DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0528
Apollon and Artemis 457
pany with Wilamowitz in regard to the alleged Lycian character of
Apollon and his name1. Meyer believes that Apollon was originally a
deity of flocks and herds, common to all the Greek stems, and that
later he became an oracle-giver, when identified with one or another
native oracular god on the western and southern coasts of Asia Minor
—an identification which entailed certain foreign elements in his cults
and myths, especially the story of his birth. A. L. Frothingham
(1911)- conceives that Apollon, a sun-god, originated in Crete,
being none other than Chrysaor, the offspring of Medousa3, who is to
be identified with Artemis—and, for that matter, with Rhea, Kybele,
Demeter, etc.—as a form of the Great Mother4. Apollon came from
Crete to Delphoi, returning later to Crete again as Apollon PytJiios^.
Artemis too, a goddess of nature and fertility, was Cretan, if not in
her origin, at least in her development as mistress of mountains and
lions, of snakes, of doves or birds". In Asia Minor, between c. iooo
and 600 B.C.7, she took on the typical form of Medousa, her wings
being derived from Hittite divinities, her hideous face from the
Egyptian Bes8. The resultant Gorgoneion, a solar effigy, appears in
connexion with Artemis at Sparta11 and in Korkyra10, with Apollon
at Miletos11 and Delphoi12. Latterly scholars have shown a distinct
tendency to return to C. O. Miiller's belief in the northern origin of
Apollon, even if they do not with Mtiller regard him as an essentially
Dorian god13. L. R. Farnell (1907)14 writes: ' We discern that Apollo
came into Hellas with the invaders from the North, and aided by the
1 Id. ib.- i. 2. 64011.: ' dass der Name Apollon fremden Ursprungs sei, kann ich nicht
fiir richtig halten. Er ist iiberall ein Hauptgott der Griechen, auch in den Kultformeln
bei Homer ; gerade bei den Doriern, bei denen wir am wenigsten Kleinasiatisches er-
warten dtirfen, ist er geradezu der Stammgott; und ein grosser Teil der apollinischen
Kulte und Mythen hat mit dem Orakelgott gar nichts zu tun. Andrerseits ist der Name
Apollon in Lykien nicht nur nicht nachweisbar—das wiirde wenig beweisen, da wir
lykische Gotternamen aus den Inschriften uberhaupt nicht kennen—, sondern der Name
'Atto\\u)pl87]s wird lykisch durch pulenida wiedergegeben (C I Lyc. 6), ist also aus dem
Griechischen entlehnt, was gewiss nicht der Fall sein wiirde, wenn Apollo ein altlykisches
Aquivalent gehabt hatte.'
2 A. L. Frothingham 'Medusa, Apollo, and the Great Mother' in the Am. Joum.
Arch. 1911 xv. 349—377, cp. id. 'Medusa II' ib. 1915 xix. 13—23.
3 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 357. 4 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 349, 364.
5 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 355. u Id. ib. 1911 xv. 358 ff.
7 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 377. 8 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 3646°.
9 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 370 ff. 10 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 356 f.
11 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 355 f. 12 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 3526°.
13 C. O. Miiller The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race trans. H. Tufnell and
G. C. Lewis Oxford 1830 i. 227 ff. (p. 230 : ' The most ancient settlements of the Doric
race, of which any historical accounts are extant, were...the country at the foot of Olympus
and Ossa, near the valley of tempe '—p. 300: ' the worship of Apollo came from the
most northern part of Greece, from the district of Tempe ').
14 Farnell Cults of Gk. States iv. 99 f., inf.
pany with Wilamowitz in regard to the alleged Lycian character of
Apollon and his name1. Meyer believes that Apollon was originally a
deity of flocks and herds, common to all the Greek stems, and that
later he became an oracle-giver, when identified with one or another
native oracular god on the western and southern coasts of Asia Minor
—an identification which entailed certain foreign elements in his cults
and myths, especially the story of his birth. A. L. Frothingham
(1911)- conceives that Apollon, a sun-god, originated in Crete,
being none other than Chrysaor, the offspring of Medousa3, who is to
be identified with Artemis—and, for that matter, with Rhea, Kybele,
Demeter, etc.—as a form of the Great Mother4. Apollon came from
Crete to Delphoi, returning later to Crete again as Apollon PytJiios^.
Artemis too, a goddess of nature and fertility, was Cretan, if not in
her origin, at least in her development as mistress of mountains and
lions, of snakes, of doves or birds". In Asia Minor, between c. iooo
and 600 B.C.7, she took on the typical form of Medousa, her wings
being derived from Hittite divinities, her hideous face from the
Egyptian Bes8. The resultant Gorgoneion, a solar effigy, appears in
connexion with Artemis at Sparta11 and in Korkyra10, with Apollon
at Miletos11 and Delphoi12. Latterly scholars have shown a distinct
tendency to return to C. O. Miiller's belief in the northern origin of
Apollon, even if they do not with Mtiller regard him as an essentially
Dorian god13. L. R. Farnell (1907)14 writes: ' We discern that Apollo
came into Hellas with the invaders from the North, and aided by the
1 Id. ib.- i. 2. 64011.: ' dass der Name Apollon fremden Ursprungs sei, kann ich nicht
fiir richtig halten. Er ist iiberall ein Hauptgott der Griechen, auch in den Kultformeln
bei Homer ; gerade bei den Doriern, bei denen wir am wenigsten Kleinasiatisches er-
warten dtirfen, ist er geradezu der Stammgott; und ein grosser Teil der apollinischen
Kulte und Mythen hat mit dem Orakelgott gar nichts zu tun. Andrerseits ist der Name
Apollon in Lykien nicht nur nicht nachweisbar—das wiirde wenig beweisen, da wir
lykische Gotternamen aus den Inschriften uberhaupt nicht kennen—, sondern der Name
'Atto\\u)pl87]s wird lykisch durch pulenida wiedergegeben (C I Lyc. 6), ist also aus dem
Griechischen entlehnt, was gewiss nicht der Fall sein wiirde, wenn Apollo ein altlykisches
Aquivalent gehabt hatte.'
2 A. L. Frothingham 'Medusa, Apollo, and the Great Mother' in the Am. Joum.
Arch. 1911 xv. 349—377, cp. id. 'Medusa II' ib. 1915 xix. 13—23.
3 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 357. 4 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 349, 364.
5 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 355. u Id. ib. 1911 xv. 358 ff.
7 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 377. 8 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 3646°.
9 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 370 ff. 10 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 356 f.
11 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 355 f. 12 Id. ib. 1911 xv. 3526°.
13 C. O. Miiller The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race trans. H. Tufnell and
G. C. Lewis Oxford 1830 i. 227 ff. (p. 230 : ' The most ancient settlements of the Doric
race, of which any historical accounts are extant, were...the country at the foot of Olympus
and Ossa, near the valley of tempe '—p. 300: ' the worship of Apollo came from the
most northern part of Greece, from the district of Tempe ').
14 Farnell Cults of Gk. States iv. 99 f., inf.