Faun - Versailles, France
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 48° 48.382 E 002° 07.094
31U E 435256 N 5406305
Fauns were usually depicted as half man and half goat...but not this one.
Waymark Code: WMD0WE
Location: Île-de-France, France
Date Posted: 11/03/2011
Views: 15
Even though fauns were half man and half goat, this 1685 marble sculpture depicts a young boy leaning on a post relaxed with legs crossed at the ankles, playing a flute. The skin of an animal (lion?) rests on his shoulder and the post. The artist is Simon Hurtrelle (1648-1724). 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."