Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Apollo
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Origins== [[File:Omphalos museum.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|[[Omphalos]] in the Museum of [[Delphi]]]] Apollo is considered the most Hellenic (Greek) of the [[Olympian Gods|Olympian gods]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oman |first=Sir Charles William Chadwick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xnAUAAAAYAAJ&dq=Apollo+%22most+Hellenic%22&pg=PA51 |title=A History of Greece from the Earliest Times to the Death of Alexander the Great |date=1895 |publisher=Longmans, Green, & Company |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Apollo {{!}} Facts, Symbols, Powers, & Myths {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Apollo-Greek-mythology |access-date=1 March 2023 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Burkert 1985:143">Burkert 1985:143.</ref> The cult centers of Apollo in Greece, [[Delphi]] and [[Delos]], date from the 8th century BCE. The Delos sanctuary was primarily dedicated to [[Artemis]], Apollo's twin sister. At Delphi, Apollo was venerated as the slayer of the monstrous serpent [[Python (mythology)|Python]]. For the Greeks, Apollo was the most Greek of all the gods, and through the centuries he acquired different functions. In [[Archaic Greece]] he was the [[prophet]], the oracular god who in older times was connected with "healing". In [[Classical Greece]] he was the god of light and of music, but in popular religion he had a strong function to keep away evil.<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967). "Die Geschicte der Giechischen Religion, Vol I." C.F.Beck Verlag.Munchen. p. 529</ref> [[Walter Burkert]] discerned three components in the prehistory of Apollo worship, which he termed "a Dorian-northwest Greek component, a Cretan-Minoan component, and a Syro-Hittite component."<ref>Burkert, Walter. ''Greek Religion'', 1985:144.</ref> ===Healer and god-protector from evil=== [[File:Apollo-WaltersArt.jpg|left|thumb|upright=.7|''Apollo Victorious over the Python'' by [[Pietro Francavilla]] (1591), depicting Apollo's victory over the serpent Python<ref>{{cite web|title=Apollo Victorious over the Python|url=http://art.thewalters.org/detail/7866|access-date=21 June 2013|publisher=[[The Walters Art Museum]]}}</ref> ([[Walters Art Museum|The Walters Art Museum]])]] In classical times, his major function in popular religion was to keep away evil, and he was therefore called "apotropaios" ({{lang|grc|ἀποτρόπαιος}}, "averting evil") and "alexikakos" ({{lang|grc|ἀλεξίκακος}} "keeping off ill"; from [[verb|v.]] {{lang|grc|ἀλέξω}} + [[noun|n.]] {{lang|grc|κακόν}}).<ref>Pausanias VIII 41, 8-IV 34, 7-Sittig. Nom P. 48. f-Aristoph. Vesp. V. 61-Paus. I 3, 4. Martin Nilsson (1967) Vol I, pp. 540, 544</ref> Apollo also had many epithets relating to his function as a healer. Some commonly-used examples are "paion" ({{lang|grc|παιών}} literally "healer" or "helper")<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=paean-harpers]: Harper's Dictionary of classical antiquity</ref> "epikourios" ({{lang|grc|ἐπικούριος}}, "succouring"), "oulios" ({{lang|grc|οὔλιος}}, "healer, baleful")<ref>{{LSJ|ou)/lios|οὔλιος|shortref}}.</ref> and "loimios" ({{lang|grc|λοίμιος}}, "of the plague"). In later writers, the word, "paion", usually spelled "Paean", becomes a mere epithet of Apollo in his capacity as a god of [[healing]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Graf|first=Fritz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=it9n9_I-UOkC&pg=PA66|title=Apollo|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2008|isbn=978-0-203-58171-1|page=66}}</ref> Apollo in his aspect of "healer" has a connection to the primitive god [[Paean (god)|Paean]] ({{lang|grc|Παιών-Παιήων}}), who did not have a cult of his own. Paean serves as the healer of the gods in the ''[[Iliad]]'', and seems to have originated in a pre-Greek religion.<ref>Paieon ({{lang|grc|Παιήων}}) puts pain-relieving medicines on the wounds of Pluton and Ares ( [[Iliad|Ilias]] E401). This art is related with Egypt: ([[Odyssey]] D232): M. Nilsson Vol I, p. 543</ref> It is suggested, though unconfirmed, that he is connected to the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean]] figure ''pa-ja-wo-ne'' (Linear B: {{lang|gmy|𐀞𐀊𐀺𐀚}}).<ref>{{cite book|title=The Mycenaeans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QXwzT1048Z4C&pg=PA160|page=160|first=Louise|last=Schofield|year=2007|publisher=The British Museum Press|isbn=978-0-89236-867-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/linear-b-transliterations/knossos/kn-v/kn-v/#toc-kn-v-52|title=KN V 52+|website=Deaditerranean: Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B|access-date=17 March 2014|archive-date=18 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160318004206/http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/linear-b-transliterations/knossos/kn-v/kn-v/#toc-kn-v-52|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Chawick">{{cite book|last=Chadwick|first=John|author-link=John Chadwick|title=The Mycenaean World|location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1976|isbn=978-0-521-29037-1|url=https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/mycenaeanworld00chad/page/89 89]}} At Google Books.</ref> Paean was the personification of holy songs sung by "seer-doctors" ({{lang|grc|ἰατρομάντεις}}), which were supposed to cure disease.<ref>{{lang|grc|Ἐπὶ καταπαύσει λοιμῶν καὶ νόσων ᾄδόμενος}}. ''Which is sung to stop the plagues and the diseases''. Proklos: Chrestom from Photios Bibl. code. 239, p. 321: Martin Nilsson. Die Geschicthe der Griechischen religion. Vol I, p. 543</ref> Homer uses the noun Paeon to designate both a god and that god's characteristic song of [[apotropaic]] thanksgiving and triumph.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Homer |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2199|title=The Iliad|date=1 June 2000|language=en|translator-last=Butler|translator-first=Samuel}}</ref> Such songs were originally addressed to Apollo and afterwards to other gods: to [[Dionysus]], to Apollo [[Helios]], to Apollo's son [[Asclepius]] the healer. About the 4th century BCE, the paean became merely a formula of adulation; its object was either to implore protection against disease and misfortune or to offer thanks after such protection had been rendered. It was in this way that Apollo had become recognized as the god of music. Apollo's role as the slayer of the [[Python (mythology)|Python]] led to his association with battle and victory; hence it became the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] custom for a paean to be sung by an army on the march and before entering into battle, when a fleet left the harbour, and also after a victory had been won.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}} In the ''Iliad'', Apollo is the healer under the gods, but he is also the bringer of disease and death with his arrows, similar to the function of the [[Vedic]] god of disease [[Rudra]].<ref name="Martin Nilsson 1967 p. 541">"The conception that the diseases come from invisible shots sent by magicians or supernatural beings is common in primitive people and also in European folklore. In North-Europe they speak of the "[[Elf-shot]]s". In Sweden where the Lapps were called magicians, they speak of the "Lappen-shots". Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I, p. 541</ref> He sends a plague ({{lang|grc|λοιμός}}) to the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]]. Knowing that Apollo can prevent a recurrence of the plague he sent, they purify themselves in a ritual and offer him a large sacrifice of cows, called a [[hecatomb]].<ref>[[Iliad|Ilias]] A 314. Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I, p. 543</ref> ===Dorian origin=== The ''[[Homeric Hymns|Homeric Hymn to Apollo]]'' depicts Apollo as an intruder from the north.<ref>Herbert W. Park (1956). ''The delphic oracle''. Vol. I, p. 3</ref> The connection with the northern-dwelling [[Dorians]] and their initiation festival ''[[apellai]]'' is reinforced by the month ''Apellaios'' in northwest Greek calendars.<ref>Graf, ''Apollo'', pp. 104–113; Burkert also notes in this context [[Archilochus]] ''Fr''. 94.</ref> The family-festival was dedicated to Apollo ([[Dorians|Doric]]: {{lang|grc|Ἀπέλλων}}).<ref>Burkert, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sxurBtx6shoC&pg=PA255 p. 255].</ref> ''Apellaios'' is the month of these rites, and Apellon is the "megistos kouros" (the great Kouros).<ref>Jane Ellen Harrison (2010): ''Themis: A study to the Social origins of Greek Religion''. Cambridge University Press. p. 441. {{ISBN|1108009492}}</ref> However it can explain only the Doric type of the name, which is connected with the [[Ancient Macedonian language|Ancient Macedonian]] word "pella" ([[Pella]]), ''stone''. Stones played an important part in the cult of the god, especially in the oracular shrine of Delphi ([[Omphalos]]).<ref>Compare: [[Baetylus]]. In Semitic: sacred stone</ref><ref>Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I. p. 556</ref> ===Minoan origin=== [[File:AMI - Goldene Doppelaxt.jpg|thumb|Ornamented golden [[Minoan civilization|Minoan]] [[labrys]]]] George Huxley considered the identification of Apollo with the Minoan deity Paiawon, worshipped in Crete, to have originated at Delphi.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Huxley|first=George|date=6 June 1975|title=Cretan Paiawones|url=https://grbs.library.duke.edu/article/view/8541|journal=Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies|language=en|volume=16|issue=2|pages=119–124|issn=2159-3159}}</ref> In the ''Homeric Hymn'', Apollo appears as a dolphin carrying Cretan priests to Delphi, to which site they evidently transfer their religious practices. ''Apollo Delphinios'' or ''Delphidios'' was a sea-god worshipped especially in Crete and in the islands.<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I, p. 554 A4</ref> Apollo's sister [[Artemis]], who was the Greek goddess of hunting, is identified with the Minoan goddess [[Britomartis]] (Diktynna), and with ''Laphria'' the Pre-Greek "mistress of the animals" who was specially worshipped at Delphi. In her earliest depictions she was accompanied by the "Master of the animals", a bow-wielding god of hunting whose name has been lost; aspects of this figure may have been absorbed into the more popular Apollo.<ref name="Nilsson499">Martin Nilsson (1967), Vol I, pp. 499–500</ref> A family of priests at Delphi was named "Lab(r)yaden". The name may derive from Laphria.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Gods, Heroes and Tyrants: Greek chronology in chaos |first=Emmet John |last=Sweeney |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=9780875866826 |date=2009 |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wI6zh4E06TgC&q=Labryades&pg=PA116}}</ref> ===Anatolian origin=== [[File:Coin of Apollo Agyieus.png|thumb|Illustration of a coin of Apollo Agyieus from [[Ambracia]]]] A non-Greek origin of Apollo has long been assumed in scholarship.<ref name="DDD" /> The name of Apollo's mother [[Leto]] has [[Lydia]]n origin, and she was worshipped on the coasts of [[Asia Minor]]. The inspiration oracular cult was probably introduced into Greece from [[Anatolia]], which is the origin of [[Sibyl]], and where some of the oldest oracular shrines originated. Omens, symbols, purifications, and exorcisms appear in old [[Assyria|Assyro]]-[[Babylon]]ian texts. These rituals were spread into the empire of the [[Hittites]], and from there into Greece.<ref name="Nilsson563">[[Martin P. Nilsson|Martin Nilsson]]. ''Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion Vol I'', pp. 563–564</ref> [[Homer]] pictures Apollo on the side of the [[Troy|Trojans]], fighting against the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Achaeans]], during the [[Trojan War]]. He is pictured as a terrible god, less trusted by the Greeks than other gods. The god seems to be related to ''Appaliunas'', a tutelary god of [[Wilusa]] ([[Troy]]) in Asia Minor, but the word is not complete.<ref>[[Paul Kretschmer]] (1936). Glotta XXIV p. 250. Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I, p. 559.</ref> The stones found in front of the gates of [[Homer]]ic Troy were the symbols of Apollo. A western Anatolian origin may also be bolstered by references to the parallel worship of ''Artimus'' ([[Artemis]]) and ''Qλdãns'', whose name may be cognate with the Hittite and Doric forms, in surviving [[Lydian language|Lydian]] texts''.''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ediana.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/corpus.php|title=EDIANA – Corpus|website=www.ediana.gwi.uni-muenchen.de|access-date=8 March 2018}}</ref> However, recent scholars have cast doubt on the identification of ''Qλdãns'' with Apollo.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sardisexpedition.org/en/essays/latw-greenewalt-gods-of-lydia|title=The Archaeological Exploration of Sardis|website=sardisexpedition.org|language=en|access-date=8 March 2018}}</ref> The Greeks gave to him the name {{lang|grc|ἀγυιεύς}} ''[[agyieus]]'' as the protector god of public places and houses who wards off evil and his symbol was a tapered stone or column.<ref>Martin Nilsson, ''Die Geschichte der Griechische Religion.'' vol. I (C. H. Beck), 1955:563f.</ref> However, while usually Greek festivals were celebrated at the [[full moon]], all the feasts of Apollo were celebrated on the seventh day of the month, and the emphasis given to that day (''sibutu'') indicates a [[Babylonia]]n origin.<ref>Martin Nilsson (1967). Vol I, p. 561.</ref> === Proto-Indo-European === <!-- Unless there are reliable secondary sources which make this connection, this should not be here. --> The [[Vedic]] [[Rudra]] has some functions similar to those of Apollo. The terrible god is called "the archer" and the bow is also an attribute of [[Shiva]].<ref>For {{IAST|Śarva}} as a name of Shiva see: Apte, p. 910.</ref> Rudra could bring diseases with his arrows, but he was able to free people of them and his alternative Shiva is a healer physician god.<ref>For the association between Rudra and disease, with Rigvedic references, see: Bhandarkar, p. 146.</ref> However the [[Indo-European language|Indo-European]] component of Apollo does not explain his strong association with omens, exorcisms, and an oracular cult.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)