Faun

The faun (Latin: faunus, Ancient Greek: φαῦνος, phaunos, pronounced [pʰaynos]) is a half human–half goat (from the head to the waist being human, but with the addition of goat horns) manifestation of forest and animal spirits that would help or hinder humans at whim. They are often associated with the satyrs of Greek mythology.

Origins

Romans believed fauns inspired fear in men traveling in lonely, remote or wild places. They were also capable of guiding humans in need, as in the fable of The Satyr and the Traveller, in the title of which Latin authors substituted the word Faunus. Fauns and satyrs were originally quite different creatures: whereas fauns are half-man and half-goat, satyrs originally were depicted as stocky, hairy, ugly dwarfs or woodwoses with the ears and tails of horses or asses. Satyrs also were more woman-loving than fauns, and fauns were rather foolish where satyrs had more knowledge.

Ancient Roman mythological belief also included a god named Faunus often associated with enchanted woods and the Greek god Pan and a goddess named Fauna who were goat people.

Faun (film)

Faun is a 1918 Hungarian silent drama film directed by Alexander Korda and starring Gábor Rajnay, Dezsõ Gyárfás and Artúr Somlay. It was based on a play by Eduard Knoblauch.

Cast

References

Bibliography

External links

Faun (disambiguation)

A faun is a half-human, half-goat creature in Roman mythology.

Faun may also refer to:

See also

Lupercalia

Lupercalia was a very ancient, possibly pre-Romanpastoral festival, observed on February 13 through 15, to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility. Lupercalia subsumed Februa, an earlier-origin spring cleansing ritual held on the same date, which gives the month of February (Februarius) its name.

The name Lupercalia was believed in antiquity to evince some connection with the Ancient Greek festival of the Arcadian Lykaia (from Ancient Greek: λύκος — lukos, "wolf", Latin lupus) and the worship of Lycaean Pan, assumed to be a Greek equivalent to Faunus, as instituted by Evander.

In Roman mythology, Lupercus is a god sometimes identified with the Roman god Faunus, who is the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Pan. Lupercus is the god of shepherds. His festival, celebrated on the anniversary of the founding of his temple on February 15, was called the Lupercalia. His priests wore goatskins. The historian Justin mentions an image of "the Lycaean god, whom the Greeks call Pan and the Romans Lupercus," nude save for the girdle of goatskin, which stood in the Lupercal, the cave where Romulus and Remus were suckled by a she-wolf. There, on the Ides of February (in February the ides is the 13th), a goat and a dog were sacrificed, and salt mealcakes prepared by the Vestal Virgins were burnt.

Lupercalia (album)

Lupercalia is the fifth studio album by English-Irish singer-songwriter Patrick Wolf, released on 20 June 2011 by Hideout, a subsidiary of Mercury Records.

Album information

Formerly The Conqueror – originally the second part of a double album entitled Battle – the album's title and concept was changed by Wolf in August 2010.

On 4 November 2010, Wolf announced that the first single from the album was to be 'Time of My Life' and the song was posted on YouTube. The second single, entitled "The City", was released 14 March 2011.

On 23 December 2010, Wolf announced via Twitter that, while he had considered multiple album titles, such as 'The Native' and 'Tahina Spectabilis' with fan support he decided on Lupercalia, reflecting the "festival of love" theme of the album.

Speaking to Digital Spy in March 2011, of the album Wolf says:

On why the album is entitled Lupercalia, Wolf says,

A 7-track bonus disc titled ‘Lemuralia’ was released alongside the album online, containing album tracks in demo stages – it acts as an EP companion to Lupercalia.