DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0314
252 Dionysos displaced by Apollon
The fact is, they were gods of very much the same general character,
both young male powers intimately related to Father Sky and
Mother Earth, both closely connected with vegetation, both famous
for their ecstatic and orgiastic rites1. Small wonder that fusion and
confusion resulted, when one cult had been amalgamated with the
other.
The gradual rapprochement and ultimate identification of Dio-
nysos with Apollon can be well traced in extant literature. In the
sixth century B.C. Pythagoras declared that Apollon was the son of
Silenos2—a view perpetuated by the pedantic systematisers, who
distinguished five Apollons, the fourth being Apollon Nomios the
son of Silenos, born in Arkadia3. In the fifth century B.C. Herodotos
learnt from the Egyptians that Apollon (Horos) and Artemis (Bou-
bastis) were children of Dionysos (Osiris) and Demeter (Isis),
nursed and preserved by Leto. Accordingly Herodotos charges
Aischylos, who alone of the Greek poets had made Artemis a
daughter of Demeter, with drawing from the same Egyptian source4.
Having already detected one Egyptism in a play of Aischylos5, we
shall not straightaway scout the notion of a second. Still, we have
not in this case, as we had in that, the support of a definitely
Egyptian context. We shall therefore be slow to conclude that
Aischylos was really Egyptising. More probably he was in Orphic
(3ao~i\el Alovvo~ix) tt\v /xovdSa rrjv ' ATroXXwvLaK^v awoTpeirovcrav avTov rijs els to TiTaviKOv
TrXrjdos TrpooSov Kai rrjs i^avaardaews tov (3ao~i\eiov dpbvov Kai cppovpovcrav avTov d.xpavTov
ev tt} evibaei. The Orphists were fond of describing Apollon by titles comparable with
AiovvtroooTrjs ; in a hymn of but 26 lines they dub him ^LoSwTrjv.. .eXiriSoSuiTriv.. .Zr/voSoTrjpa
(Brodaeus Cj. faXoSoTTjpa).. .S>vvohoT?ipa...TrXovTo5oTTjpa.. .^vxoSoTripa.. .u>pecnSd}t7]v (h. Ap. 3,
6, 7, 15, 17, 24, 2=; (Abel Orphica p. 285)) !
1 L. Stephani in the Comple-rendu St. Pit. i86r p. 57 : ' Vor alien anderen Elementen
aber, welche im Wesen dieser beiden jugendlich-schdnen Sohne des Zeus gleichmassig
ausgepragt sind, macht sich bekanntlich der ekstatische Charakter bemerklich, welcher
an ihrem Gefolge nicht weniger, als an ihnen selbst hervortritt,' cp. Strab. 468 oi fiev ovv
"EXX^es oi Tr\do~Toi toZ l\wvuo~i£ irpoaedeaav ko.1 rqi 'Att6Wwi>i Kai rrj 'E/cdr?; Kai rais
MoiVcus Kai ArifXTjTpi, vr\ Aia (Kai 8d cod. x), to opyiacrTiKov irav Kai to (3aKX<-Kbv Kai to
XoptKov Kai to Trepi rd? TeXerds ixvcttlkov, k.t.\. E. Maass Orpheus Miinchen 1895 p. 185
notes that in Orph. Arg. 9 f. Orpheus was inspired to sing Bclkxolo Kai ' AttoWojvos
avaKTOs I KevTpui eXavvo/xevos.
2 Supra p. 221.
3 Aristoteles theologumena? (= Aristot. frag. 283 {Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 190 Muller)) ap.
Clem. Al. protr. 2. 28. 3 p. 21, 7 f. Kai TirapTov tov 'ApKada tov 'ElXyjvov4 N6/iio? ovtos
k^KXr^Tai Trapa 'ApK&o~iv, Cic. de not. deor. 3. 57 quartus in Arcadia, quern Arcades
Nomion appellant, quod ab eo se leges ferunt accepisse, Ampel. 9. 6 quartus Sileni Alius
in Arcadia, cp. Arnob. adv. nat. 4. 15 quadrigas Apollinarium nominum, Lyd. de tnens.
4. 71 P- I24! 4 f• Wunsch 7roXXot 8£ ck tov 6'Xou Aios Atot, wo~irep 'ATroWwvei rj Alovvctol.
See further W. Michaelis De origine indicis deorum cognominum Berlin 1898 p. 47 f. and
Wide Lakon. Kulte p. 254 k
4 Hdt. 2. 156, cp. Paus. 8. 37. 6 (Aisch. frag. 333 Nauck2).
5 Supra i. 341 f.
The fact is, they were gods of very much the same general character,
both young male powers intimately related to Father Sky and
Mother Earth, both closely connected with vegetation, both famous
for their ecstatic and orgiastic rites1. Small wonder that fusion and
confusion resulted, when one cult had been amalgamated with the
other.
The gradual rapprochement and ultimate identification of Dio-
nysos with Apollon can be well traced in extant literature. In the
sixth century B.C. Pythagoras declared that Apollon was the son of
Silenos2—a view perpetuated by the pedantic systematisers, who
distinguished five Apollons, the fourth being Apollon Nomios the
son of Silenos, born in Arkadia3. In the fifth century B.C. Herodotos
learnt from the Egyptians that Apollon (Horos) and Artemis (Bou-
bastis) were children of Dionysos (Osiris) and Demeter (Isis),
nursed and preserved by Leto. Accordingly Herodotos charges
Aischylos, who alone of the Greek poets had made Artemis a
daughter of Demeter, with drawing from the same Egyptian source4.
Having already detected one Egyptism in a play of Aischylos5, we
shall not straightaway scout the notion of a second. Still, we have
not in this case, as we had in that, the support of a definitely
Egyptian context. We shall therefore be slow to conclude that
Aischylos was really Egyptising. More probably he was in Orphic
(3ao~i\el Alovvo~ix) tt\v /xovdSa rrjv ' ATroXXwvLaK^v awoTpeirovcrav avTov rijs els to TiTaviKOv
TrXrjdos TrpooSov Kai rrjs i^avaardaews tov (3ao~i\eiov dpbvov Kai cppovpovcrav avTov d.xpavTov
ev tt} evibaei. The Orphists were fond of describing Apollon by titles comparable with
AiovvtroooTrjs ; in a hymn of but 26 lines they dub him ^LoSwTrjv.. .eXiriSoSuiTriv.. .Zr/voSoTrjpa
(Brodaeus Cj. faXoSoTTjpa).. .S>vvohoT?ipa...TrXovTo5oTTjpa.. .^vxoSoTripa.. .u>pecnSd}t7]v (h. Ap. 3,
6, 7, 15, 17, 24, 2=; (Abel Orphica p. 285)) !
1 L. Stephani in the Comple-rendu St. Pit. i86r p. 57 : ' Vor alien anderen Elementen
aber, welche im Wesen dieser beiden jugendlich-schdnen Sohne des Zeus gleichmassig
ausgepragt sind, macht sich bekanntlich der ekstatische Charakter bemerklich, welcher
an ihrem Gefolge nicht weniger, als an ihnen selbst hervortritt,' cp. Strab. 468 oi fiev ovv
"EXX^es oi Tr\do~Toi toZ l\wvuo~i£ irpoaedeaav ko.1 rqi 'Att6Wwi>i Kai rrj 'E/cdr?; Kai rais
MoiVcus Kai ArifXTjTpi, vr\ Aia (Kai 8d cod. x), to opyiacrTiKov irav Kai to (3aKX<-Kbv Kai to
XoptKov Kai to Trepi rd? TeXerds ixvcttlkov, k.t.\. E. Maass Orpheus Miinchen 1895 p. 185
notes that in Orph. Arg. 9 f. Orpheus was inspired to sing Bclkxolo Kai ' AttoWojvos
avaKTOs I KevTpui eXavvo/xevos.
2 Supra p. 221.
3 Aristoteles theologumena? (= Aristot. frag. 283 {Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 190 Muller)) ap.
Clem. Al. protr. 2. 28. 3 p. 21, 7 f. Kai TirapTov tov 'ApKada tov 'ElXyjvov4 N6/iio? ovtos
k^KXr^Tai Trapa 'ApK&o~iv, Cic. de not. deor. 3. 57 quartus in Arcadia, quern Arcades
Nomion appellant, quod ab eo se leges ferunt accepisse, Ampel. 9. 6 quartus Sileni Alius
in Arcadia, cp. Arnob. adv. nat. 4. 15 quadrigas Apollinarium nominum, Lyd. de tnens.
4. 71 P- I24! 4 f• Wunsch 7roXXot 8£ ck tov 6'Xou Aios Atot, wo~irep 'ATroWwvei rj Alovvctol.
See further W. Michaelis De origine indicis deorum cognominum Berlin 1898 p. 47 f. and
Wide Lakon. Kulte p. 254 k
4 Hdt. 2. 156, cp. Paus. 8. 37. 6 (Aisch. frag. 333 Nauck2).
5 Supra i. 341 f.