Apollo

179 Pages·2008·1.97 MB·English

by  (Deity) Apollo

APOLLO
Apollo is a comprehensive study of the Greek god in all his aspects, from the first
attestations of his myth and worship to his reception in modern European and American
culture. Fritz Graf uses literary texts, inscriptions, and archaeological finds to develop the
complex image of a young god who was central to Greek culture, both in the way the
Greeks themselves perceived him and as later ages looked at the Greeks.
Apollo was the god of what the Greeks called mousikē, a combination of song, lyre
music, and dance. He was the god of divination: as Zeus’ favorite son, he had direct
access to the mind of Zeus and was willing to reveal this knowledge to humans. He was
the god of healing: as a healer he arrived in Rome and from there in the Western
provinces of the Roman Empire. He was the god of the young male citizen and through
them the protector of all citizens of a Greek city-state. He has ties to the Ancient Near
East, but he is no Eastern god brought to Greece; he became important in Etruria, Italy,
and the Roman West.
Literature, art, philosophy, and astrology preserved and transformed the god in the
Middle Ages and the Modern Age: he became a god of poetry, the god of the planet sun,
finally a symbol of pure rationality and order in opposition to the chaotic god Dionysus.
For students of Greek religion and culture, of myth and legend, and in the fields of art
and literature, Apollo is an informative and enlightening introduction to this powerful
figure from the past.
Fritz Graf is Professor of Greek and Latin, and Director of the Center for Epigraphical
Studies at the Ohio State University. His research interests include the religions of the
Greek and Roman world. His publications include Greek Mythology: An Introduction
(1993), Magic in the Ancient World (1997), and with Sarah Iles Johnston, Ritual Texts for
the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets (2006).
Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World
Series editor Susan Deacy
Roehampton University
Routledge is pleased to present an exciting new series, Gods and Heroes of the Ancient
World. These figures from antiquity are embedded in our culture, many functioning as
the source of creative inspiration for poets, novelists, artists, composers and filmmakers.
Concerned with their multifaceted aspects within the world of ancient paganism and how
and why these figures continue to fascinate, the books provide a route into understanding
Greek and Roman polytheism in the 21st century.
These concise and comprehensive guides provide a thorough understanding of each
figure, offering the latest in critical research from the leading scholars in the field in an
accessible and approachable form, making them ideal for undergraduates in Classics and
related disciplines.
Each volume includes illustrations, time charts, family trees and maps where
appropriate.
Also available:
Perseus
Daniel Ogden
Athena
Susan Deacy
Zeus
Keith Dowden
Prometheus
Carol Dougherty
Medea
Emma Griffiths
Dionysos
Richard Seaford
Oedipus
Lowell Edmunds
Susan Deacy is Senior Lecturer in Greek History and Literature at Roehampton
University. Her main research interests are Greek religion, and gender and sexuality.
Publications include the co-edited volumes Rape in Antiquity (1997), and Athena in the
Classical World (2001), and the monograph A Traitor to Her Sex? Athena the Trickster
(forthcoming).
APOLLO
Fritz Graf

LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2009
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Graf, Fritz.
Apollo / Fritz Graf.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Apollo (Greek deity) 2. Greece—Religious life and customs. I. Title.
BL820.A7G73 2008
292.2′113—dc22
2008016457
ISBN 0-203-58171-7 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-31710-X (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-415-31711-8 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-58171-7 (Print Edition) (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-31710-8 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-31711-5 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-58171-1 (Print Edition) (ebk)
For Sarah Iles Johnston

CONTENTS

Series foreword xii
Acknowledgments xv
List of illustrations xvii

1
WHY APOLLO?

INTRODUCTION: WHY WRITE A BOOK ON A 3

GOD?

7
KEY THEMES

1 APOLLO IN HOMER 9
The god of the Iliad 9
Archer, killer, and healer 13
Festivals and sanctuaries of Apollo 17
The Homeric Hymn to Apollo 21
Summary 26
2 APOLLO THE MUSICIAN 28
The bow and the lyre 28
Mousikē and Archaic Greek society 28
Lyre and flute 31
Apollo leader of the Muses 33
The paean 34
Divine poets and inspired men 37
Pythagoras and shamanism 39
Apollo Citharoedus 41
Summary 42
3 ORACULAR APOLLO 43
Apollo’s divination 44
The history of the three major oracles of Apollo 46
Methods of divination 51
The prophets of Apollo 52
Other prophets: Cassandra, Helenus, the Sibyl 61
Summary 63
4 APOLLO, GOD OF HEALING 65
Gods and epidemics 65
Apollo (and) Paeon/Paean 66
Other forms of Healing Apollo 68
From Greece to Italy 70
A healer among barbarians 73
Apollo averter of evil 74
Apollo and Asclepius 77
Concepts of healing 80
Summary 83
5 APOLLO, THE YOUNG, AND THE CITY 84
The young god and the young men, 1: cutting one’s hair 84
The young god and the young men, 2: a hapless lover 85
Groups and institutions 86
Ancestral Apollo 88
Apollo Delphinios 88
Molpoi and Curetes 89
Apollo, initiation, and “Männerbund” 90
Archaic institutions in Ionia and Crete 92
Spartan festivals and the adolescents 94
Wolf-Apollo, the Dorian invasion, and the early city 97