Apollo
by CTCWeb Editors
The God of Prophecy
Apollo’s oracle at Delphi was the most famous in the Greek world. Students should investigate Apollo as the god of prophecy. They should look at the duties of the Pythia, how at oracle was given, and the site of Apollo’s oracle, Mt. Parnassus. Below are some places to begin as investigation.
Harvard 1960.367 - Apollo appears at Delphi with Orestes.
Malibu 86.AE.114 - Apollo struggling with Herakles for possession of the Delphic tripod.
Site Summary and Description of Delphi.
Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1202 - Cassandra refers to Apollo as the seer.
Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1259 - The prophecy from Apollo is given that Cassandra should die at the hands of Clytemnestra.
Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1260 - A stage direction in which Cassandra breaks her wand a symbol of her prophetic powers.
Aeschylus, Eumenides 179 - Apollo speaks to Orestes telling him to leave his sanctuary before he shoots “forth from a golden bow-string, and painfully release black foam, vomiting the clots of blood you have drained from mortals.” Apollo claims that Orestes place “is where the punishments are beheading, gouging out of eyes, cutting of throats, and where young men’s virility is ruined by destruction of seed.”
Aeschylus, Eumenides 200 - Apollo tells of his oracle to Orestes to exact revenge for his father.
Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 559 - Apollo is called the prophet who has never been false.
Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 745 - Thebes has suffered ever since Laius defied the oracle of Apollo, located at the center of the earth. Apollo’s oracle said that if Laius never had children then Thebes would be saved.
Aeschylus, Suppliant Maidens 263 - Apis, the son of Apollo, was both a seer and a healer.
Aristophanes, Birds line 721 - The chorus of birds claim to be a prophetic Apollo to men who take everything to be an omen.
Aristophanes, Birds line 987 - Pisthetaerus reads prophecies of Apollo from a book.
Aristophanes, Plutus line 9 - Apollo is referred to as a cunning diviner who speaks through the Pythian priestess.
Diodorus Siculus, Book 12, 10.5 - The Athenians and others who collectively banded together to found a colony received an oracle from Apollo.
Homer, Iliad Book 1 line 68 - Calchas, “son of Thestor, far the best of bird-diviners,” had his prophetic powers bestowed upon him by Phoebus Apollo.
Herodotus 1.144.2 - “At the games in honor of Triopian Apollo, certain bronze tripods were given to the victors. The victors did not take the tripods away with them but dedicate them there to the god, Apollo.”
Herodotus 4.155.3 - An oracle from the Pythia, “Battus, you have come for a voice; but Lord Phoebus Apollo. Sends you to found a city in Libya, nurse of sheep.”
Pausanias 1.43.7 - An oracle from the Pythia told Coroebus, after he had slain Vengeance, to carry a tripod as far as he could and where ever that tripod fell he should build a temple to Apollo and live there. As it turns out he dropped the tripod off Mount Gerania and dwelt in the village called the Little Tripods.
Pausanias 2.9.7 - “For wolves once so preyed upon their flocks that there was no longer any profit therefrom, and the god, mentioning a certain place where lay a dry log, gave an oracle that the bark of this log mixed with meat was to be set out for the beasts to eat. As soon as they tasted it the bark killed them, and that log lay in my time in the sanctuary of the Wolf-god, but not even the guides of the Sicyonians knew what kind of tree it was.”
Pindar Olympian 8.38 - Three gray-green serpents attempt to jump a wall. All of them die, the last one with a cry. Apollo reads this as an omen from Zeus and offers his interpretation.
Pindar Pythian 4.5 - Apollo gave an oracle that named Battus as the founder of Libya. The oracle told how Battus would found a colony of “fine chariots on a shining white breast of the earth.”
Pindar Pythian 5.64 - Pindar reports on Apollo’s character including his possession of an oracular shrine.
Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus 1012 - Oedipus fears that Apollo’s oracle might come true due to his actions.
