*Péh₂usōn

*Péh₂usōn
Equivalents
Greek	Hermes (most aspects), Pan (some aspects) see § Pan and Hermes for more info
Hindu	Pushan
Roman	Mercury (most aspects), Faunus (some aspects) see § Pan and Hermes for more info

*Péh₂usōn ("Protector") was a proposed Proto-Indo-European pastoral god guarding roads and herds.

He may have had a bushy beard and keen sight. He was also closely affiliated with goats or bucks: Pan has goat's legs while goats are said to pull the car of Pūshān (the animal was also sacrificed to him on occasion).

History

The deity was first proposed due to association between the Greek god Pan and the Vedic god Pūshān first identified in 1924 by German linguist Hermann Collitz.

The minor discrepancies between the two deities could be explained by the possibility that many of Pan's original attributes were transferred over to Hermes, the two of which were likely originally the same deity.

According to West, the reflex may be at least of Graeco-Aryan origin: "Pūshān and Pan agree well enough in name and nature—especially when Hermes is seen as a hypostasis of Pan—to make it a reasonable conclusion that they are parallel reflexes of a prototypical god of ways and byways, a guide on the journey, a protector of flocks, a watcher of who and what goes where, one who can scamper up any slope with the ease of a goat."

References

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