Pan was Herme’s son, a noisy merry god. He was a pastoral god of fertility: part animal with goat’s horns and hooves. He was a wonderful musician and always in love with one woodland nymph or another, but always rejected because of his ugliness. Sounds heard in the night by frightened travelers were supposedly made by him; hence the word “panic”.

Mercury, also known as Hermes, was winged and fleet of foot. He was the messenger of the gods and perhaps the cleverest and most cunning. Often considered the Master Thief, he stole the night from the day on the morning he was born. Zeus, his father, made him give it back. Maia, daughter of Atlas, was his mother and Pan his son.