In the sad and beautiful story of Niobe, daughter of Tantalus, and wife of Amphion, king of Thebes, we have another instance of the severe punishments meted out by Apollo to those who in any way incurred his displeasure.
Niobe was the proud mother of seven sons and seven daughters, and exulting in the number of her children, she, upon one occasion, ridiculed the worship of Leto, because she had but one son and daughter, and desired the Thebans, for the future, to give to her the honours and sacrifices which they had hitherto offered to the mother of Apollo and Artemis.
The sacrilegious words had scarcely passed her lips before Apollo called upon his sister Artemis to assist him in avenging the insult offered to their mother, and soon their invisible arrows sped through the air.
Apollo slew all the sons, and Artemis had already slain all the daughters save one, the youngest and best beloved, whom Niobe clasped in her arms, when the agonized mother implored the enraged deities to leave her, at least, one out of all her beautiful children; but, even as she prayed, the deadly arrow reached the heart of this child also.
Meanwhile the unhappy father, unable to bear the loss of his children, had destroyed himself, and his dead body lay beside the lifeless corpse of his favourite son. Widowed and childless, the heart-broken mother sat among her dead, and the gods, in pity for her unutterable woe, turned her into a stone, which they transferred to Siphylus, her native Phrygian mountain, where it still continues to shed tears.
The renowned singer Orpheus was the son of Apollo and Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, and, as might be expected with parents so highly gifted, was endowed with most distinguished intellectual qualifications. He was a poet, a teacher of the religious doctrines known as the Orphic mysteries, and a great musician, having inherited from his father an extraordinary genius for music. When he sang to the sweet tones of his lyre, he charmed all nature, and summoned round him the wild beasts of the forests, who, under the influence of his music, became tame and gentle as lambs.
The madly rushing torrents stopped their rapid course, and the very mountains and trees moved from their places at the sound of his entrancing melodies. Orpheus became united to a lovely nymph named Eurydice, the daughter of the sea-god Nereus, whom he fondly loved. She was no less attached to him, and their married life was full of joy and happiness.
Eurydice died of the wound, and her sorrowing husband filled the groves and valleys with his piteous and unceasing lamentations. Armed only with his golden lyre, the gift of Apollo, he descended into the gloomy depths of Hades , where his heavenly music arrested for a while the torments of the unhappy sufferers.
The stone of Sisyphus remained motionless; Tantalus forgot his perpetual thirst; the wheel of Ixion ceased to revolve; and even the Furies shed tears, and withheld for a time their persecutions. Presenting himself before the throne on which sat the stony-hearted king and his consort Persephone , Orpheus recounted his woes to the sound of his lyre. Moved to pity by his sweet strains, they listened to his melancholy story, and consented to release Eurydice on condition that he should not look upon her until they reached the upper world.
Orpheus gladly promised to comply with this injunction, and, followed by Eurydice, ascended the steep and gloomy path which led to the realms of life and light. All went well until he was just about to pass the extreme limits of Hades, when, forgetting for the moment the hard condition, he turned to convince himself that his beloved wife was really behind him.
The glance was fatal, and destroyed all his hopes of happiness; for, as he yearningly stretched out his arms to embrace her, she was caught back, and vanished from his sight for ever. The grief of Orpheus at this second loss was even more intense than before, and he now avoided all human society. In vain did the nymphs, his once chosen companions, endeavour to win him back to his accustomed haunts; their power to charm was gone, and music was now his sole consolation. He wandered forth alone, choosing the wildest and most secluded paths, and the hills and vales resounded with his pathetic melodies.
At last he happened to cross the path of some Thracian women, who were performing the wild rites of Dionysus Bacchus , and in their mad fury at his refusing to join them, they furiously attacked him, and tore him in pieces. In pity for his unhappy fate, the Muses collected his remains, which they buried at the foot of Mount Olympus, and the nightingale warbled a funeral dirge over his grave.
His head was thrown into the river Hebrus, and as it floated down the stream, the lips still continued to murmur the beloved name of Eurydice. The chief seat of the worship of Apollo was at Delphi, and here was the most magnificent of all his temples, the foundation of which reaches far beyond all historical knowledge, and which contained immense riches, the offerings of kings and private persons, who had received favourable replies from the oracle.
The Greeks believed Delphi to be the central point of the earth, because two eagles sent forth by Zeus, one from the east, the other from the west, were said to have arrived there at the same moment.
The Pythian games, celebrated in honour of the victory of Apollo over the Python , took place at Delphi every four years. At the first celebration of these games, gods, goddesses, and heroes contended for the prizes, which were at first of gold or silver, but consisted, in later times, of simple laurel wreaths.
On account of its being the place of his birth, the whole island of Delos was consecrated to Apollo, where he was worshipped with great solemnity; the greatest care was taken to preserve the sanctity of the spot, for which reason no one was suffered to be buried there. At the foot of Mount Cynthus was a splendid temple of Apollo which possessed an oracle, and was enriched with magnificent offerings from all parts of Greece.
Even foreign nations held this island sacred, for when the Persians passed it on their way to attack Greece, they not only sailed by, leaving it uninjured, but sent rich presents to the temple. Games, called Delia, instituted by Theseus, were celebrated at Delos every four years. Wolves and hawks were sacrificed to Apollo, and the birds sacred to him were the hawk, raven, and swan. The worship of Apollo never occupied the all-important position in Rome which it held in Greece, nor was it introduced till a comparatively late period.
There was no sanctuary erected to this divinity until B. Augustus afterwards built another temple in honour of Apollo, on the Palatine Hill, in which at the foot of his statue, were deposited two gilt chests, containing the Sibylline oracles. There were a large number of resident aliens, since Athens was hospitable to foreigners, and the festival was one of the ways to shows its appreciation for their contribution.
Learn more about the nature and roles of mythology in Greek civilization. The procession started at the Dipylon or Double Gate on the western side of the city, passing through the agora, and ending up on the Acropolis. Everyone ascended to the Acropolis, to get a glimpse of the olivewood statue of Athena, dropping from the sky.
The disrobing took place in hushed silence and the animals were sacrificed afterwards. The dead animals were then skinned, their flesh roasted, and after the gods had their share, the meat was distributed to everybody in attendance.
Later, the games in honor of Athena were held which lasted for several days with athletic as well as musical competitions.
The prize for each event consisted of a two-handled vase known as an amphora, depicting Athena on one side and the event for which the prize was won on the other. In addition to the great state-funded festivals like the Panathenaea, people also attended festivals funded by the deme or township to which they belonged. The religious calendar of the deme of Erchia, one among or so such demes , indicated that sacrifices took place on 25 days of the year.
Greek temples were not places of worship but the house of a god or goddess like an Egyptian temple. Swine were sacrificed especially to Demeter and Dionysus, goats to the last named divinity and to Apollo and Aromis as well as Aphrodite, while they were excluded from the service of Athene, and it was only at Sparta that they were presented to Hera. At Epidaurus they might not be sacrificed to Asclepius, though elsewhere this was done without scruple.
At Rome, however, there were special regulations respecting the victims appropriate to the different divinities. Thus the appropriate offering for Jupiter was a young steer of a white colour, or at least with a white spot on its forehead; for Mars, in the case of expiatory sacrifices, two bucks or a steer; the latter also for Neptune and Apollo; for Vulcan, a red calf and a boar; for Liber and Mercury, a he-goat; for Juno, Minerva, and Diana, a heifer; for Juno, as Lucina, an ewe lamb or as also for Ceres and the Bona Dea a sow; for Tellus, a pregnant, and for Proserpine a barren, heifer; and so on.
The regulations as regards the condition of the victims were not the same everywhere in Greece. Still in general with them, as invariably with the Romans, the rule held good, that only beasts which were without blemish, and had not yet been used for labour, should be employed.
Similarly, there were definite rules, which were, however, not the same everywhere, concerning the age of the victims. Thus, by Athenian law, lambs could not be offered at all before their first shearing, and sheep only when they had borne lambs.
The Romans distinguished victims by their ages as lactantes, sucklings, and maiores, full grown. The sacrifice of sucklings was subject to certain limitations: young pigs had to be five days old, lambs seven, and calves thirty. Animals were reckoned maiores if they were bidentes; i. There were exact requirements for all cases as regards their sex and condition, and to transgress these was an offence that demanded expiation. If the victims could not be obtained as the regulations required, the pontifical law allowed their place to be taken by a representation in wax or dough, or by a different animal in substitution for the sort required.
In many cults different creatures were combined for sacrifice: e. In State sacrifices, victims were sometimes sacrificed in great numbers; e.
The sign of an eagle with extended wings told Apollo that the thief was a son of Zeus, and when he saw the tracks of the cattle turned backwards and the tracks of the robber cleverly obscured, the ingenuity of the theft led him to the cave of Maia and Hermes.
Apollo Confronts Hermes. In a rage, Apollo faced Hermes, who sank down into his blankets with a look of baby-innocence that failed to deceive Apollo. After a search of the surroundings, he urgently questioned the child about his stolen cattle. Hermes claimed that he did not know a thing; since he was born only yesterday, it was impossible that he could have committed such a crime.
Apollo, however, was not fooled but knew Hermes for the sly-hearted cheat that he was. Their argument ended only when Apollo brought Hermes to the top of Mt.
Olympus, where he sought justice from Zeus himself. Zeus Decides the Case. Apollo spoke first and truthfully stated the facts about the theft of his cattle. Zeus gave a great laugh when he heard the protests and denials of the devious child and ordered Hermes, in his role of guide, to lead Apollo to the place where he had hidden the cattle.
The Reconciliation between Hermes and Apollo. Hermes did as Zeus commanded, and when Apollo found his cattle, the two reconciled. Hermes took up the lyre that he had invented and played and sang so beautifully that Apollo was enthralled and exclaimed that this enchanting skill was worth fifty cows!
At this, Hermes gave the lyre to Apollo ordaining that he should become a master of the musical art, and Apollo in turn gave Hermes a shining whip and put him in charge of cattle herds. And so the two returned to Olympus, where Zeus united them in friendship.
Furthermore, Hermes swore to Apollo that he would never again steal any of his possessions. For this Apollo gave to Hermes a golden staff, protective of wealth and prosperity, and as well another gift.
Apollo alone had the prerogative of knowing the mind of Zeus and uttering prophecies in accord with his divine wisdom.
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