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God Apollo |
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"Apollo, sacred guard of earth’s true
core, Whence first
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Contributed by Antonia Traiana Severa God Apollo is one of the Dii Consentes, a group of twelve gods that were especially honored by the ancient Romans. BackgroundThe god Apollo may have been originally worshipped as a pastoral deity of shepherds and flocks. Apollo’s nomen (name) may have been derived from Apellon, a pre-Homeric deity represented as a gatherer of men and herds who presided over the appelai—a Dorian festival for public assemblage and the annual initiation of young tribal members. Apollo was cognate with Etruscan Aplu and after the fifth century BCE, He was frequently identified with Helius, god of sun, whose solar aspects may have been influenced by the Syro-Phoenician god, El Gabel. But it was as Phoebus Apollo (Phoebus meaning "bright" or "pure"), that Apollo was most widely recognized. Apollo was the only Hellenic god Who entered the Roman pantheon by His forename. Apollo’s cultus (cult) was one of the oldest and most important introduced to Rome; so old in fact, that it was at times thought to be indigenous to the Romans. Livy refers to a cultus already established in 449 BCE and the presence of the Apollinar (open cult place of Apollo), located outside the pomerium (city boundary) of Rome-- ascertaining a marked presence, perhaps even during the Monarchy. However, it was His formal introduction in 433 BCE as a healing god that secured Apollo’s place in Roman worship. Apollo’s prominence was further enhanced in 217 BCE upon becoming one of the Dii Consentes, at which time He was coactively identified as a solar deity. Apollo’s Latin epithets ultimately came to include prophecy, hunting, music, and poetry. Although Apollo was esteemed in the Republic, it is during the Imperial Empire--particularly during the Augustan age as Augustus Caesar’s personal deity--that Apollo began to achieve greater significance, though it never rivaled His Hellenic eminence. Apollo gained much distinction in Rome as a healing and purifying god. His arrival in 433 BCE was recommended by the Libri Sybillini (Sibylline Books) in order to avert the epidemic. Two years later in 431 BCE, a temple was dedicated to Apollo Medicus ("for the health of the people") at the Campus Martius--already known by that time as Apollo’s Precinct. Apollo was additionally honored in this appellation during the Ludi Saeculares (secular games), first attested in 249 BCE, and vowed every saeculum after, in order not be seen more than once in a lifetime. This tradition commemorating the end of a saeculum (the longest span of human life; approximately 100-110 years) may have originated in the fourth Century BCE in answer to urgenti pestilential (the urgency of an epidemic), and the purification rites preserved that indication. Apollo symbolized both protector and healer in the Ludi Apollinares (games for Apollo), instituted in 212 BCE as the result of a pestilential (pestilence). The games, held to avert plagues, were initially celebrated on a single occasion. They proved to be so popular with the Romans that they were renewed by lex (law) in 208 BCE, becoming a fixed annual holiday. In the early fourth century BCE the duomviri sacris faciundis ("two men of sacred action"-later a college that was responsible for keeping, and when required, consulting the Sibylline oracles) supervised the first ceremony of the lectisternium or "draping of the couches". Apollo was among the deities honored at this banquet, held to win favor with the gods and to repel pestilence. For eight consecutive days, three richly decorated couches were left standing out of doors for the divine images to recline on while food and wine offerings were given. Hospitality, good cheer, and a general Concordia (see Virtues page) accompanied the celebration which was incorporated into several major Roman festivals. One of Apollo’s most important indigitameta (aspects) was as the god of prophecy. Apollo was intimately associated with the Sibylline oracles, a collection of prophetic verses composed in Homeric dialect mostly by Sibyls ("seers"), often priestesses of Apollo. The verses were compiled into a series of books called the Libri Sibyllini (Sibylline Books) and were often consulted as oracles during times of national crises and to innovate religious practices. The books were thought to have been first consulted in 496 BCE during a famine. Thereafter the collection continued to expand into a diverse corpus of oracles, construed by the decemviri sacris faciundis in consulting with the gods to provide sacred remedies for the Roman state. The Libri Sibyllini were initially housed within a stone vault beneath the temple of Iuppiter Capitolinus ("Jupiter of the Capitol") at Rome until the destruction of that temple in 83 BCE. The original series of books, also destroyed, were later rewritten and reconstructed under the direction of Augustus Caesar who eventually transferred the oracles to the newly built Apollo Palatinus (Temple of Apollo on the Palentine). According to some sources, the Etruscan King Tarquinius Superbus first introduced the Sibylline oracles from Cumae (located in southern Italy above Naples) to Rome in the sixth century BCE. The Sibyl of Cumae, the most famous sibyls and a priestess of Apollo, was believed to have sold some of the original books to Tarquinius Superbus alleging that the oracles elucidated Rome’s destiny. Tarquinius Superbus may possibly have been cognizant of the famed Aplu (Estruscan Apollo), Who was worshipped at Caere, home of the Tarquinian family. Caere maintained a treasury at Delphi, the most renowned sanctuary of Apollo in the Mediterranean and home of the Sibyls. Tarquinius Superbus, upon acquiring the books, had them placed in the care of the duoviri sacris faciundis-where they would remain for senatorial consultation. Though Apollo was primarily a healing and prophetic god to the Romans, He was also honored in His lyrical and musical aspects. Located at Mount Parnassus near Delphi was the Castalia, a spring sacred to Apollo and the Muses. The spring was near the sanctuary of Apollo and it was believed that drinking the waters of the spring incited poetic inspiration. It was named after Castalia, a water nymph imbued with prophetic gifts, Who, according to myth, had thrown Herself into the spring to avoid Apollo’s unwanted advances. Visitors to Delphi often ritually bathed themselves in the spring’s cools waters before proceeding to the Oracle and it was a popular destination for the Romans who may have built a fountain house located at the spring well.
Apollo is still the essence of the god from antiquity. He is still the radiance in our lives, a necessary element of all existence as we know it. There is still the aspect of the powerfully prophetic and illuminated hunter, piercing us with His swift arrows of melody and rhyme that come down upon us like a chant. Apollo is the healing energy, the life force and shepherd that we turn to when our own forces become weak. When we pray to Apollo we become connected with our own gifts and we write and sing because we must, create because we must, live because we must, lest by these same arrows we cease. The words uttered become our truths, the burning realities within us, while their lyrical sounds bring us closer to the gods. Apollo is the lasting symbol of beauty; a paradigm of divinity and truth, Who tugs at our imagination, paving the way for loftiness and resonance. As the garlanded ode of sage Apollo is revealed, our once quiet voice rings gently of eternal clarity in a universal truth.
Apollo is the
glowing ember in our lives; the ever-shimmering blaze within,
that inspires us to higher ideals and brings us closer to our
heartfelt desires. His ethereal existence venerates lost arts
and echoes past realities, yet His essence mirrors our own
romantic hungers and the need to fulfill them. The requisite
abandon and Liberalitas (see Virtues page) that persuade our
universe, emanate from this instilled obligation of
self-expression. When you feel mundane and confined, release
yourself to Apollo. Pray to Apollo to sweep you up into His
divine aura and fill you with His enchanted presence. Search for
your eternal voice within; explore the noises in your mind and
breast, and let them be manifested to speak for you, speak your
truths. Write a poem to a loved one, sing a song, play an
instrument, go for a walk or on a picnic. Let the sun warm you,
heal you and cleanse you, softening your inherent complexities;
or just quietly dream in your sacred space where your deepest
thoughts can ripen. Wherever you find inspiration, there you
will find Apollo; always golden, always shining, and forever
knowing.
Temples in Rome: Campius Martius;(Apollo Medicus); dedicated in 431 BCE by consul Gaius Julius), Apollo Palatinus (Palatine); dedicated in 28 BCE by Augustus Caesar Main festivals: Ludi Apollinares; 6-13 July, 23 September Month sacred to: May Offerings: Hyacinth, wine, incense, bay laurel, wheat, barley, beans, cakes of cheese, cakes of honey, cakes of parsley, liba (See Recipes for Offerings page) Common prayers to Apollo in antiquity were for: Health, safety, peace Rite: Ritus Graecus (head uncovered)
Sing to Apollo, god of day, Prayers from Antiquity (link - coming soon)
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