The name Paean is believed to be first attested in
Mycenaean Greek as an alternative name of
Apollo; the attested form of the name, written in
Linear B, is 𐀞𐀊𐀺𐀚, pa-ja-wo-ne.[3][4][5]
Homer and Hesiod
A god of healing named Παιήων is mentioned twice in the Iliad.[6] In book 5, the
Olympian god of war
Ares is wounded by mortal hero
Diomedes, who is assisted by
Athena. Ares is taken up to Olympus in a hurry, where Paeon applies medicine (
Ancient Greek: φάρμακα) that produces an instant relief.[7]Hades too had a similar medical treatment by Paeon when he was shot with an arrow by
Heracles.[8] In the Odyssey, Homer says of
Egypt, "[T]here the earth, the giver of grain, bears greatest store of drugs, many that are healing when mixed, and many that are baneful; there every man is a physician, wise above human kind; for they are of the race of Paeeon."[9]
Hesiod identifies Paeon as an individual deity: "Unless Phoebus Apollo should save him from death, or Paean himself who knows the remedies for all things."[10][11]
In time, Paeon (more usually spelled Paean) became an epithet of
Apollo, in his capacity as a god capable of bringing disease and therefore propitiated as a god of healing.[12] Later, Paeon becomes an
epithet of
Asclepius, the healer-god.[13] Later, perhaps due to his identification with Apollo,
Helios was also invoked as "Paion."[1][14]
Connor, Peter, "Paeon" in Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology, Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Corporation (January 2005).
ISBN978-0-7614-7559-0.
Hesiod; Evelyn-White, Hugh G. (2007). Hesiod the Homeric Hymns and Homerica. BiblioBazaar, LLC.
ISBN978-1-4264-7293-0.
Gantz, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes:
ISBN978-0801853609 (Vol. 1),
ISBN978-0801853623 (Vol. 2).
Homer. The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.
Homer. The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919.