The namePaean is believed to be first attested inMycenaean Greek as an alternative name ofApollo; the attested form of the name, written inLinear B, is𐀞𐀊𐀺𐀚,pa-ja-wo-ne.[3][4][5]
A god of healing namedΠαιήων is mentioned twice in theIliad.[6] In book 5, theOlympian god of warAres is wounded by mortal heroDiomedes, who is assisted byAthena. 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 byHeracles.[8] In theOdyssey, Homer says ofEgypt, "[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 ofApollo, in his capacity as a god capable of bringing disease and therefore propitiated as a god of healing.[12] Later, Paeon becomes anepithet ofAsclepius, the healer-god.[13] Later, perhaps due to his identification with Apollo,Helios was also invoked as "Paion."[1][14]
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.
