FAUNUS. - A very ancient Italic deity, later identified with the Greek Pan. He was the beneficent spirit of the mountains, the countryside and the livestock, in whom shepherds recognized the fecundator of the flock (inuni) and the defender against wolves (lupercus); he dwelt in the woods, in caves, at springs, where he devoted himself to hunting, to chasing the nymphs, and where he was honored. He frightened people with terrifying apparitions and with evil dreams (incubus); he also foretold the future, whence the name Fatuus. Famous was the oracle near the Albunean spring of Tivoli. The I. F. are a popular multiplication of his figure.

A popular festival, not official, in his honor was celebrated amid great merriment on December 5 (Faunalia) in the countryside, with offerings of milk and wine and the sacrifice of a goat (Horace, Odes, 3, 18). Another important festival was the Lupercalia (v. LUPERCI and LUPERCALIA), which were celebrated on February 15, setting out from the grotto-sanctuary at the base of the Palatine.

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: W. F. Otto, in Pauly-Wissowa, VI, col. 2054 ff.; G. Wissowa, in Roschers, Lexikon d. griech. und röm. Mythol., I, col. 1453 ff.; A. Baumwister, Denkmäler des blaz. Altertums, I, Munich 1883, p. 523; N. Turchi, La religione di Roma antica Bologna 1936, pp. 72 and 107 ff. Alberto Galini

@incollection{ec5_fauno, author = {Galieti, Alberto}, title = {Fauno}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1060--1061}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/fauno} }

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Faunus

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