§ 1. Zeus and Apollo originally the only two male deities of the
Dorians. § 2. Birth of Apollo. § 3. Sanctity of the island of
Delos. § 4. Pains of Latona. § 5. Spot of Apollo’s birth. § 6.
Battle with the Python. § 7. Apollo sings the Pythian strain. § 8.
Bondage of Apollo. § 9. Combat with Tityus. § 10. Apollo’s
assumption of the oracular power.
1. Our present investigation renders it necessary to ascend to a period in
which the primitive religion of the Dorians exhibited a distinct and
original character, before it had been combined with the worship of other
deities. At that time this nation had only two male deities, Zeus and
Apollo: for the existence of the latter everywhere supposes that of the
former, and both were intimately connected in Crete, Delphi, and
elsewhere; though the Doric Zeus did not receive great religious honours.
In the temple of Delphi, Zeus and Apollo were represented as Moiragetæ,
accompanied by two Fates.(1296) The supreme deity, however, when connected
with Apollo, was neither born, nor visible on earth, and perhaps never
considered as having any immediate influence upon men. But Apollo, who is
often emphatically called the son of Zeus,(1297) acts as his intercessor,
ambassador, and prophet with mankind.(1298) And whilst the father of the
gods appears, indistinctly and at a distance, dwelling in ether, and
enthroned in the highest heavens, Apollo is described as a divine hero,
whose office is to ward off evils and dangers, establish rights of
expiation, and announce the ordinances of Fate. It is our purpose to
investigate these latter attributes, more especially in the mythology of
Delos and Delphi.
2. The legend of the birth of Apollo at Delos was indeed recognised by the
Ionians and Athenians, but neither by the Delphians, Bœotians, nor
Peloponnesians;(1299) as is plain from the indifference which they
generally showed for the temple in that island. We also know that the
Bœotians represented Tegyra as the birthplace of Apollo.
Apollo, says Pindar, was born with time;(1300)—alluding to the many
obstacles and delays experienced at his birth. These had been occasioned
by the influence of an hostile power, the same which produced Typhaon from
the depths of Tartarus,(1301) called by the poets Here.
This power refused its assistance at the birth of Apollo, and compelled
Latona to wander in the pains of childbirth over earth and sea until she
arrived at the rocky island of Delos.
3. Hence the island of Delos itself became one of the subjects of
mythology. Pindar, in an ode to Delos, addresses it as “_the daughter of
the sea, the unshaken prodigy of the earth, which mortals call Delos, but
the gods in Olympus the far-famed star of the dark earth_;”(1302) and
related how “_the island, driven about by the winds and waves, as soon as
Latona had placed her foot on its shore, became fast bound to the roots of
the earth by four columns_.”(1303) The fable of the floating island(1304)
(which is, however, of a more recent date than the Homeric hymn to Apollo)
indicated merely the restless condition which preceded the tranquillity
and brightness introduced by the manifestation of the god. Henceforth
Delos remained fixed and unshaken, immoveable, according to the belief of
the Greeks, even by earthquakes; for which reason, the whole of Greece was
alarmed when this phenomenon happened before the Persian war.(1305) By the
words “_the star of the dark earth_,” Pindar alludes to the idea that
Delos (as the name shows) was considered as a pure and bright island,
whose shores, too holy for pollution, were ever kept free from corpses,
the sight of which is odious to the god. Hence also the tradition that
Asteria, whose name is derived from ἀστὴρ, the offspring of the Titans,
had cast herself into the sea, and been petrified on the shore.
4. The birth of Apollo, being an epoch in mythology, was without doubt
celebrated in ancient hymns, whose simplicity presented a striking
contrast to the higher polish of the Homeric poems. A hymn of this
description, ascribed to Olen, was addressed to Eileithyia, the worship of
which goddess, together with other religious ceremonies, was brought over
(as has been above remarked)(1306) from Cnosus to Delos, and from thence
to Athens.(1307) In calling Eileithyia the mother of the god of
love,(1308) Olen exceeded the regular bounds of tradition respecting
Apollo, by confusing the worship of a strange god with that deity, and
probably identified her with the ancient Aphrodite (Ἀφροδίτη ἀρχαία),
whose altar Theseus is said to have erected at Delos.(1309) In either
case, the establishment of this ancient Attic worship on the sacred
island, and its connexion with the Delian rites, illustrate the mention of
Eros in the Delian hymn.
_Nine days and nine nights Latona writhed in hopeless pains of childbirth,
surrounded by the benevolent Titanidæ, Dione, Rhea, Themis, and
Amphitrite, who finally_ (according to the hymn of Homer) _prevailed upon
Eileithyia by the promise of a golden necklace. Then the pains seized
Latona; she cast her arms around the palm-tree, and brought forth her
divine son._ The explanations of the bribe offered to Eileithyia are all
too far-fetched: probably pregnant women at Delos consecrated their
necklaces to that goddess.
5. The exact spot where the birth of Apollo took place was shown in Delos,
since the least circumstance connected with so important an event could
not fail to excite interest. It must be looked for in the place where the
torrent Inopus flows from mount Cynthus.(1310) Here there was a circular
pool (the λίμνη τροχόεσσα), the form of which is often carefully
mentioned.(1311) By its side grew two sacred trees, the palm and the
olive, which are not elsewhere reckoned among those sacred to Apollo; as
in Greece Proper the first does not grow at all, and the second not
without great care. The Delian temple alone could boast of the palm, the
use of palm-branches at the games having also originated in Delos.(1312)
This island acquired so much sanctity by the birth of Apollo, that no
living being was permitted either to be born or die within its
boundary.(1313) Every pregnant woman was obliged to go over to the
neighbouring island of Rheneia, in order to be delivered. One of the ideas
of the Greeks respecting religious purity (which may in general be traced
to the worship of Apollo) was, that all intercourse with pregnant women
polluted in the same manner as the touch of a corpse. The prohibition
against keeping dogs had the same origin.(1314) On the whole, the Delian
traditions are not to be considered as of very great antiquity or credit;
they contain, indeed, hardly any original source of information respecting
Apollo, being generally composed of descriptions of the sanctity of the
island itself; several legends, as that of its having once floated on the
ocean, &c., appear to have been the invention of the Ionians; this race,
even in fiction, allowing itself far greater latitude than the Dorians.
6. Apollo, according to the Attic legend, passed to Delphi from Delos
through Attica and Bœotia; the Homeric Hymn to Apollo makes him come from
the northern districts, but likewise through Bœotia: according to other
traditions he came from the Hyperboreans. According to another, Latona was
carrying the two babes, Apollo and Artemis, in her arms, when assailed by
the Python,(1315) the mother seeking refuge on a sacred stone near the
plane-tree at Delphi:(1316) in another, Apollo was a child at the time of
this event;(1317) and, accordingly, a Delphian boy, both whose parents
were alive, represented the actions of the deity at the great festival.
The destruction of the Python, however, always formed the chief event of
the sacred fable. It was by this feat that Apollo gained possession of the
oracular chasm, from which the goddess Earth had once spoken. It was not,
however, without some resistance that she gave way to the claims of the
youthful god, whom, according to Pindar, she even attempted to hurl down
to Tartarus.(1318) The serpent Python is represented as the guardian of
the ancient oracle of the Earth,(1319) and a son of the Earth itself,
sprung from the warm clay that remained after the general deluge, and
dwelling in a dark defile near a fountain, which was said to be supplied
from the Styx.(1320) The serpent, as usual, represents an earthly being,
by which is personified the rough and shapeless offspring of nature. It
was supposed to be connected with the nature of water and the sea; and
hence was called _Delphin_, or _Delphine_,(1321) like the fish of the same
name, which was particularly sacred to Apollo, and in all probability was
also conceived to have been subdued by him. After this, the serpent that
watched the oracle remained, although conquered, as a memorial of the
ancient struggle, and of the victory of the god, and was placed near the
rocky chasm at the foot of the tripod, in the inner sanctuary.(1322)
7. The battle with the Python being finished,(1323) Apollo himself breaks
the laurel, to weave a crown of victory.(1324) Here too he was said first
to have sung the pæan, as a strain of triumph. In the dramatic exhibition,
by which the Delphians represented the adventures of Apollo, the Pythian
strain (νόμος Πύθιος) was here introduced. This air, which was originally
nothing more than a simple melody, soon received all the embellishment of
art; and, being raised by Timosthenes to the dignity of a great musical
composition,(1325) was (contrary to the ancient custom) performed with
flutes, lyres, and trumpets, without the accompaniment of the voice. The
accounts concerning this festival are indeed copious, but unluckily of too
late a date to give us an idea of its ancient and genuine character. In
Plutarch’s time(1326) it was not a hollow serpent’s den, but an imitation
of a princely house (καλιὰς), that was erected in a court (ἅλως), at every
octennial festival.(1327) Into this building the women of a Delphian
family(1328) led the boy by a secret passage (δολωνεία) with lighted
torches, and fled away through the door, overturning the table, and
setting fire to the house.
8. Although the destruction of the Python is characterized as a triumph of
the higher and divine power of the deity, yet the victorious god was
considered as polluted by the blood of the monster, and obliged to undergo
a series of afflictions and woes. Tradition represented him as going
immediately after the battle by the sacred road to Tempe; which the boy,
who personified Apollo, afterwards took as leader of the religious
procession.(1329) The direction of this road has been accurately stated
above. The chief circumstance in this wandering was the bondage θήτευσις
of Apollo under Admetus the Pheræan, to which the god subjected himself in
order to expiate his guilt. This too was represented by the boy, who
probably imitated the manner in which the god, as a herdsman and slave,
submitted to the most degrading services.(1330) Perhaps it was the piety
of Admetus, celebrated in tradition, which entitled him to the privilege
of possessing such a slave; yet it must be doubted, whether, conformably
to the spirit of the ancient mythology, an ideal being, and not a mortal
hero, was not originally intended to be represented under this name.
Ἄδμητος is an usual name for the god of the infernal regions; to whom,
according to the original idea, Apollo became enslaved. The worship of
this deity is connected with that of Hecate, who was called θεὰ Φεραία,
and the daughter of Admetus.(1331) Cannot we, in the rescuing of Alcestis
from the infernal regions by Apollo(1332) and Hercules, find some clue
which may lead us to suppose that the fable of Admetus refers to a worship
of the infernal deities? An ancient dirge, called the song of Admetus, was
chanted in Greece, having, as was pretended, been first sung by Admetus at
the death of his wife, originally perhaps addressed to Αἵδες
ἄδμητος.(1333) How well does it suit the sublime character of the
religious poetry in question, that the god, who had been polluted by the
combat with the impure being, should be obliged, in order to complete his
penance, to descend into the infernal regions. In confirmation of this,
there have been preserved some obscure traditions, which represent Apollo
as actually dying, that is, descending into the infernal regions.(1334)
However, after eight years, the appointed time of bondage, the god wanders
to the ancient altar of Tempe, where, sprinkling with laurel-branches, and
other expiatory rites, symbolically restore his purity,(1335) After this,
the purified deity returns by the same road to Deipnias, near Larissa, and
there breaks his long fast.
9. These Delphian traditions in very early times became the theme of epic
poetry, in which however another cause was assigned for the slavery of
Apollo; it was represented as a punishment inflicted by Zeus for slaying
the Cyclops, who forged the lightning with which Zeus struck his son
Æsculapius, because, not satisfied with recovering the sick, he even
recalled the dead to life.(1336) Yet some of the poets also state that
Pheræ was the place of his servitude, alluding to the Pythian road, and
mention a _great year_ (μὲγαν ἐνιαυτὸν) as the time of his bondage;(1337)
by which they mean the Delphian period. We may perhaps find a trace of a
more ancient tradition in the story of amber being a petrified tear, which
Apollo shed during the time of his slavery in his ancient abode amongst
the Hyperboreans, in the land of the Celts.(1338)
The combat with Tityus is nearly allied to that with the Python. This
earth-born monster, dwelling at Panopea, a town situated on the sacred
road, and hostile to the Delphians, laid hands upon Latona when passing
through that place: but her children soon overcome the ravisher, and send
him to the shades below; where a vulture incessantly preys upon his
liver,(1339) the seat of inordinate desire.
10. The hostile part of nature now lying vanquished, and quiet having
gained the victory over disturbance, Apollo begins to exercise the other
office for which he was sent into the world. He mounts the tripod of the
Delphian oracle, no longer to give utterance to the dark responses of the
earth, but to proclaim the “unerring decree of Zeus.”(1340) For it is
evident that, in the language of this religion, fate was considered as the
will of Zeus (Διὸς νοὸς, Διὸς αἴσα), who was at Delphi called Μοιραγέτης,
“leader of fate;” whilst the epic poets, from their custom of making each
god a separate individual, generally (though the glimmering of a more
exalted idea may be sometimes traced) made Zeus, like all other
individuals, subject to fate. The prophetic powers of Apollo will be more
fully treated of in the following chapter.