Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/200

Rh 186 A P A P lyre. But that which brought Apollo most closely home to the hearts of the people was his character of a destroying but yet an appeasable god. Pestilence and death by an unseen cause, or in the beauty of youth, were traced to him, and to prevent doubt as to his having a good reason in each case, there were the myths which told how, for example, he sent a pestilence on the Greeks before Troy, because Chryse is, the daughter of his priest, was retained in captivity by Agamemnon ; or again, how with the aid of his sister Artemis (Diana) he slew the children of Xiobe, because she had boasted of their beauty. A typical instance of his causing death undesignedly is that of his favourite, the beautiful young Hyacinthus, who was killed by the disc (a symbol of the sun) which Apollo had thrown in play. Besides accepting atonement in such cases, he was the god of the penitent generally, but especially of those, like Orestes, guilty of a crime which required years of expiation. For such he was himself the prototype, having been twice banished from Olympus, and compelled first to act for a period as herdsman to Admetus, the king of Pherae, and next to assist Poseidon (Neptune) in building the walls of Troy for Laomedon. While thus the power of the sun god was recognised with varying feelings according to occasion, it was, on the other hand, always kept in view as an active principle in nature by the regular system of festivals. Of these the most remarkable was that called Carneia, which was annually held at Sparta in August, the whole population withdrawing from the town for several days, and living in tents to avoid the effect of intense heat. In July, also, the Spartans held a festival of nine days in his honour, called Hyacinthia, the burden of the ceremony being the transi- toriness of life mingled with trust in its return. In Athens the festival of Thargelia was held in his honour in May, to celebrate the ripening of the fruits of the field; while in the Metageitnia, in August, he was regarded as the god of plenty, and as the source of neighbourly feeling. At Delphi, among a constant round of ceremonies, two festivals weie conspicuous : at the beginning of winter, when the god was supposed to go away to the Hyperborean region, and at the beginning of summer, when he was believed to return ; the latter event being hailed with every expression of delight in music and song. At Thebes was held every eighth year a peculiar ceremony, Daphnephoria, in honour of Apollo Ismenios, consisting of a procession in which was carried a branch of olive, hung with wreaths and repre sentations of the sun, moon, planets, and stars, the number of wreaths being 365. This object was called the Kopo. In May the ancient national festival at Delos was celebrated. It remains to notice the very prevalent association of Apollo as sun-god with Artemis (Diana) as moon-goddess, the aspect of these two luminaries having readily suggested that their presiding deities were twins. But Apollo and Diana resembled each other also in many attributes of their character as well as in appearance. Just as he was god of the influence of the sun on nature, with a subordinate deity Helios (Sol) to guide the orb, so she personified the power of the moon, delegating its course to the goddess Selene (Luna). In Eome the worship of Apollo was not intro duced until 320 B.C., in which year the city had been visited with a pestilence. The most frequent symbols of Apollo are the bow arid the lyre ; the tripod, suggesting his oracular power ; the laurel, which was carried by penitents as well as worn by victors, and into which Daphne was changed for not yielding to his love ; the palm, the wolf, the deer, and the raven. In the ripe period of art Apollo appears in a form which seeks to combine manhood and eternal youth. His long hair is usually tied, like that of his sister Diana, in a large knot above his forehead. As leader of the Muses, he wears long ample drapery girt at the waist, his tresses falling on his shoulders. (A. s. M.) APOLLO BELVIDERE, a marble statue of Apollo, found towards the end of the 15th century near Antium (Capo d Anzo], a favourite resort of Roman emperors. Julius II., while yet a cardinal, purchased it; and on becoming Pope allowed it to be placed, through Michael Angelo, in the Belvidere of the Vatican, whence it was taken by the French in 1797, but restored in 1815. The marble some believe to be Greek, though perhaps the best authorities call it Carrara. In any case the statue is not an original work, but a copy apparently from a very fine Greek statue of about the beginning of the 3rd century B.C., of which another copy has been identified in a bronze statuette now in St Petersburg, known as the Stroganoff Apollo. Lately also a marble head has been found at Rome, corresponding closely in measurement and in style, confirming what is suggested by the statue, viz., that the original was of bronze. From the bronze statuette it is found that the Apollo Belvidere held forward in his left hand, not a bow as was thought, but the cegis, in the attitude of spreading consternation among an enemy, as he did among the Trojans, and it is usual to adopt as the occasion for the production of this statue the invasion of the Gauls, whom, in 278 B.C., the god drove in alarm from his sanctuary at Delphi. The extraordinary praise be stowed on it by Winckelmann secured for this statue a fame from which the discovery of true Greek sculptures since then has gradually detracted, to this extent, that even its original cannot now be placed in the best period of Greek art. APOLLODORUS, a celebrated painter of Athens who lived about 408 B.C. From the improvements he intro duced into the art of mingling colours, and the use he made of shading, he obtained the surname, 2/aypa&amp;lt;o9. APOLLODORUS, an Athenian grammarian, son of Asclepiades, and disciple of Aristarchus, lived about 140 B.C. His most famous production is his Bibliotheca, which treats of the gods and the heroic age ; and though the extant work is possibly only an abridgment by another hand of the original, it is of great value in mythological inquiries. The best edition is that of Heyne, 2 vols. Svo, published in 1803. APOLLODORUS (60-130 A.D.), an architect, born at Damascus, a favourite of Trajan, for whom he constructed the stone bridge over the Danube (104 A.D.), which was esteemed the most magnificent of all the works of that emperor. He also planned a gymnasium, a college, public baths, the Odeum, and the Forum Trajanum, within the city of Rome ; and the triumphal arches at Beneventum and Ancona. The Trajan column in the centre of the Forum is celebrated as being the first triumphal monument of the kind, and the model of many others in different cities, as Paris, London, St Petersburg, &c. On the elevation of Hadrian to the throne, Apollodorus was banished from Rome, and shortly afterwards, being charged with imaginary crimes, was put to death (Dion Cassius, Ixix) APOLLONIA, the name, derived from the god Apollo, of several cities of antiquity. The most important are 1. An Illyrian city on the right bank of the Aous, which owed its foundation to the Corinthians and Corcyreans. It soon became a place of commercial prosperity, was at a later period regarded as of military importance, and towards the close of the Roman republic acquired fame as a seat of literature and philosophy. It seems to have sunk with the rise of Aulon, and few remains of its ruins are to be found. 2. A Thracian city (afterwards Sozopolis, and now Sizeboli}, colonised by the Milesians, and famous for its colossal statue of Apollo, which Lucullus removed to Rome. 3. The port of Cyrene (afterwards Sozusa, now Marsa Sousah), which at length outgrew the greatness of Cyrene itself, and has left ample evidence of its magnificence in the ruins of its public buildings. It was the birth-place of Eratosthenes, usually known as of Cyrene.