Cleveland Museum of Art

Dancing Pan

Date

c. 350–500

Medium

limestone with traces of red polychromy

Culture

Egypt, Coptic period

Department

Medieval Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This relief sculpture demonstrates the survival of a purely pagan subject in the context of a Christian building. Even after the conversion of native Egyptians to Christianity, mythological subjects were not unusual in their art. Pan was the Greek god of woods and fields, flocks and herds, known in art by his goat's legs and pointed ears. He invented the reed pipes with which he charmed the nature goddesses known as nymphs.

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