Table Of ContentAPOLLO
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 mousik , 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
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2008.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of
thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2009 Fritz Graf
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
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
ISBN13: 978-1-13437208-9 ePub ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-31710-X (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-415-31711-8 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-58171-7 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-31710-8 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-31711-5 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-58171-1 (ebk)
For Sarah Iles Johnston
CONTENTS
Series foreword xi
Acknowledgments xv
List of illustrations xvii
WHY APOLLO? 1
INTRODUCTION: WHY WRITE A BOOK ON A GOD? 3
KEY THEMES 7
1 APOLLO IN HOMER 9
The god of the Iliad 9
Archer, killer, and healer 14
Festivals and sanctuaries of Apollo 19
The Homeric Hymn to Apollo 25
Summary 32
2 APOLLO THE MUSICIAN 33
The bow and the lyre 33
Mousik and Archaic Greek society 34
Lyre and flute 37
Apollo leader of the Muses 39
The paean 41
Divine poets and inspired men 45
Pythagoras and shamanism 48
Apollo Citharoedus 50
Summary 51
3 ORACULAR APOLLO 52
Apollo’s divination 54
The history of the three major oracles of Apollo 56
Methods of divination 62
The prophets of Apollo 64
Other prophets: Cassandra, Helenus, the Sibyl 75
Summary 78
4 APOLLO, GOD OF HEALING 79
Gods and epidemics 79
Apollo (and) Paeon/Paean 81
Other forms of Healing Apollo 84
From Greece to Italy 86
Description:From his first attestations in Homer, to the opposition between Apollo and Dionysos in nineteenth- and twentieth-century thinking, Graf examines Greek religion and myth to provide a full account of Apollo in the ancient world.
