These ideas, which seem to be expressed with tolerable distinctness, in the most ancient epithets and symbols connected with the worship of Apollo, as well as in the images and fictions of poets down to the time of Euripides, we will first examine with reference to the mythical history and adventures of Apollo, and secondly we will endeavour to point out the influence which these notions exercised upon the worship itself.
§ 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.