Fauns

Fauns. Faunus, grandson of Saturn, was an ancient Italian king, who instructed his subjects in agriculture and the management of flocks, and was afterwards worshipped as the god of fields and of shepherds. The festival of the Faunalia, held on the 5th December, referred to the protection he exercised over agriculture and cattle. Fauna was his female complement. He was also worshipped as a prophetic divinity. As deity of the woods and of flocks and herds, he corresponds to the Greek Pan, and hence with his name became associated the attributes of the latter. The idea also arose of a plurality of Fauns, like the Greek Satyrs, who were represented with short horns, pointed ears, tails, and goats' feet, and to whom all terrifying sounds and appearances were ascribed. Readers of Hawthorne's Marble Faun (or Transformation) will remember the artistic use there made of the conception.