Editing Faun

{{short description|Creature from Greek and Roman mythology}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Fawn]] (a young [[deer]])}}
[[Image:Faun merse.jpg|thumb|A faun, as painted by [[Hungary|Hungarian]] painter [[Pál Szinyei Merse]] in 1867]]
[[Image:Faun_(PSF).png|thumb|upright|A drawing of a Faun.]]
The '''faun''' ({{Langx|la|{{linktext|Faunus}}}}, {{IPA|la|ˈfäu̯nʊs̠|pron}}; {{langx|grc|φαῦνος|phaûnos}}, {{IPA|grc|pʰâu̯nos|pron}}) is a half-[[human]] and half-[[goat]] mythological creature appearing in [[Greek mythology|Greek]] and [[Roman mythology]].

Originally fauns of Roman mythology were ghosts ([[Genius (mythology)|genii]]) of rustic places, lesser versions of their chief, the god [[Faunus]]. Before their conflation with Greek [[satyrs]], they and Faunus were represented as naked men (e.g. the [[Barberini Faun]]). Later fauns became copies of the satyrs of Greek mythology, who themselves were originally shown as part-horse rather than part-goat.

By the [[Renaissance]], fauns were depicted as two-footed creatures with the horns, legs, and tail of a goat and the head, torso, and arms of a human; they are often depicted with pointed ears. These late-form mythological creatures borrowed their look from the satyrs, who in turn borrowed their look from the god [[Pan (god)|Pan]] of the Greek pantheon. They were symbols of peace and fertility, and their Greek chieftain, [[Silenus]], was a minor deity of Greek mythology.<ref>{{cite book |title=Canadian Oxford Dictionary |edition=2nd |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |page=541}}</ref>

==Origins==
[[Image:NMS_Mackie_Nymph_and_Faun.JPG|thumb|upright|''Nymph and Faun'' (cast in lead) in the [[National Museum of Scotland]], [[Edinburgh]]]]
Romans believed fauns stirred fear in men traveling in lonely, faraway or wild places. They were also capable of guiding men 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 [[satyr]]s were originally quite different creatures: whereas late-period fauns are half-man and half-goat, satyrs originally were depicted as stocky, hairy, ugly dwarves or [[woodwose]]s, with the ears and tails of horses. Satyrs also were more woman-loving than fauns, and fauns were rather foolish where satyrs tended to be sly.

[[Ancient Rome|Ancient Roman]] mythological belief included a god named [[Faunus]] often associated with bewitched woods, and conflated with the Greek god [[Pan (god)|Pan]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Phaunos |department=Greek Mythology |website=Theoi.com |url=http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Phaunos.html |access-date=2014-06-23}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=faun (mythical character) |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/faun |access-date=2017-09-04 |lang=en}}</ref> and a goddess named [[Fauna (goddess)|Fauna]] who were [[goat people]].

==In art==

The ''[[Barberini Faun]]'' (located in the [[Glyptothek]] in [[Munich]], [[Germany]]) is a Hellenistic marble statue from about 200&nbsp;BCE, found in the Mausoleum of the Emperor [[Hadrian]] (the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]]) and installed at {{lang|it|[[Palazzo Barberini]]}} by Cardinal Maffeo Barberini (later [[Pope Urban VIII]]). [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini]] restored and refinished the statue.<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Barberini Faun |medium=image |department=Introduction to Greece lecture&nbsp;34 |publisher=[[University of Texas]] |url=http://www.utexas.edu/courses/introtogreece/lect34/hBarberiniFaun.jpg |access-date=2014-06-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020221632/http://www.utexas.edu/courses/introtogreece/lect34/hBarberiniFaun.jpg |archive-date=2012-10-20 }}</ref>

The [[House of the Faun]] in Pompei, dating from the 2nd&nbsp;century&nbsp;BCE, was so named because of the dancing faun statue that was the centerpiece of the large garden. The original now resides in the National Museum in Naples and a copy stands in its place.<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Dancing faun statuette |website=Edgar L. Owen, Ltd. (gallery) |medium=image |url=http://www.edgarlowen.com/b3719.jpg |access-date=2022-10-22 }}</ref>

The [[Symbolism (movement)|French symbolist]] [[Stéphane Mallarmé]]'s well-known masterpiece ''{{lang|fr|[[L'après-midi d'un faune (poem)|L'après-midi d'un faune]]}}'' (published in 1876) describes the sensual experiences of a faun who has just woken up from his [[nap|afternoon sleep]] and discusses his encounters with several [[nymph]]s during the morning in a dreamlike monologue.<ref>{{cite book |author=Mallarmé, S. |author-link=Stéphane Mallarmé |orig-year=1876 |translator=Fry, Roger |date=n.d. |title=L'après-midi d'un faune |url=https://www.angelfire.com/art/doit/mallarme.html |access-date=2022-10-22 |via=angelfire.com}}</ref> The composer [[Claude Debussy]] based his symphonic poem ''{{lang|fr|[[Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune]]}}'' (1894) <ref>{{cite AV media |title=Debussy – Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun |people=composer [[Claude Debussy]], [[Leopold Stokowski]] conducting the [[London Symphony Orchestra]] |date=16 May 2009 |medium=orchestral audio recording illustrated with images of classical paintings |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol4bSKpvpoc |via=YouTube}}</ref> on the poem, which also served as the scenario for a ballet entitled ''{{lang|fr|L'après-midi d'un faune}}'' (or ''[[Afternoon of a Faun (Nijinsky)|Afternoon of a Faun]]'') choreographed to Debussy's score in 1912 by [[Vaslav Nijinsky]].

<gallery mode="packed" heights="250px">
Image:Barberini Faun front Glyptothek Munich 218 n2.jpg|Barberini Faun ([[Glyptothek]], Munich) {{circa| 200&nbsp;BCE }}
File:S03 06 01 020 image 2554.jpg|Statue of a faun; [[Vatican Museums|Vatican]], Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection
File:Paul Bril - Fauns in a wooded landscape.jpg|Fauns in a wooded landscape. The second version of a composition by Bril from 1620 now in the City Art Gallery in Bradford. The figures have been attributed to Pietro Paolo Bonzi ({{circa|1575–1636}})
File:Triqueti Fawn.jpg|Ivory Faun by Baron Triqueti, {{circa|1860}}
File:Ludwig Knaus Kraftprobe.jpg|Faun and goat, [[Ludwig Knaus]] ({{circa|1868}}).
File:Arnold Böcklin - Sleeping Diana Watched by Two Fauns - Google Art Project.jpg|Sleeping Diana Watched by Two Fauns, 1877–1885, by [[Arnold Böcklin]].
File:Gloeden, Wilhelm von (1856-1931) - n. 0425 - da Et in Arcadia, p. 90.jpg|''Faun'' by [[Wilhelm von Gloeden]] {{circa|1895}}
File:Bacchante and Fauns MA I080881 TePapa.jpg| [[Maenad]] and Fauns, 1902–1912, by [[Isobel Lilian Gloag]].
File:Franz von Stuck Junger Faun 1902.jpg|Young Faun, 1902, by [[Franz Stuck]].
</gallery>

==In fiction==
[[File:Leaning satyr Musei Capitolini MC739.jpg|thumb|Faun (satyr) of [[Praxiteles]] in the [[Capitoline Museum]], Rome]]
* [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]'s  (1860) romance ''[[The Marble Faun]]'' is set in Italy, and was said to have been inspired by his viewing the Faun of [[Praxiteles]] in the [[Capitoline Museum]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Online discussion of ''The Marble Faun'' (1860) and its connection with the statue |series=English Department |publisher=California Polytechnical University |place=San Louis Obispo, CA |url=http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jbattenb/marblefaun/marblefaun/criticism.htm |url-status=dead <!-- presumed --> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927211258/http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jbattenb/marblefaun/marblefaun/criticism.htm |archive-date=2011-09-27 }}</ref>
* In [[H.G. Wells]]' (1895) ''[[The Time Machine]]'', in the year 802,701{{nbsp}}CE, while exploring the far future, the Time Traveller sees "a statue{{snds}}a faun, or some such figure, ''minus'' the head."<ref>{{cite book|last=Wells|first=H.G.|author-link=Herbert George Wells|year=1961|orig-year=1895|title=[[The Time Machine]]|place=New York, NY|edition=reprint|publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Dolphin Books]]|page=246}}</ref>
* [[Mr. Tumnus]], in [[C. S. Lewis]]'s ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' (1949), is a faun. Lewis said that the famous ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' story all came to him from a single picture he had in his head of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels through a snowy wood. In the [[The Chronicles of Narnia (film series)|film series]], fauns are distinct from satyrs, which are more goat-like in form.
* In ''[[Lolita]]'', the protagonist is attracted to pubescent girls whom he dubs [[Nubile#Nymphet|"nymphets"]]; [[Nubile#Faunlet|"faunlets"]] are the male equivalent.
* In the 1981 film ''[[My Dinner with Andre]]'', it is related how fauns befriend and take a mathematician to meet [[Pan (god)|Pan]].
* In [[Guillermo del Toro]]'s 2006 film ''{{lang|es|El Laberinto del Fauno}}'' (''[[Pan's Labyrinth]]''), a faun guides the film's protagonist, Ofelia, to a series of tasks, which lead her to a wondrous netherworld.
* In [[Rick Riordan]]'s ''[[The Son of Neptune]]'' (2011), the character [[List of Camp Half-Blood characters|Don]] is a faun. In the book, several fauns appear, begging for money. Due to his memory of the Greek satyrs, [[Percy Jackson]] feels like there should be more to fauns. Also, in the prequel to ''The Son of Neptune'', ''[[The Lost Hero]]'', [[Jason Grace]] calls [[List of Camp Half-Blood characters|Gleeson Hedge]] a faun upon learning that he is a satyr. In the third instalment in the series, ''[[The Mark of Athena]]'', [[Frank Zhang]] calls Hedge a faun.{{Citation needed|date=December 2012}}
* In ''The Goddess Within'', a [[visionary fiction]] novel written by Iva Kenaz, the main heroine falls in love with a faun.
* In the ''[[Spyro (series)|Spyro]]'' video game series, Elora is a faun from Avalar, who helps Spyro the [[dragon]] navigate the world around him.
* In ''[[Carnival Row]]'', fauns or '[[Puck (folklore)|pucks]]' are one of the mythical creatures that are part of the series.

==See also==
{{Commons category inline|Fauns}}
{{Div col|colwidth=10em|small=yes}}
* [[Baphomet]]
* [[Centaur]]
* [[Cernunnos]]
* [[Faunus]]
* [[Glaistig]]
* [[Goatman (urban legend)]]
* [[Khnum]]
* [[Kinnara]]
* [[Krampus]]
* [[Minotaur]]
* [[Pan (god)]]
* [[Puck (mythology)]]
* [[Satyr]]
* [[Se'irim]]
* [[Silvanus (mythology)]]
* [[Yaksha]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{reflist|25em}}

{{Roman religion}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fauns| ]]
[[Category:Mythological caprids]]
[[Category:Legendary creatures in Roman mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological human–animal hybrids]]
[[Category:Forest spirits]]