Faun - Versailles, France
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Metro2
N 48° 48.402 E 002° 07.002
31U E 435143 N 5406344
Fauns were forest spirits closely associated with Pan.
Waymark Code: WMD0TP
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 11/03/2011
Views: 13
Even though fauns were half man and half goat, this 1687 marble sculpture only depicts the bearded half-man portion from head to waist. A heavy robe covers the body below the waist. The figure holds a bunch of grapes with his right hand over a bowl which he carries with his left. The artist is Jacques Houzeau. It is located in the Garden of the Versailles Palace.
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"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.
Ancient Roman mythological belief also included a god named Faunus and a goddess named Fauna who were goat people."