Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 2,1): Zeus god of the dark sky (thunder and lightning): Text and notes (Cambridge, 1925)

Pythagoras as Apollon reborn 223

terious bond of union between the philosopher and the god1. Many
persons went further and frankly spoke of Pythagoras as Apollon
Pythios or Hyperboreos or Paion, declaring that he had appeared as
a god in human shape'2 and emphasising the resemblance of his
oracular sayings to those of the Pythian Apollon3. I shall of course
be told by our critical purists that all this is neo-Pythagorean
nonsense, to be dismissed without further enquiry. But there is
more in it than that. It is precisely when we confine ourselves to
the earliest stratum of the Pythagorean tradition4 that we come
upon the most remarkable evidence of Pythagoras' claim to be
Apollon redivivus. We have it on the word of Aristotle that the
Pythagoreans held among their most cherished convictions the
tripartite subdivision of ' rational animal' into ' god, man, and such
as Pythagoras5.' Moreover, Aristotle states that the Crotoniates
called Pythagoras Apollon Hyperboreios, and is aware of the story
that at Kroton Pythagoras exhibited his golden thigh in proof of
this identification6. Now the golden thigh of Pythagoras must, it

1 Iambi, v. Pyth. 8 continues to p.evTOi t-qv llvdaybpov ^i<xqv dwb rrjs 'AirbXXcavos
-qyepiovias oftaav etre avvoirabbv ei're kcli aXXios oiKeioTepov ert vpos tov debv tovtov avvre-
Tayp.evqv KaTaireirep-cpdaL ets dvdpihirovs, ovbeis cLv dfupLO-firjT-qo-eie k.t.X. Cp. Loukian.
somn. s. gall. 16 (the cock that had once been Pythagoras speaks) ci>s p-ev e'f 'AttoWwvos
to irpGiTOv r) \pi'XV fJ-oi KaraiTTapLevrj is tt)v yfjv ivebv ets dvdpd)Trov a<2p.a, iqvTiva ttjv KaTabtK-qv
eKTeXovaa, p.aKpbv b\v eir] Xeyeiv.

- Iambi, v. Pyth. 30 Kai /xera twv BeQv rbv TLvOaybpav Xoiirbv KaT-qpiO/jlovv ibs dyadbv
Tiva Sa.iiJ.ova /cat (pLKavdpwrrbraTov. 01 fev rbv T\v9lov, oi be rbv e£ 'Tirepfiopeiov 'AirbWojva,
oi be tov YlaiQiva, oi be twv tt)v oeX-qv-qv KaToiKovvrwv baip.bvwv eva, dXXot be aXXov tQv
'OXv/j.ttiwv dewv i<prjp.i^ov, ets ilxpeXeiav Kai eirav6pdtoaiv rod dvqTov fiiov Xeyovres iv dvdpui-
Trlvrj pLopcpr) q^avrjvai rots Tore, k.t.X., cp. ib. 10, 91 f., 133, 135, 140, Loukian. dial. mort.
20. 3 (Menippos to Pythagoras) xa'P€i " ^v(popj3e 7) "AttoWov 7) 6 tl av ideX-qs. See now
A. Delatte Etudes stir la littirature pythagoricienne Paris 1915 p. 279 f.

3 Iambi, v. Pyth. 161. Presumably the name ^.vQaybpas helped out the comparison,
though it was also explained as meaning otl apa 1)77-6 tov Ilvdiov npo^yopevd-q (id. 7).

The cult of Apollon naturally appealed to the circle of Pythagoras. Mnesarchos built
a sanctuary for Apollon Pythios in Samos (Iambi, v. Pyth. 9). Pythagoras in Delos
would worship only at the altar of Apollon Gene'tor, where wheat, barley, and cakes were
offered, but no burnt sacrifice (Aristot. frag. 447 Rose ap. Diog. Laert. 8. 13, Iambi.
v. Pyth. 25, 35). The Pythagoreans in general followed suit (Mnesimachos Alcmaeo
frag. 1 (Frag. com. Gr. iii. 567 Meineke) ap. Diog. Laert. 37 cjs UvdayopiaTy (Menagius
cj. TivdayopiaTai. C. G. Cobet restored Wv6'ayopiaTi) dvop.ev tiZ Ao£t'a).

4 As determined by E. Rohde ' Die Quellen des Jamblichus in seiner Biographie des
Pythagoras' in the Rhein. Mus. 1871 xxvi. 554 ff., ib. 1872 xxvii. 236°.: see J. Burnet
Early Greek Philosophy London and Edinburgh 1892 p. 89 ff.

5 Aristot. frag. 187 Rose ap. Iambi, v. Pyth. 31 io~Topei 5i Kai ' ApLcrroTiXrjs ev rots
Trept ttJs HvdayopiK'rjs (pLXoaocpias SiaLpeaiv Tiva roiavbe vwb tlov dvbpQv iv rots ndvv dirop-
pr)Tois biacpvX&TTeadat.- tov XoyiKov £cpov to fxev io~TL debs, to b' avOpurros, to be olov
Tivdaybpas, cp. ib. 144 dXXa Kai to diropovp.evov tovto o"qp.aiveLV 'iffTL yap Trap'1 avrots
Xeybp.evov otl " dvdpunros blwos io~Ti Kai bpvis Kai Tp'nov &XXo." to yap Tp'iTov Ilvdayopas
io~Ti.

6 Aristot. frag. 186 Rose ap. Apollon. hist. mir. 6 and ap. Ail. var. hist. 1. 26 (on