Paean (god)

Paean (Greek Παιάν ) or Paion ( Παιών or Πάων ), epic also Paieon ( Παιήων ) is a god of healing in Greek mythology.

Whether paean had been originally been the personification of the genus occurring in the song paean exclamation he Paian ( ἰὴ παιάν ) or the exclamation from him derived, if at all there is a relationship between God and the song that ultimately can not be decided.

Myth

The oldest evidence of paean is a Linear B tablets from Knossos, on which the gods name Pa -ja -wo- ne ( Mycenaean Greek 𐀞 𐀋 𐀺 𐀚 ) is recorded.

In Homer Paian appear as gods doctor who heals the drawn in the Trojan war wounds of Hades and Ares. Hades had been hit by an arrow of Heracles at the shoulder, which is supplied by Paian with pain-relieving herbs. Ares, who had been wounded by Diomedes, is treated by him at the behest of Zeus with a balm.

Paian appears as an individual God in a fragment of Hesiod and Solon, which returns to the knowledge of the medical arts in the placement Paians. Nevertheless, it was already discussed in the ancient world, if he had to apply as an independent deity or is not to be identified rather with the healing god Apollo, who was also worshiped with the epiclesis as paean Paean Apollo. While about Aristarchus of Samothrace emanated from a separate God, Zenodotos of Mallos occurred, for example, deeply committed to the identification with Apollo.