by Quintus Aurelius Orcus on Tue Aug 26, 2003 1:01 pm
Salvete
Draco, i look forward to those comments on Apollo.
In the mean time i shall post another part of the Apollonian essay.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Religion:
Apollo was a real mystery deity, who had is own mystery religion like Aphrodite, Artemis, Hekate, Demeter, etc… The killing of the dragon may suggest a kind of symbolic initiation rite. What we know of these kinds of initiation rites is that they tend to show up in particular secret societies where Apollo was the center of it. But none of this is really mentioned by either Kereny or Burkert so this is doubtful, but it doesn't mean it can't be any less true. Apollo was the kind of deity that was immensely popular and didn't have any mystery religion. He had cults, but no mystery religion like the Eleusinian Mysteries and the Bacchic Mysteries.
Apollo had much authority, partly from his role as god of prophecy. His temple and oracle at Delphi, the most famous sanctuary in the Mediterranean, was only one of his many oracles. His two motto's, "know yourself" and "everything with moderation", carved in a gate at Delphi, reflected the Greek philosophy of life. With his beauty, Apollo was the personification of the Greek ideal of male beauty.
Apollo was the only god of Mount Olympus who entered the Roman pantheon by his own name. He was not gradually identified with Italian deities, but entered suddenly after an epidemic, as a result of an oracle's saying. Though the Romans worshipped him for his role as a healer, he would never be estimated as high as with the Greeks, but it was this aspect of healing that was the center of his cult. His popularity spread beyond Greece, for he was adopted by both the Etruscans as Aplu and the Romans who alone adopted him in toto, whereas the characters and myths of other Greek gods and goddesses were assimilated with native Roman deities. Apollo is a musician with a golden lyre, hunter with a silver bow, archer, prophet, a healer who taught man medicine, and a protector of flocks and herds. He was a god of light, a patron of philosophy, and truth who cannot lie; approving codes of law and urges or enforces high moral and religious principles. He was depicted naked or robed, with bow or lyre, singularly or with Artemis, sometimes Leto, the Muses, or other deities. His totemic animals are the wolf and dolphin, his bird the crow, and the laurel is sacred to him. Apollo was commonly identified with the sun beginning in the fifth century BC with the epithet Phoebus ('the bright, pure one'). This association stuck with Apollo throughout Hellenistic and imperial times, though there is little to suggest he was originally a sun god. Indeed, the Greeks already had Helios, with whom Apollo was never associated in myth or character.
Apollo seems to have assumed the character of a sun god, and in this new role he daily harnesses his four-horse chariot and drives the sun across the sky. However, the epithet Phoebus In myth Apollo is the son of Zeus and the Titaness Leto, who gave birth to him and his twin sister Artemis on the island of Delos after being persecuted by Hera. The most beautiful of all the gods, Apollo represents the more rational side of both the universe and man.
In myth he conflicts with the nature gods of goat-cults, Dionysus and Pan, and with Hermes, who has cattle-herding associations; showing possible pastoral group rivalries. As a protector of cattle he keeps wolves away (hence his name of Lykeios); as a field protector he wards off mice (Smintheus). As god of the Muses, Apollo Musagetes is often represented with a lyre, and he is gifted with singing and music.
Apollo is a healer (with the snake as an attribute) and a god of expiation, whose arrows bring sickness and death. He was also the father of Asclepius, the chief Greek healer god introduced early to Italy via Tuscany (Aplu) or the Greek colonies; Apollo never had a commonly accepted identification. In Republican times he was known mostly for his healing powers. After the battle of Actium, Augustus promoted him to become a major god of the Empire.
Apollo's chief oracular shrine was at Delphi, which he seized by his killing the oracle's serpent protector, Python. Other oracular shrines were at Branchidae and Claros in Ionia, etc. Delphi, on Mount Parnassus, was revered throughout the mortal world as a vessel of Apollo's predictions for the future. Mortals sought the oracle from great distances to discover the will of the gods.
Apollo is first found in Greece in the early Iron Age. He is unknown in Linear B tablets, and the etymology of his name remains uncertain. Two theories of Apollo's origin both lead outside the Hellenic world.
One theory derives him from the Semitic world, where his name supposedly means 'the Lord'. This theory has him coming to Greece by the post-Mycenaean period, or later when the Greeks began exploring and colonizing the wider world beginning in the eighth century BC. Indeed, Apollo seems to appear suddenly, and is very popular in art from the seventh century BC.
The second probable theory points northward. Links in this direction include the legendary Apollonian people, the Hyperboreans, who sent yearly offerings to Delos; the ritual of the Stepteria points north also. In winter, meanwhile, Apollo was said to retreat to Hyperborea, where he would 'hibernate' or languish in the cold months as a sort of dying-and-resurrecting god.
His epithets have more to do with civilized functions. So the title: God of civilization is at its place here. In his right, Apollo can be called the God of Civilization. Is it no wonder that Apollo was so highly regarded by the Hellenes, even today this is the case.
Apollo was also the main god of the Trojans, a Thracian people as referenced by Homer and confirmed in a copy of a treaty found where he is invoked as Apulianas between the Hittite king and his vassal at Wilusa (Ilion/ Troy). His mother Leto is also found in Lycia as Lada, and Apollo also has several links there. His local character was referenced as the "Lycian Apollo" to distinguish it from that of the Greeks'. Lycia does not suggest a Near Eastern connection, however. Lycia was part of the Thracio-Anatolian cultural sphere, located on its southern edge.
Other links northward includes the Dacian town of Aplu, of which his ancient antecedent may have been the eponymous god. One of the most honored of the Greek gods was Apollo. He was a second-generation Olympian god symbolizing youthful strength and beauty; a many-talented god associated with higher culture such as the arts and medicine. He was the eponymous god of several cities throughout the Hellenic world, and was the patron god of many more cities that built temples in his honor.
Apollo, twin brother of Artemis, was the god of light, god of sun, but also god of music, poetry and fine arts, god of cure and god of prophecy. Despite his magnificent beauty, something that made him a beloved subject for painters and sculptors, he was not very lucky when it came to love. That Apollo is a god of healing remains a central trait in his worship- from the mythical foundation of Didyma when Branchos, ancestor of the priestly line of the Branchidai, banished a plague, to the building of the well- preserved temple in the lonely mountains of Bassae in Arcadia, which was erected following the plague in 430 and dedicated to Apollo the Helper, Epikourios. Later Asklepios followed his father by attending the ailments of the ordinary men. The god of the healing hymn might well be a magician god; Apollo is the every opposite, a god of purification and cryptic oracles. With disease and bane, nosos in the widest sense, being interpreted as pollution, the bane is not personified but objectified; knowledge and personal responsibility come into play here. The person must find out what action brought this pollution and eliminated through renewed action. This would require super- human knowledge if not Apollo is a god of oracles and purifications. However most of the oracles extended beyond the domain of cultic prescriptions and not all oracles belong to Apollo. There were Oracles of the Dead and an Oracle of Zeus. The Oracle on Delos, which did not belong to his cult, ceased to function during Archaic times. But the seer stood under protection of Apollo.
There can allot be said about Apollo, but one thing is certain. He is a God of civilization. It is why he was so important to the Greeks. Well that and his ability to heal, to sent prophecies, and all. In Hellas he was highly regarded, but among Roman Gods, he was not so highly regarded. He will never enjoy the same kind of status as he enjoyed with the Greek. He is an ancient deity, whose worship stretches back to the dark ages. By the time of the archaic era, his worship was already in place and spread throughout the entire world. He is even linked to Paiawon, an independent deity of Crete because the name lies so close to the Paiean: a healing hymn to appease Apollo's wrath, which is linked to the Hykanthia festival at Amyklai. The appeasing hymn seems to come from the Minoan tradition, which was brought to Hellas. His dualistic nature is emphasized here. At the one side he is the bringer of civilization, welfare, etc.., but on the other side, he brings disease, famine, death, etc.... Ares has a dualistic side, but only with the Thracians, Spartans and Romans, Ares' good side show up while in the rest of the Hellenic world only his bad sides are shown. Apollo is usually called upon for a purification rite or a prophetic dream, but also healing, inspiration, etc…
Symbols and cult center
Apollo's symbols are the lyre, bow, tripod and the sun. His animals that are sacred to him are the crow, wolf, the dolphin, and the mouse. These are the types of sacrifices he receives: bay, laurel, vine, rush, sunflower, amber, hyacinth, frankincense, olibanum, aloe
His primary cult centers were in Delos, the island and in Delphi.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
valete optime
Romulus
Quintus Aurelius Orcus
Rector ColRel
Rogator
Princeps gentis Aureliae