Today is Tu b’Shvat in Israel, the Jewish New Year for trees. It is marked here by tree planting ceremonies, the eating of fruit, and in recent years, acts of ecological awareness.
This time the weather has been rather less cooperative than in many years, with the country hit by a cold spell, and the possible threat (or promise? https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/what-the-chance-of-snow-in-israel-does-to-israelis/) of snow.
Nevertheless, with thoughts turning to the natural world, it seems a fitting time to think a little bit about the Greek god, Pan. I have been looking at this deity recently, in preparation for this year’s Our Mythical Childhood conference in Warsaw in May, the theme of which this year is nature http://www.omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl/our-mythical-nature-people.
Pan is an interesting god, a liminal figure, half man, half goat, and as such represents a monstrous side of humanity, straddling the border between two worlds.
In antiquity, Pan was known as the deity of shepherds, who led the flocks from summer to winter pastures, a protector, and guardian of their health. A creature of laughter and benevolence, he was often depicted playing his joyful music on his panpipes and dancing with the nymphs or satyrs. He was not only associated with music but also with the sounds of nature — the echoing hillsides, the cry of the wind, and the call of beasts. A creature filled with sexual vitality, he was also a god of fecundity, enabling fertility of both vegetation and animals, but he also had a darker side, like nature itself, a hunter, and inducer of “panic” in humans and beasts alike, capable of turning gentle souls into wild, flesh-eating creatures.
So where does Pan feature in Israel? Well if you head up to the north of the country you will find the Banias Spring, which comes out of the foot of Mount Hermon and flows through a canyon leading to the Banias Waterfall, which, at 30 metres, is the longest in Israel. In ancient times, the spring flowed from a cave which is still visible, although now it trickles from the rock below. Banias was originally named “Panias”, was but under the influence of the Arabic language which lacks a ‘p’ sound, the name changed. The entire site was dedicated to the worship of Pan, and several first century CE remains can be seen there – parts of a temple, courtyards, a grotto and niches for rituals.
The area also contains other Roman remains, including some from the town of Caesarea Philippi, named after Herod’s son, Philip the Tetrarch, and those of the palace of Agrippa the Second, grandson of Herod. It is a site of importance to Christian tradition, according to which it was here that Simon informed Jesus that people believed Jesus to be the messiah. In return Simon was renamed “Peter,” or “Petros”, which means “rock” in Greek, for he was to be the rock upon which the church would be founded; thus it was at Banias that Simon Peter became, in effect, the first pope.
