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The Offerings of the Hyperboreans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

A. D. Nock
A. D. Nock
Affiliation:
Clare College, Cambridge
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Extract

Authorities on Apollo and Apollo cults are still divided into two camps. Some believe the god to have been Anatolian—Homeric god of the Troad, god of Branchidae and Lycia, a hawk-god, Smintheus, Lykios, with a western outpost at Carian-Ionian Delos, worshipped too in Crete, whence he passed to Pytho. In the other camp Apollo is, at least in part, believed to be a northerner, fair-haired, descending on Greece from the land of the Hyperboreans, the people ‘Behind the Beyond.’ And the mainstay of those who claim a partially northern origin for Apollo is in tales which both at Delos and at Delphi link him with the Hyperboreans.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 22 , Issue 3-4 , July 1928 , pp. 155 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1928

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References

page 155 note 1 Müller, , F.H.G. I. 366. 1Google Scholar. Phanodemus cannot be dated earlier than the fourth century B.C.

page 156 note 1 In B.C.H., 1924, p. 247.

page 156 note 2 Minoan-Mycenaean Religion, p. 536.

page 157 note 1 For Sinope, cf. Coins, Z.f.N. XX. 272. For Istrus, Parvan, , Dacia, p. 84Google Scholar. For Olbia, , Panti-capaeum, Minns, Scythians and Greeks, pp. 476, 616Google Scholar.

page 157 note 2 Cf. How, and Wells, , Commentary on Hdt. I. 330Google Scholar.

page 158 note 1 If Milesian colonies sent θεωριαι and offerings to the shrines and festivals which were the objects of Milesian cult, they were only carrying out a practice customary in all Athenian colonies; cf. Scholia, in Aristoph, . Nub. 386Google Scholar; Hicks, and Hill, , Greek Hist. Inscrip., No. 41, 11 to 13Google Scholar.

page 158 note 2 Dacia, p. 19, which I quote in advance by the courtesy of the translators Mr. I. L. Evans and Mr. M. P. Charlesworth.

page 158 note 3 See also Brandis, on ‘Danuvius’ in P.W. IV. 2, 2127, 34 sqqGoogle Scholar.

page 158 note 4 Olbia: Pick, B., Ant. Munz. N. Griechenlands I., PI. IX., 9 to 11, 20Google Scholar; Istrus: P1. 11., 20 to 26; Sinope: B.M.C. Pontus, etc., Pls. XXI., 15 to 17, XXII., 1 to 7.

page 159 note 1 This well-known hypothesis receives no support from the exhaustive researches of de Navarro, J. M., ‘Prehistoric Routes between N. Europe and Italy defined by the Amber Trade,’ Geogr. Journ., 1925, pp. 481 sqqGoogle Scholar.

page 159 note 2 As Kazarow, , Klio XII., p. 357Google Scholar, has realized.

page 160 note 1 Ridgeway, , C.Q. XX. 17 sqq.Google Scholar; Pickard-Cambridge, A. W., Dithyramb Tragedy and Comedy, 182 sqq.Google Scholar; Nock, , C.R., 1926, 184 sqqGoogle Scholar.

page 160 note 2 Alexander, 24.

page 160 note 3 Athenagoras, , Legatio pro Christianis, 26Google Scholar, while polemizing against idolatry, says: τοȗ τονυν ӑλλουσ μν εἶναι τοὑσ νεργοντασ, έϕ' τĖων δĖ άνιστασθαƖ τà εικνας, Ėκείνο μÉγιστου τεκμήριον, Τρωàς καί IIáριον. ή μĖν Νερυλλίνον είκòνου είκóνας έκει— άνήρ τν καθ'–τò δέ Пáριον ' Αλεξáνδρου καì ПρωτÉως. τοΑλεξáνδρου Ӗτλ Пί της άγορȃς καί τáϕòς καί ή εικών òί μν ον ăλλοι άνδριάντες τò Νερυλλίνου κóσμημá εţσιον, είПερ καί τοὐτοις κοσμεĵται πóλις, εĵς δ αüτν καί χρηματƖΖειν καί ίȃσθαι νοσοντας νομίςεται, καί θύουσΙ τε δι' αύτά καІ Περιαλείϕουσιν καί στεφανοσιν χρυῷ τν νδρινια οἱ Tρωαδεῖς. δ το Aλεξάνδρν κα το πρωτως (ττον δ' οὐκ γνοετε ῥἱψαντα αυτν εσ τ πρ), μν κ ατς λγςται χρηματζειν, τῷ δ το Aλεξνδρον—‘δαπαρι, εῗδος ἄρισιε, γυναιμανς’—σημοιγες ἄγ௶νιαι θθυσαι κα οριὡς πηκῳ θεῷ. Proteus is Lucian's Proteus, a native of Parium, and it has been urged by Cumont, Geffcken, Weinreich, and A. Stein that Alexander is our hero. But the τøοςis inexplicable; why should A. have a tomb or cenotaph in Parion? It is far more probable that Paris is meant, as Athena-goras himself implies; this has, I find, been suggested by FrPfister, , Reliquienkult im Altertum, 286Google Scholar, who refers to Suid. s.v. πριον and Joann. Antioch, fr. 93, in F.H.G. IV. 550, for the story that Priam sent Paris to live there till he had completed his thirtieth year and the peril threatened in it to Troy was averted. (In Joannes Malalas, p. 92 Dindorf; and Cedrenus, p. 216 Bekker; Priam founds Parion for Paris.) It may be conjectured that this image and its cult are products of Hellenistic or Imperial antiquarianism.

page 160 note 4 Dessau, , Inscr. lat, sel. 4080Google Scholar; cf. Wein-reich, O., Neue Jahrb., 1921, 143 sqGoogle Scholar. What follows is in the nature of a supplement to his admirable paper.

page 160 note 5 Ch. 60. ατῷ τν προπητειαν σιαπυλττων μετ⋯ τν ντεὖθεν παλλαγν. His death can be fixed as before 175 (Stein, A., Strena Buliciana, 257 sqq.)Google Scholar.

page 160 note 6 Babelon-Reinach-Waddington, , Recueil général des monnaies d'Asic Mineure2, I. 167 sqq.Google Scholar; Wein-reich, 148 sqq.

page 160 note 7 The spirit of the Ephesians, in Acts xix., illustrates the point. Scholze, H., De temporibus librorum Themistii (Diss. Göttingen; 1911), 72Google Scholar, argues from Themist. Orat. XXVII., p. 401, Dindorf, that the oracle continued to operate till shortly before the delivery of that speech, which he places in A.D. 355. This is unfortunately illusory. Them, refers first to a local Paphlagonian healing sanctuary of Asklepios, and then says: τ δ ε τ᯶ πρς αὠτο δεηθνιες τχομςν λγου πρτεον χρνου, νκα γειτνων τν μαντικν πεδεκνυτο; the reference is therefore to an unknown neighbouring oracle of Apollo, not to that of Asklepios-Glycon. Imhoof-Blumer, , Kleinasiatische Münzen, I. 31., No. 4Google Scholar, published a coin struck at Pergamon under Gordian, showing a snake r. and the magistrate's name, Г. K.Λ. ГΛτKΩN, and suggested that the snake alluded to the god Glycon; the snake is however an old, if not a common, Asklepios type on Pergamene coins, and KΛ. ГΛτKΩN, presumably the same man, is named on another Pergamene coin under Gordian with the familiar type of Asklepios holding a snake-entwined staff (B. M. C. Mysia, 160, No. 341). The allusion is possible but questionable.

page 161 note 1 So Cumont, , Rev. hist. rel. LXXXVI. (1922), 202 sqqGoogle Scholar.

page 161 note 2 Aristotle, in his Περ τς Πυθαγορικς øιλοσοøας fr. 187, in the Berlin, ed. (=Diels, , Vorsokratiker 4, I. 29. 27)Google Scholar, records as an esoteric Pythagorean distinction, ιο λογικο ζωγϯ τ μν στι θσς, τ δ ἄμθρωποσ τ σ οἷον Πυθαγρας. Cf. the distinction, possibly based on this, which is ascribed to Apollonius of Tyana by Philostratus, Vita VIII. 7. 9, θεο μν γρ μεγγτων, ἃνθρωπι δ γιγνομνων, σοøο δ προσιντων αἰσθνονται. Alexander was a disciple of a pupil and fellow-townsman of Apollonius (Lucian, Alex. 5).

page 161 note 3 Alex. 19. (There was a mysterious oracular shrine of Calchas in Apulia.)

page 161 note 4 Alex. 39, 35. The Endymion story seems to have originated in Asia Minor (Bethe, , PaulyWissowa, V. 2558)Google Scholar. Endymion is in Hellenistic times regarded as a sage whom Selene endowed with learning by her visitations (Plut, . Numa, 4)Google Scholar; this idea may be a factor in Alexander's story. But the chief explanation is perhaps that marriage with a goddess may confer a sort of deity; Menelaus goes to Elysium because of the divine birth of his wife Helen. (A Neopythagorean allegorical meaning is found in the story by Cumont, l.c. 2093.)

page 161 note 5 Alex. 22. τσ μντοι γπδασ κα προκοπς κα κγργων διαδοχς εἰσαθις σ νσβλλσιο, προστιθες δτι ἒσται ἃπαντα, πταν θσλσω γὼ, κα'Aλξανδρος πρøτης μο δεηθῇ κα προσεξηται ὑπρ ὑμν.

page 161 note 6 The Christian parallel needs no detailed illustration: on the prayers of the saints in connexion with the liturgy cf. Cyril, St. of Jerusalem in Brightman, F. E., Liturgies Eastern and Western, I. 466. 9Google Scholar, εῖτοα μνημονεομεν κα τν προκεκοιμημνων πριον πατριχν προøητν ποστλων μαριρων δπως Θες ταῖς ςχας κα πρεσαβεαις προσδξηται μν τν δηαιν(this represents Palestinian custom in A.D. 348). On the Mohammedan parallel cf. ChrSnouck-Hurgronje, in BertholetLehmann, Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte4, I. 733Google Scholar.

page 161 note 7 Cf. Usener, , Kleine Schriften, IV. 311 sqq.Google Scholar, for an epigraphic illustration. In Archiv. fur lat. Lex. II. 231 he explains Plut, . Cur Pythia nunc non 20, p. 404AGoogle Scholar, εἲ τισ εἲη παρκλησις ἢ λὐσισ as meaning εἲ τις γνοιτο θεσ παρκλησις; but παρκλησις can be “mode of asking pardon,' cf. Strabo XIII. 1. 1, p. 581, and StephanusDindorf, , Thes. VI. 288DGoogle Scholar.

page 161 note 8 Cf. H. Delehaye, Les origines du culte des martyrs, 120 sqq.; for the invocation of ancestors as intercessors by less developed peoples cf. Heiler, F., Das Gebct5, 126 sqq., 574Google Scholar.

page 161 note 9 Terence, , Adelphi 703Google Scholar, abi pater, | tu fotius deos comprecare; nam tibi eos certo scio | quo uir melior multo es quant ego, obtemperaturos magis, which deserves to be quoted in illustration of the Epistle of James v. 16, πολ ἰσχει δηησις σικαοε νεργοεμνη.

page 162 note 1 Aristides, εἰσ τν σραπιν (Vol. I., p. 83, Dindorf), says that we have left the function of addressing the gods to the poets, ὣσπερ προφταισ' ὡς ληθς οὖσι τν θεν. On the term πρεFφταις cf. Fascher, E., ΠPOΦHTHΣ (Giessen, 1927)Google Scholar. On the position of priests in Greece in general cf. Ziehen, L., Pauly-Wissowa, VIII. 1421 sqqGoogle Scholar.

page 162 note 2 Cf. Schmidt, H., Veteres philosophi quomodo iudicaverint de precibus (Relg. Vers. Vorarb. IV. 1), 141Google Scholar; Gressmann, H., Religion des Judentums 3, 330 sqqGoogle Scholar. Dr. A. B. Cook has kindly drawn my attention to Assyrian and Babylonian analogies; cf. Meissner, Br., Babylonien und Assyrien, II. 79, 136, 207Google Scholar. The analogy of royal courts on earth evimust have had its share in promoting the conception of a heavenly hierarchy, both in the ancient East and in the Hellenistic monarchies; cf. J.H.S. XLV. 97.

page 162 note 3 It is interesting to notice that the fact that Sophocles was made a hero (Dexion) after his death is by the tradition brought into relation with his ‘reception’ of Asklepios; cf. Kutsch, F., Attische Heilgötter und Heilheroen (Relg. Vers. Vorarb. XIII. iii.), 13 and 22Google Scholar.

page 162 note 4 As, for instance, St. Nicholas in Lycia (some striking quotations in Anrich, G., Hagios Nikolaos, II. 496 sqqGoogle Scholar.). Cf. the development of Mohammedan belief concerning the Prophet away from his more modest conception of his place (Snouck-Hurgronje, I.c. 674).

page 162 note 5 So Reitzenstein has remarked; cf. Fascher, op. cit., passim for references. Fascher makes it clear that προπτης is normally combined with the name of a deity in the genitive; it does not usually stand alone like μντις. One might expect to find Orpheus as a mediator; but Kuhnert's supposition that on certain Tarentine vases he is interceding for his dead initiates (Arch. Jahrb., 1893, 104 sqq.) is not supported by other evidence, and has not found favour (cf. Furtwängler-Reichhold, , Griech. Vasenm. Textb. I. 47 sqq.Google Scholar, for references to later discussions).

page 162 note 6 Ch. 38 sqq. They are based on those of Eleusis, but more elaborate, and perhaps influenced by the contemporary pantomime. On the effectiveness of this active realization of the sacred story cf. Usener, , Kleine Schriften IV. 422 sqq.Google Scholar; this instance is of peculiar interest because we can see the origin of a rite.