I got this little Alexandrian dichalkon of Hadrian in the latest FSR auction. It was sold as a variant of RPC 6332, showing Elpis advancing left, but with a different inscription. Once I had it in hand, however, I noticed that the figure seemed to be holding something: a club, over the shoulder, and some sort of staff or scepter in the left hand. A classic indicator for Heracles, but after some research I discovered that there was no known dichalkon with Heracles. So, I searched through every possible coin type of this size until I came upon RPC 5701, which has Pan advancing left. Almost the exact same pose, the exact same date, and the same object held in the left arm, identified as a pedum. A pretty classical pose for Pan, but missing the club that’s clearly present on mine. However, reading over the listing, I see the following note: There are two sub-varieties: Pan with pedum (e.g. BMC 700-701, 2879) and Pan of Mendes with club and pedum (BMC 702, 2878). With a little digging, the only good reference to Pan of Mendes that I could find was in Herodotus. Herodutus first describes Mendes in Histories Book II, Chapter 42. He describes a temple of Zeus (the notes say that there was a temple of Osiris there) there which does not sacrifice goats. The origin of this practice is tied to Heracles, who was said to have wanted to see Zeus, who in turn did not want to see Heracles. Zeus disguised himself in the head and skin of a ram, providing an (inaccurate, from an Egyptian prospective) origin for the depiction of Zeus-Ammon. An annual ceremony was held at this temple in which a ram was sacrificed, its skin draped over a statue of Zeus, and an image of Heracles placed beside it. A few chapters later (46) he returns to the subject of Mendes, and says that goats were not sacrificed there due to Pan being one of the original gods of Egypt. Goats were held to be sacred there. Some further research tells me that a goat deity called Banebdjedet was worshipped in Mendes. What he does not say at any point is that this Pan is associated with a club or with Heracles, so I am wondering how the identification of the figure with the club as Pan of Mendes was made. None of the examples I’ve found, including mine, have enough detail to tell that the legs are goat-like or have hooves (as this one from CNG, sans club, clearly does). I tracked down the BMC coin, which appears to be of the same type as mine. I also went and looked up the original entry in BMC to see if I could find what justification they gave for this identification as Pan of Mendes, but I found none. I don’t have access to any other references on these coins, but does anyone have any suggestions as to why the authors of BMC decided that the club made this ‘Pan of Mendes’? I can't find any images of Pan with a club, or any references to Pan, of Mendes or otherwise, being syncretized with Heracles like this.
Pan is often depicted with a lagobolon, a throwing club. Better visible on the obverse of this type: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1824965 Your example looks more straight, but a lagobolon wouldn't be so unusual.
Very interesting coin and write-up. Goats and rams were sacred - think of Khnum and Amun-Ra for example, in addition to the deity you write of. Khnum - temple of Esna
Great detective work. And I really like @shanxi's point about it possibly being a lagobolon he's holding. That is an amazing find. Here's some pots and Pans of mine: CIMMERIAN BOSPOROS, Pantikapaion. Circa 310-304/3 BC. Æ (11mm, 1.40g, 12h). Beardless head of satyr right / Bow in bowcase. Anokhin 1025; MacDonald 72; HGC 4, 135. Good VF, Macedonian Kingdom. Antigonos II Gonatas. 277/6-239 B.C. Æ (19.4 MM AND 4.91 Sear 6786 OBV: Helmeted head of Athena right REV: Pan standing right, erecting trophy Antigonus II (AntigonusGonatas) 320-239 BC, was king of Macedon & son of Demetrius I. He took the title king on his father's death (283) but made good his claim only by defeating the Gauls in Thrace and by taking Macedon. Pan was the god of the wild, hunting and companion of the nymphs. He was depicted as being half human, while having the legs and horns of a goat, just like a faun; his Roman counterpart was Faunus. It is unclear as to who his parents were; his father may have been Zeus, Dionysus, Hermes, or Apollo. His mother may have been a nymph called Dryope, Penelope who later became the wife of Odysseus, or Aphrodite.
Nice! I have a soft spot for Pan. It sure looks like Pan holding a lagabolon rather than a pedum on all of the coins shown, although I guess they are similar enough to be confused and it is within character for Pan to hold either. I'm away from my books. Have you or anyone reading this thread checked Emmett? He's not big on small details so it may not shed much light on your coin but you never know .
