Like the other long hymns, aetiological elements pervade the narrative. In this case, the two stories narrate the birth of Apollo, including his special association with Delos, and the founding of his sanctuary at Delphi, the most famous mythological and historical seat of prophecy in the Greek world.
The introduction of the hymn glorifies Apollo’s position on Olympus and establishes his parents as Zeus and Leto. Much of the introduction details Apollo’s arrival in the house of Zeus, as one would return from a morning’s hunt or travel abroad. However, Leto is neither the wife of Zeus nor one of the original six Olympians. She is an outsider in that respect, a second generation titan and child of Koios and Phoibe. As the hymn will detail, she suffered the wrath of Hera because of her position. Thus, Apollo would seem to be in a similar situation as Hermes and Dionysus in their respective Homeric hymns: bastard children who struggle to earn their respective places on Olympus. Yet the long hymn to Apollo is not concerned with justifying Apollo’s place among the Olympians in the way that the hymns to Dionysus and Hermes are. It unambiguously establishes Apollo as a child of Zeus living in the halls of his father with full honors. The hymn makes this relationship explicit in a few ways:
Example 1 is straightforward enough: the rest of the Olympians
respect and honor Apollo for his prowess with the bow if nothing else.
Example 2 is intriguing. The other Olympians tremble before
Apollo as he enters bearing his accoutrements of war. That he is powerful is
clear, but so much so that the other gods tremble upon his approach is striking
– if perhaps in keeping with similar dedicatory hymns that heighten the
prestige of their particular deity.
Example 3 is what we will focus on. The scene clearly depicts Apollo as a son returning home to a welcoming
mother and father, but the absence of Hera in the scene is conspicuous. On the
one hand, it’s perfectly reasonable; Leto is Apollo’s mother; this hymn
glorifies Apollo and his lineage rather than Hera. On the other hand, the
welcome Apollo receives from Leto suggests that she, not Hera, is the highest ranking female in the household (i.e., the wife). The welcome Leto rolls out for her son is reminiscent of
behavior one might expect in the observation of xenia or hospitality. In particular, the welcoming into the house
and sharing of food and drink mirrors the formal acceptance of guest-friends
and runs parallel to scenes in other cultural mythologies, such as the
welcome Beowulf receives from queen Wealtheow who delivers what is often
called the “guest cup” to the hero of the eponymous tale. A similar scene is depicted
in the 21st century film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings:The Two Towers wherein Éowyn
formulaically offers wine to Aragorn in the hall of Theodon during the
victory celebration for their successful defense of Helm’s Deep. In each case,
the ranking female of the house extends libations to the traveling/returning
warrior as a way of formally accepting the warrior into the folds of the
family/house. While Hera is Zeus' wife and queen of the gods, she is nowhere to be seen, and Apollo's mother, Leto, enjoys the honor of that role in the hymn.
Detail
from Lucanian
[2] red-figure volute krater by Palermo Painter (c. 400 BCE).
"Leto wears a belted peplos with a
double stripe down the
front and a himation.[3] Her body is in left profile, and she holds a lotus-tipped staff in her left
hand. She also has a necklace of black beads and a radiate crown decorated with
meander bands and a Z-pattern. She holds a piece of her mantle in her right
hand; it makes a veil over the back of her head and falls over her left
shoulder and down her back."
Malibu 85.AE.101, Getty Museum. Description by PerseusProject.
The hymn briefly shifts to Leto as the object of worship in the next sequence:
Hail! O blessed Leto, mother of glorious children, Prince Apollo and Artemis the Archer! Her in Ortygia, him in rocky Delos did you bear, leaning against the long sweep of the Cynthian Hill, beside a palm tree by the streams of Inopos.
Leto is associated with stereotypical expectations for women
and mothers: As the mother of Apollo and Artemis, she is a goddess of motherhood
and is praised for giving birth to the sibling archer gods. She is an ideal
mother; thus she is seen as a protector of the young. “Her name and iconography
suggest she was also a goddess of modesty and womanly demure.”[4] We can, therefore, add Leto to a group of adult female deities in the pantheon
as mother goddesses, portrayed as such by wearing conservative clothing
(himation, peplos, and veil – generally modest attire); goddesses in this group
includes Gaia, Rhea, Demeter, Hera, and Leto, among others.
The verse glorifying Leto is equally noteworthy for what it
relates about the birth of Apollo’s sister, Artemis: Leto bore “[h]er in
Ortygia, him in rocky Delos.” Ortygia is a small, peninsular island in Sicily.
It is part of the city-state of Syracuse.
“The Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo has it that the goddess
Leto stopped at Ortygia to give birth to Artemis, the firstborn of her twins.
Artemis then helped Leto across the sea to the island of Delos, where Leto gave
birth to Apollo. Other ancient sources state that the twins were born in the
same place – which was either Delos or Ortygia – but Ortygia, according to
Strabo was an old name of Delos. Further, there were perhaps a half-dozen other
places called Ortygia, so that the identification is uncertain.”[5]
Map credit: Javierfv1212. Wikimedia Commons.com.
Strabo, a 1st Century BCE Greek historian/geographer, asserts that Ortygia was another name for Delos. Apollodorus, a 2nd Century CE Greek mythographer, records a different version of Apollo’s and Artemis’ birth(s):
Leto, after sleeping with Zeus, was driven over the whole earth by Hera until she came to Delos. She gave birth first to Artemis. Then, with her daughter acting as midwife, she bore Apollo.
Artemis spent her time engaged in hunting and remained a virgin. Apollo learned to prophesy from Pan, the son of Zeus and Hubris, and came to Delphi. At that time Themis gave the oracles. But when the serpent Python, the guardian of the oracle, tried to keep him from passing near the chasm, Apollo killed it and took possession of the oracle.[6]
It is possible that Artemis was birthed on Delos before
Apollo, and the Homeric hymn incorporated both names for the island by relating
their births as it does. However, such considerations are unlikely given the
grammar of the lyrics, which suggest that the hymn views Ortygia and Delos as
separate islands. Whatever the circumstances of the twin gods’ births were,
existing myths agree in so far as Artemis was born first and that the islands
of Ortygia and Delos are linked by virtue of Artemis and Apollo. Whether they
are the same island or not differs depending on the iteration of the myth. Apollodorus does not provide a source for his version of the tale,
but it does compliment that of the Homeric hymn by giving depth to Leto’s struggle,
twinning Apollo and Artemis on Delos, and reinforcing Artemis’ relationship to the
care for young by acting as midwife for her brother. Apollodorus’ brief
narrative also compliments the hymn’s version of Apollo’s encounter with the
dragon at Delphi, which we will explore in the Delphian discussion of the hymn.
The hymn charts Leto’s trek across the Greek world to find a place to give birth to Apollo as well as her negotiations with Delos to give her sanctuary, but it is not until the narrative turns to the labor of childbirth that the hymn specifies the reason for her difficulty in settling on a birth site. Hera’s wrath remains unspoken as the reason for Leto’s wandering:
[S]o far in labor with the Archer god went Leto, seeking if perchance any land would build a house for her son.
But the lands trembled sore and were afraid, and none, not even the richest, dared to welcome Phoibos, not till Lady Leto set foot on Delos and, speaking winged words, implored her.[7]
Delos is a Cycladic island. The Cyclades are the numerous islands that populate the Aegean Sea due east of the Peloponnesus and north of Crete. Delos is a smaller one of the islands and lacks sufficient natural resources to sustain human habitation. Leto’s proposition to Delos follows:
“Delos, would that you were minded to be the seat of my son, Phoibos[8] Apollo, and to let him build here a rich temple! No other god will touch you, nor will any honor you, for I think you will not be rich in cattle or in sheep, in fruit or grain, nor will you grow plants unnumbered. But were you to possess a temple of Apollo the Far-darter, then would all men bring you hecatombs,[9] gathering to you, and ever will the savor of sacrifice waft up in full measure, and you will feed those who possess you from others’ hands, though your soil is poor.”[10]
In other words, Leto promises Delos distinction or fame
among Aegean islands, for Delos will be the site of Apollo’s birth and, in
commemoration, his first temple. The renown of this status will draw visitors
from far and wide across the Greek world, and an otherwise innocuous little
Cycladic island in the Aegean thus becomes a destination for pilgrimage and a
hub of activity. The historical popularity of Delos is thus given aetiological
explanation in the hymn.
Hera’s role in Leto’s suffering is explicitly revealed for
the first time when the hymn narrates Leto’s labor:
Leto for nine days and nine nights continually was pierced with pangs of childbirth beyond all hope. With her were all the goddesses, the noblest, Dione, and Rhea, Ichnaian Themis, and Amphitrite of the moaning sea, and the other deathless ones – save white-armed Hera, for she sat in the halls of cloud-gathering Zeus. Only Eileithyia, the helper in difficult labor, knew not of it, for she sat on the crest of Olympos beneath the golden clouds by the wile of white-armed Hera, who held her afar in jealous grudge, because even then fair-tressed Leto was about to give birth to a strong and noble son.
Of the Olympian goddesses, only Hera and her daughter, Eileithyia, are conspicuously absent during Leto’s labor. We learn that Eileithya, the goddess of childbirth, whose name means “Midwife,” was distracted by Hera and kept ignorant of Leto’s labor pangs. Note that Iris, the messenger goddess of the Olympians, is sent off to find Eileithyia and bring her back to Delos and assist Leto:
But the goddesses sent forth Iris from the well-settled isle to bring Eileithyia, promising her a great necklace, strung with golden threads, nine cubits long. Iris they bade to call Eileithyia apart from with-armed Hera, lest even then the words of Hera might turn her from going. But wind-footed swift Iris heard and sped forth, and swiftly she devoured the space between. As soon as she came to steep Olympos, the dwelling of the gods, she called forth Eileithyia from hall to door and spoke winged words, all that the goddesses of Olympian mansions had bidden her. Thereby she won the heart in Eileithyia's breast, and forth they went like timid wild doves in their going.[11]
Eileithyia arrives and finds Leto in excruciating pain, “mad was she to give birth”:
Around a palm tree she cast her arms and set her knees on the soft meadow, while earth beneath smiled, and forth leapt the babe to light, and all the goddesses raised a cry.[12]
A popular red-figure vase painting survives from the 4th century BCE depicting Leto’s labor on Delos; Leto is flanked by Eileithyia and Athena while she grips a palm tree:
Attic red-figure pyxis from Eretria (c. 350 BCE).
Leto sits on a stool and holds onto a palm tree
in the presence of other deities. Athena stands in front of her. Artemis and
Eileithyia may be the women behind her. Eros sits on Aphrodite's lap. (only
Eileithyia, Leto, Athena visible).[13]
Athens, National Archaeological Museum 1635.
Image credit: Odysseus: Ministry of Culture and Sports. © Ministry of Culture and Sports
Thus, the narrative painting would seem to follow closely with that of the Long Hymn to Apollo. However, the figure of Eileithyia is in question and may instead be Artemis, aligning it more closely with Apollodorus’ 2nd century CE account. Whichever account the painting more closely aligns with, the suffering of Leto, empathy from the other goddesses, and conspicuous absence of Hera remain themes common to all three iterations of the myth.
The following section of the hymn returns to general
characteristics of Apollo and his role on Olympus. It also introduces the
second chapter of the narrative, the slaying of Python and establishment of
Apollo’s sanctuary at Delphi.
A signature element of Apollo is his affinity with the arts
and his love of the lyre:
The son of glorious Leto made his way harping his hollow [lyre] to rocky Pytho, clad in his divine raiment that is fragrant, and beneath the golden plectrum pleasantly sounds his lyre. Thence from earth to Olympos, fleet as thought, he goes to the house of Zeus, into the assembly of the other gods, and soon the immortals turn their thoughts to lyre and song. And all the Muses, responding in unison with sweet voice, sing of the imperishable gifts of the gods and the sufferings of men, all that they endure from the hands of the undying gods, lives witless and helpless, men unable to find remedy for death or shield against old age.[14]
Apollo’s role, both on Olympus and for mortals, is closely linked to that of the Muses in this and other myths. Together with the Muses, Apollo recalls the history of gods and mortals in the entertaining verse that they perform for the gods, and all other gods take pleasure in their pleasing voices and the melody of their music. Like the Muses, then, Apollo participates in the production and perpetuation of memory that is so core to the existence of the Muses in Hesiod’s Theogony. Indeed, Apollo’s arts overlap with those of the Muses in a much more meaningful way in the Delphian half of the hymn.
Apollo is typically depicted with one of two attributes:
the lyre or the bow and quiver. The lyre is a harp-like instrument. The
painting at left is an excellent representation of both Apollo and black-figure
technique at its prime.
Apollo often associates with the Muses, patron goddesses of
the arts (hence the term “music”). The lyre is also an attribute of the Muses.
It is not uncommon for them to be depicted together, engaged in the production
or performance of music.
Apollo was envisioned as the ideal youth on the cusp of
manhood. Thus he is always depicted beardless.
Note also that his skin is black whereas the
Muses are painted with white skin. This is a common (but not absolute) feature
in the black-figure technique: female skin is often painted white in opposition
to that of male figures.
MET. Accession Number: 06.1021.47.
As the narrative turns toward the Delian myth for the remainder of the hymn, let us end this section by returning to its opening line: “The son of glorious Leto made his way harping his hollow harp [lyre] to rocky Pytho.” Pytho is a place name, the site of Delphi on the foot of Mt. Parnassus.
Apollo wanders mainland Greece in search of a site to establish his oracular sanctuary until, finally, he arrives in Telphousa:
Then did you come to Telphousa, and to you the land seemed an exceedingly good one in which to establish a temple and grove. [15]
Telphousa was a spring in central Greece (Boeotia). She was
also a personification of that spring, a Naiad (water nymph). Thus, Telphousa
was both a place and a minor spirit or goddess. This is typical for the
anthropomorphic Greek world in which every aspect is a manifestation of the
divine. We encountered this issue with Delos in the first half of the hymn when
Leto entered into negotiation with the Island.
Apollo began setting out the ground where his temple would
be built, close to Telphousa’s own sanctuary. This troubled her, for it would
reduce her influence in the area, so she sought to dissuade him by guile to
build his temple elsewhere:
“The never-ending din of swift foot steeds will be a weariness to you, as will the watering of mules from my sacred springs. There men will choose to regard the well-wrought chariots and the stamping of the swift-footed steeds rather than your great temple and much wealth therein. But if you – who are greater and better than I, O Prince, and your strength is most mighty – if you will listen to me, in Crisa build your temple beneath a glade of Parnassos. There neither will fine chariots ring, nor will you be vexed with stamping of swift steeds about your well-built altar, but nonetheless shall the renowned tribes of men bring their gifts to Apollo, and delighted you shall gather the sacrifices of them who dwell around”.
At that she won over the heart of the Far-darter, so that Telphousa herself would be honored in that land and not the Far-darter. [16]
The narrative becomes somewhat convoluted as it weaves in and out of a pair of related tales that supply backstory to a newly introduced character in a style reminiscent of Homeric epic. While the tales are directly relevant to the Delphian story arc, they are also self-contained narratives that provide origins for famous figures in Greek myth: Hephaestus, Typhon, Athena. The overarching purpose of this section of the narrative is to introduce Python, “the dragoness,” and provide an aetiological myth that explains the creature’s name, which is tied to the place name employed earlier in the hymn: Pytho. It also explains the epithet of Pythian Apollo.
Two sections above, we noted that “Pytho” is both a location
and a figure in the myth. There are a few related words based on the stem pythō-.
The root word is actually a verb: puthō means to “rot” or “decay.” The hymn plays on this verb somewhat anachronistically to refer to both the place and the name of the dragoness who guards it. Puthō (capital P) is the name of the region in which Delphi is located (e.g., Athens
lay within the region of Attica). Puthōn is the name of “the dragoness”
whom Apollo slays in the Homeric hymn.[17] The hymn explicitly links the names to the verb.
As we already noted, the first time the term occurs is as a
reference to a region in central Greece near Mt. Parnassus in Boeotia. Next, we
learn that Apollo slays “the dragoness” that inhabited that same region, in or
near the precinct of the sanctuary that Apollo had set out:
Close by is a fair-flowing spring, and there with an arrow from his strong bow did the prince, the son of Zeus, slay the dragoness, mighty and huge, a wild monster, who was wont to wreak many woes on earthly men, on them and their straight-stepping flocks, so dread a bane was she.
The term used in the hymn is drakōn, or “dragon.” Its
name is conspicuously absent as the hymn narrates backstory about the dragon
that connects it to the births of Athena, Hephaestus, and ultimately as the
surrogate mother of Typhon, the monstrosity that represented the single
greatest threat to Zeus’ rule of the cosmos in Hesiod’s Theogony. Indeed,
the dragon seems to represent an existential threat to civilization. This ties
into the themes of the Theogony and the klea andrōn (heroic
legends) throughout Greek myth. A consistent focus of the Theogony is
the rise of Zeus, who represents Greek ideals of justice and order juxtaposed
with his predecessors (Ouranos and Kronos), whose reigns were characterized by
savagery, injustice, and disorder. During his ascension and throughout his
reign, Zeus waged war against agents of chaos and savagery, specifically Kronos
(unjust cannibal), the giants (lawless savages), and Typhon (the monstrous
progeny of Gaia and Tartaros in Hesiod’s version). The same pattern persists in
myths surrounding Zeus’ progeny, especially his mortal children, great heroes
like Herakles (Hercules) and Perseus, or Poseidon’s progeny, such as Theseus
and Bellerophon. Each of the aforementioned heroes’ exploits features the
slaying of savage beasts or monsters that threatened human civilization.
Indeed, monster-slaying is a defining feature of heroic literature. The dragon,
or “dragoness,” that Apollo encounters in the Homeric hymn is one such monster,
and Apollo assumes the role as both legendary hero and proxy of Zeus when he
slays the primordial beast.
Thus, as the hymn continues, it emphasizes the
unjust, savage nature of the monster, who represented an impediment or
challenge to the justice of Zeus:
The dragoness always wrought many wrongs among the renowned tribes of men. Whoever met the dragoness, on him would she bring the day of destiny, until the Prince, far-darting Apollo, loosed at her the destroying shaft. Then, writhing in strong anguish and mightily heaving she lay, rolling about the land. Dread and dire was the din as she writhed this way and that through the wood and gave up the ghost, breathing out blood and Phoibos [Apollo] spoke his curse:
Rot there upon the fruitful earth. No longer shall you, at least, live to be the vile bane of mortals who eat the fruit of the fertile soil and who shall bring perfect hecatombs here. Surely from you neither shall Typhon nor accursed Chimaera shield you from grisly death, but here shall black earth and bright Hyperion make you rot.
So spoke he in curse, and darkness veiled her eyes, and there the sacred strength of the sun did waste her quite away. From this the place is now named Pytho, and men call the Prince “Pythian” for that deed, for even there the might of the swift sun made the monster rot away.
Throughout the narrative, the monster is simply referred to as “dragoness” or drakōn because she does not receive her actual name until Apollo assigns it to her at the moment of her death. This hymn, then, explains the name of the region (Pytho) and Apollo’s Delphic epithet (Pythian) as a means of commemorating Apollo’s slaying of the monstrous dragon: he left her out to rot (pythō) in the sun, hence the name Python. This is an aetiological myth explaining the origin of the region’s name and Apollo’s epithet.
Laconian blk-fig kylix (c. 570-565 BCE).
According to the Homeric hymn to Apollo, the Chimaera was
nurtured by Python. The beast was slain by the hero Bellerophon. The term
“chimaera” has come to mean a monstrous combination of unlike things that is
viewed as an abomination of nature or the natural order.
Bellerophon and his steed, the winged horse Pegasus, battle the Chimera. The monster has
the head and body of a lion, a goat's head rising from the center of its back,
and a serpent for a tail. The hero drives a spear into its breast and Pegasus
pummels its neck with his hooves.[19]
The earliest surviving textual version of
Bellerophon’s adventures is narrated in Book 6 of the Iliad wherein Glaucus
recounts his family history to Diomedes during the Trojan War. Bellerophon is
Glaucus’ grandfather.
Black-figure kylix. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California.
Apollodorus relates a different version of events:
Apollo learned to prophesy from Pan, the son of Zeus and Hubris, and came to Delphi. At that time Themis gave the oracles. But when the serpent Python, the guardian of the oracle, tried to keep him from passing near the chasm, Apollo killed it and took possession of the oracle. [20]
In Apollodorus’ version of the myth, Delphi was a seat of prophecy
already occupied by an earlier oracular deity (Themis), and the drakōn (Python) was its guardian. In this scenario, Apollo is less a civilizing agent
than a conqueror, but slaying Python and wresting control of the site from the
Titaness Themis contributes to the efforts of Zeus to seize control over the
cosmos from the Titans, who were viewed as older, darker gods, whereas Zeus and
the Olympians represents the new, civilized, and just order. The fact that
Themis and Python are female and Zeus and Apollo are male may also suggest the
assertion of “natural order” in the patriarchal view of the male imposing
“masculine order” over the perceived chaos or irrationality of the feminine –
themes that are more conspicuous in other myths.
Finally, we return to the name of the beast, and the term is
derived from the Greek verb for “rot” (puthō). The beast itself,
however, is a drakōn or dragon. In Greek, dragon is the term for
monstrous or giant serpent. That this particular dragon’s name was Python
almost certainly explains the name of a large species of snake in English, but
it is important to distinguish the use of the terms in modern English from
ancient Greek. We refer to large snakes as pythons because that was the name of
a giant snake in Greek myth. However, the Greek term for such snakes was our
term for dragon. Cultural ideas of dragons differ fairly significantly, but
their monstrosity in that they represent a threat to human civilization is a shared
feature in European lore. Their connection to nature is more complex as it runs the full spectrum of symbolism from "savage nature" to harmony with nature as an ideal state of balance in the world. In Greek mythology, however, the creatures reside very much on the savage end of the spectrum, at least in the monster slaying tales.
It is not entirely clear how Apollo realized Telphousa had tricked him, but this section of the narrative introduces the final phase of the Delphian myth, the acquisition of priests for his sanctuary and the mythological explanation for the name Delphi. He did this in a miraculous fashion, hijacking a ship of Cretan sailors:
Phoibos Apollo considered in his heart what men he should bring in to be his ministers and serve him in rocky Pytho. While he was pondering on this, he beheld a swift ship on the wine-dark sea, and aboard her many men and good, Creatans from Minoan Knossos who make sacrifice to the god and speak the pronouncements of Phoibos Apollo of the golden sword, whatever word of truth he utters from the laurel in the dells of Parnassos. For barter and wealth they were sailing in the black ship to sandy Pylos and the Pylian men. Soon Phoibos Apollo set forth to meet them, and at sea he leapt upon the swift ship in the guise of a dolphin, and there he lay, a portent great and terrible.
Thus Apollo magically steered the ship in the guise of a dolphin far past its original destination, sailing them all the way around the Peloponnesus, into the Corinthian gulf and eventually beaching them at Crisa on the north shore of the Corinthian gulf, due south of Pytho (soon to be Delphi).
After a great deal of theatrics, including a flight to his sanctuary and back to Crisa, Apollo appears before the awestruck Cretan sailors and addresses them:
Strangers, who formerly dwelled around wooded Knossos, never again shall you return, each to his own pleasant city, his house, and wife, but here shall you hold my rich temple, honored by multitudes of men. I am the son of Zeus and proclaim myself Apollo, and here have I brought you over the great gulf of the sea with no evil intent. Nay, here shall you possess my rich temple, held high in honor among all men, and you shall know the counsels of the immortals, by whose will you shall ever be held in renown. [Apollo orders them to debark] And because I first, in the misty sea, sprang aboard the swift ship in the guise of a dolphin, therefore pray to me as Apollo Delphinios, while my altar shall ever be the Delphian and seen from aftar. Then take supper beside the swift black ship and pour libations to the blessed gods who hold Olympos. But when you have dismissed the desire of sweet food, then with me come, singing the hymn to Apollo, till you reach that place where you shall possess the rich temple.
As is often the case in gifts from the gods, this one is
bittersweet. The Cretans will become priests of Apollo, receiving great
prestige and never having to struggle for sustenance again. There is a cost,
however; they will never again see their homeland and are forced to abandon
their wives, children, and families whom they have left behind.
Finally, the name of Delphi and its cognates are explained.
The Greek term for dolphin is delphinos. Delphian Apollo and the
sanctuary of Delphi are named in commemoration of Apollo’s exploits as a
dolphin in obtaining the priests who populate his sanctuary.
Apollo’s list of attributes is both large and fairly distinctive amongst the Olympians. He carries the lyre, often accompanied by the Muses or his bow weilding sister, Artemis. He is famously referred to as the god of the silver bow and the far-shooter, so the bow and quiver are common associations. He also adorns himself, often, with a laurel crown and carries a laurel branch or staff. Apollo is the only member of the male Olympians to always be depicted beardless. This is, no doubt, a conscious decision because Apollo was believed to represent the ideal male youth, or youth on the cusp of manhood. His half-brothers (e.g., Hermes, Hephaistos, etc.) may or may not be depicted with beards in Attic art, but such a feature is conspicuously absent in depictions of Apollo.
Attic red-figure bell krater (c. 430-410 BCE), British Museum 1920,0613.2. Apollo, beardless, stand before the satyr Marsyas who plays the auloi. Apollo wears a laurel wreath and holds a laurel staff or branch in his left hand. Copyright The Trustees of the British Museum in accordance with Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) liscence.
Attic red-figure kalyx-krater (c. 450-440 BCE), MET 08.258.21. Apollo slays the giant Tityos (not pictured) who tried the rape Apollo's mother, Leto (partially pictured). Apollo is depicted as a beardless young man wearing a laureal wreath and firing a bow.
Attic Black-Figure Hydria Attributed to Lykomedes Painter (c. 520–510 BCE). Apollo struggles with Herakles over the tripod at Delphi. Artemis looks on at left while Athena looks on at right.
Attic red-figure squat lekythos (c. 500-490 BCE) attributed to the manner of the Sappho Painter. Beardless Apollo reclines with a laurel staff in the crook of his arm and laurel wreathed crown.
Attic red-figure white ground kylix (c. 480-470 BCE), Delphi Archaeological Museum. Apollo, beardless and wearing a laurel crown, pours a libation whild gripping a tortise shell lyre in the other hand. Photo credit: Egisto Sani.
[1] Homeric
Hymns. (trans. A. Lang, updated and modified). In Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation, 1st
ed (Kindle edition). Stephen M. Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet
(eds.). Stephen M. Trzaskoma (trans.). Hackett (2004).
[2] A
region in southern Italy. Southern Italy and Sicily were heavily colonized and
maintained by Greeks from the Archaic period to the rise of Roman hegemony in
the 2nd century BCE. The areas are collectively known as Magna
Graecia (Latin for “Greater Greece”) and is the source of many of the best
preserved vase paintings from the late Archaic period onward.
[3] Himation: A himation was a
type of clothing, a mantle or wrap worn by ancient Greek men and women from the
Archaic through the Hellenistic periods. It was usually worn over a chiton
and/or peplos, but was made of heavier drape and played the role of a cloak or
shawl (Wikipedia).
[4] Leto. Theoi.com.
[5] Ortygia. Wikipedia.com.
[6] Apollodorus. The Library (excerpts). In Anthology
of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation, 1st ed
(Kindle edition). Stephen M. Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet (eds.). Stephen
M. Trzaskoma (trans.). Hackett (2004).
[7] Homeric Hymns. (trans. A. Lang, updated and modified). In Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation, 1st
ed (Kindle edition). Stephen M. Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet
(eds.). Stephen M. Trzaskoma (trans.). Hackett (2004).
[8] Phoibos is another name for Apollo meaning “Bright one” or “Shining one” in
reference to his position as a sun god. Light, particularly the light of the
sun, was associated with sight and knowledge. All of the sun gods in the Greek
Pantheon are thus associated with knowledge vis-à-vis sight (Hyperion, Helios),
and Apollo is the most significant point of contact in communication between
mortals and gods, a connection that will be given further aetiological
justification in the Delian half of the hymn.
[9]
Hecatombs.
Originally a sacrifice of 100 oxen in ancient Greece, but used to refer to
sacrificial offerings in general.
[10] Homeric Hymns. (trans. A. Lang, updated and modified). In Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation, 1st
ed (Kindle edition). Stephen M. Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet
(eds.). Stephen M. Trzaskoma (trans.). Hackett (2004).
[11] ibid.
[12] ibid.
[13]T.
H. Carpenter. Art and Myth in Ancient
Greece. Thames & Huson (1991).
[14]Homeric Hymns. (trans. A. Lang, updated and modified). In Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation, 1st
ed (Kindle edition). Stephen M. Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet
(eds.). Stephen M. Trzaskoma (trans.). Hackett (2004).
[15] ibid.
[16] ibid.
[17] The u (upsilon) in Greek is Latinized with a y; hence Puthon becomes Python, and muthos becomes mythos (myth).
[18] T. H. Carpenter. Art and Myth in
Ancient Greece. Thames & Hudson (1991).
[19] Theoi.com (caption).
[20]Homeric Hymns. (trans. A. Lang, updated and modified). In Anthology of Classical Myth: Primary Sources in Translation, 1st
ed (Kindle edition). Stephen M. Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith, Stephen Brunet
(eds.). Stephen M. Trzaskoma (trans.). Hackett (2004).
