I know that back in the day, goats were said to whisper lewd things into the ears of priests (because goats are a naturally horny animal and often blabber to attract ladies). But whenever I see depictions of the devil or demons, they usually have cloven hooves or a goats head?
Does anyone know why this is or where it comes from?
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Pan is the god of nature and the wild, but the god of Moses (*Yahweh/Jehovah*) wants to do away with the Pagan gods of nature and get everyone to worship him instead:
> “*The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.*” – Zephaniah 2:11
There is also a story about Pan dying and since “*Pan*” also means “*all*” in Greek, apparently some christian apologists used this story to mean that “*all*” demons (*Pagan gods*) were defeated by Jesus coming into the world.
> “*Another source of this strange worship may be found in the fact that in the early days each nation had its own natural gods; hence* ***racial rivalry and hatred sometimes led one nation to regard the protecting divinities of its enemies as evil demons***. *In this way many who merely worshipped gods whom they themselves regarded as good beings would be called devil worshippers by men of other nations. Such may be the case with the Daeva-worshippers in the Avesta. In the same way the Greeks and Romans may have worshipped their divinities, fondly believing them to be good. But* ***the Christian Scriptures declare that all the gods of the Gentiles are demons***.” – Catholic Encyclopedia (*1913, entry on “Devil-Worshippers”*)
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