Apollo (was Re: [tied] Nostradamus and Dumezil)

MrCaws@... wrote:

> I used to wonder how Apollo was depicted as a serpent on
> > Delos, or even how he slew the Python at Delphi considering he

was

> in
> > no way a thunder-god. Now I know. Delphi was the center of the
> world
> > in Greek tradition. Ormazd defeated Ahriman in the center of the
> > world before casting him into the abyss. Apollo continued this

same

> > myth in Greece. Even his birthplace on Delos makes sense: the
> > heavenly paradise located in the center of the world, where is
> > located in Persian myth the 'world mountain' as is found on

Delos.

>
> I would argue that Apollo took on the role of serpent slayer

because

> he played the role of cultural hero. The thunder deity(Thor, Perun
> etc) often plays this role, but others do as well. Hercules for
> example. Since Apollo was a big cheese cultural hero, esp. in the
> Aegean and W. Anatolia, this slaying makes sense. There is also a
> freudian hero element to the story, as one version of the story has

a

> serpent molesting Leto, and Apollo then taking his vengeance. This,
> though, seems to be connected to a Canaanite story about Laton

(Leto),

> and Yamm as the serpent, interestingly enough.
>
> In addition, this story bolsters Apollo's claim to deity of

prophecy

> by defeating a demonized version of a predecessor.

I find it ironic considering Apollo's origins as the Hurrian-Hattic
god Aplu - the mouse god of the plague. It is interesting that
Apollo, as a god of illness needed to be apeased in the diseases he
caused. This promoted him to being God of Medicine. Travelling
Westwards to the Aegean, it seems he there became associated with the
Mycenaeans God "Paean" - a God of song and music, with whom he fused
to become the God of Delos. It would appear that it was in this
guise he first came to Delphi, not as slayer of the serpents, but as
a snake charmer! Eventually, through association with lunar Artemis
as his twin sister, with Lat/Leto recognised as his mother, Apollo
became recognised as Phoebus Apollo - sun god who substituted or
absorbed the earlier sun-god Helios. As Helios he could not just
charm the serpents of Gaia, he was now forced to slay them. Here we
see the historic transformation of a God of Rodents, becoming a
Killer of Serpents. The first case of a mouse killing a snake that I
have heard!

Regards

John