Dryops

unnamed mortal woman whom Hermes loves and who bears Pan

The hymn identifies her by her father, not by a personal name.

Pan’s nurse

unnamed nurse who flees in fear at the infant’s goat feet and horns

The fear belongs to this hymn’s birth scene.

Olympian gods

assembly that welcomes and delights in the newborn Pan

The group receives the child after Hermes carries him to Olympus.

Dionysus

god said to delight in Pan above the other immortals

The hymn singles Dionysus out within the divine welcome.

Source-scoped variants

Pan’s birth in Homeric Hymn 19

Hermes fathers Pan with the unnamed daughter of Dryops and carries the goat-footed newborn to Olympus.

What differs: The hymn preserves a specific Arcadian maternal identification and divine welcome; other genealogies must remain separate.

Greek Archaic · Arcadia

Source witnesses

EXPLICIT PRIMARY · Reviewed

Homeric Hymns

Anonymous Homeric Hymns; edited and translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White · 1914

Hymn Homeric Hymn 19 to Pan · Line 1-45

The entire exact English component was reviewed: parentage, Arcadian shepherd setting, birth, nurse’s fear, ascent, divine welcome, and naming.

Open reviewed source