of Wales Press.3 Lloyd, Alan B. 1976. Herodotus: Book, II, Commentary 1–98, 171–72. Leiden: Brill.
APOLLO (Ἀπόλλων, ὁ)
ANGELIKI PETROPOULOU
Hellenic Open University at Patras
Apollo, the youthful god of MUSIC and ARCHERY, was above all an oracular divinity, a master of PROPHECY. He was a god of ecstatic or “mad” DIVINATION. He informed humans through his inspired prophets or prohetesses who acted as his medium. Apollo’s major oracular shrines were at DELPHI, Claros, and Didyma (see BRANCHIDAE). Yet the Delphic ORACLE alone enjoyed an international prestige in the ARCHAIC AGE and classical era, the god’s medium there being a female virgin, the PYTHIA. In Herodotus’ Histories, Delphic Apollo is the most important oracular divinity concerning political and religious matters, consulted by Greeks and Lydians.
Apollo was consulted by the Lydians after GYGES killed CANDAULES and took the kingship (1.12–14). The oracle confirmed Gyges’ kingship, which established the dynasty of the MERMNADAE—but also warned that they would lose the throne in the fifth generation. Gyges expressed his gratitude by dedicating to Apollo many SILVER and GOLD vessels. CROESUS, the last of the Mermnadae, during the planning of an attack on the Persian Empire, tested the wisdom of prominent Greek oracles (1.46–49). Apollo’s Delphic oracle and the Boeotian oracle of AMPHIARAUS alone passed the test, Amphiaraus’ oracle being housed in the temple of Apollo Ismenius in Herodotus’ time. Croesus, sending numerous gifts of gold to DELPHI, asked the oracle whether he should make war on PERSIA (1.53–56.1). Pleased with the Pythia’s response, Croesus marched against the Persians. When, however, he was captured, he demanded to know why Apollo had encouraged him to make this expedition (1.86–91). The Pythia replied that not even a god could escape his ordained FATE, and that Loxias had simply predicted that “if he attacked the Persians, he would destroy a great empire”; it was Croesus who had neglected to consider whose empire that was (1.91.1–4). CLEOMENES, the Spartan king, on being informed that he had burned the sacred grove of the hero Argus, accused Loxias of leading him to believe that he would capture the city of ARGOS (6.80). Apollo’s indirect and veiled revelation was the reason why he was called Loxias, “the Oblique.”
Phoebus Apollo urged BATTUS (I), when he visited Delphi, to establish a colony in LIBYA, leading to the foundation of CYRENE (4.155–58). DORIEUS, on being advised to establish a colony in SICILY, asked the Pythia whether he would capture the land he was heading for, and received a positive reply (5.43). The DOLONCIANS, pressed by war, sent their kings to Delphi to ask about the war. The Pythia replied that they should invite to their land the first man to offer them hospitality after they left the shrine, and make him their founder. This happened to be MILTIADES THE ELDER (6.34–37).
During Xerxes’ expedition against Greece in 480 BCE, the Delphic oracle urged the offering of PRAYERS to the WINDS (7.178), which resulted in the destruction of a large part of the Persian fleet off ARTEMISIUM and EUBOEA (7.189–90). The Pythia’s promise to the Athenians that “the wooden wall would not be taken,” which was interpreted by THEMISTOCLES as referring to the fleet, resulted in the Athenian victory at SALAMIS (7.140–41). The Delphic oracle foretold the DEATH of MARDONIUS and his soldiers, and by means of oracles indirectly designated the specific site of PLATAEA (8.114; 9.33–5). The “oracular wisdom” of Apollo played the single greatest “religious” role, as Mikalson (2003) has argued. The golden TRIPOD that the Greeks dedicated at Delphi from the spoils of Plataea was a token of their gratititude (9.81.1).
SEE ALSO: Carneia; Causation; Colonization; Dedications; Gods and the Divine; Hyacinthia; Religion, Greek
REFERENCE
1 Mikalson, Jon D. 2003. Herodotus and Religion in the Persian Wars. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
FURTHER READING
1 Garland, Robert. 2017. Athens Burning: The Persian Invasion of Greece and the Evacuation of Attica. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
2 Graf, Fritz. 2009. Apollo. London and New York: Routledge.
3 Johnston, Sarah Iles. 2015. “Introduction: Human Needs, Divine Knowledge.” In The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion, edited by Esther Eidinow and Julia Kindt, 477–89. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4 Kindt, Julia. 2016. Revisiting Delphi: Religion and Storytelling in Ancient Greece. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
5 Larson, Jennifer. 2007. Ancient Greek Cults: A Guide. New York and London: Routledge.
APOLLONIA on the Black Sea (ἡ Ἀπολλωνίη ἐν τῷ Εὐξείνῳ πόντῳ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Apollonia Pontica, a Greek city on the coast of the EUXINE (Black) Sea (BA 22 E6), modern Sozopol in Bulgaria. A colony of MILETUS founded in the late seventh century BCE (Gorman 2001, 251), Apollonia was the first major HARBOR for ships sailing north from the Thracian BOSPORUS and also stood at the end of land routes from the AEGEAN coast and the Balkan interior (Isaac 1986, 241–47). Herodotus only mentions the city twice in passing (4.90.2, 93) as he describes the campaign of DARIUS I against the SCYTHIANS. After the Greco‐Persian wars, Apollonia may have been a member of the DELIAN LEAGUE: it appears on the Athenian Tribute Lists in 425/4 (IG I3 71.IV.128).
SEE ALSO: Apollonia on the Ionian Gulf; Colonization; Thrace
REFERENCES
1 Gorman, Vanessa B. 2001. Miletos, the Ornament of Ionia: A History of the City to 400 BCE. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
2 Isaac, Benjamin. 1986. The Greek Settlements in Thrace until the Macedonian Conquest. Leiden: Brill.
FURTHER READING
1 Greaves, Alan M. 2002. Miletos: A History, 104–9. London and New York: Routledge.
IACP no. 682 (931–32).
APOLLONIA ON THE IONIAN GULF (Ἀπολλωνίη ἡ ἐν τῷ Ἰωνίῳ κόλπῳ)
ALISON LANSKI
University of Notre Dame
A city on the IONIAN GULF between Epirus and Illyria, north of the Aoüs River, to be distinguished from several other cities of the same name (BA 49 B3; Steph. Byz. s.v. Ἀπολλωνία (A 361)). Apollonia was founded by CORINTH around 600 BCE, but was also claimed by CORCYRA (Strabo 7.5.8/C316) and had its origin attributed to the god APOLLO (Paus. 5.22.3). The city has left a rich archaeological record, but it plays no role in the Histories other than as the location for Herodotus’ backstory of EUENIUS, whose son DEIPHONUS serves as seer for the Greek fleet in 479 BCE (9.93–94). In Roman times, Apollonia was connected to EPIDAMNUS by road and served as a base for Julius Caesar during his pursuit of Pompey (Caes. BCiv. 3.12).
SEE ALSO: Apollonia on the Black Sea; Digressions; Illyrians; Mycale
