I know it has been a while since anyone wrote about this but I
was doing a bit of reading and it reminded me of this discussion
so...
BTW, my last post complaining about not being able to post posted
so I guess everything is all right now, whatever was happening.
jdcroft:
> The mouse was an automatic attraction to the first granaries, and
the
> serpent followed the mouse. It contains an interesting reference
to
> the conflict between Gaia's Python and Apollo over Delphi. It
seems
> that there was a mouse or rat God associated with disease (and thus
> by association with healing) throughout Khattic Anatolia. Early on
> he became associated with Aplu, an alternative name for the West
> Anatolian Weather God, who wore a laurel wreath and held a laurel
> staff and twig. Aplu seems to have been a title given to Tarhunt
or
> Teshub, derived ultimately from Akkadian sources (eg Ashur-Aplu-
Iddin
> was a king of Assyria who had great trading connections with
> Anatolia). He is associated with the Canaanite Esmun, another
mouse
> god of sickness (and therefore invoked for healing). His solar
> atributes came late he stole from Helios. It seems that as he came
> west from Anatolia he came through the area associated with Artemis
> who was associated already with the moon, and this, by opposition
led
> to his solar aspect.
> Apollo was not wolf born. His mother Ledo coupled with swans not
> wolves. Leto, has been associated with the Ugaritic
> Canaanite "'Lat", who was persued by Yam, in guise of a serpent.
> This myth seems to have been adopted from Phoenicians in post
> Mycenaean times. The Mycenaean "Paean" later became an epithet of
> the Anatolian Aplu.
If Apollo was associated with a weather deity like Teshub, wouldn't
his connection with the serpent story also likely be old? In one
version of the story, Apollo killed Python for assaulting his mother,
then assuming the power of prophecy.
The weather god is traditionally the bane of the serpent, especially
when the weather god is also playing the role of the Oedipal hero
figure, killing or castrating the monstrous father figure. Apollo's
epithet of "striker" is also associated with the thunder god, killer
of the serpent. Kumarbis swallowing the head of the phallus of his
father,Anus, before killing him reminds me especially of this.
Also, certain conditions of Apollo's birth are reminescent of the
archetypal cultural hero as described by Otto Rank. A journey through
water and swans are mentioned as symbols associated with the
birth/emergence of the hero . One parallel that caught my eye was the
hero Lohengrin, who was said to appear on a raft being towed by
swans, not unlike the floating isle of Delos surrounded by swans.
This hero identity makes special sense if Apollo was once considered
a supreme deity, or at least one of great importance to the culture
of the time, say Anatolia as weather god.
Also, The story of Apollo's birth includes Leto being chased across
the sea by Hera, unable to find rest. I checked on the locations
where she fled, and most of them happened to be on islands off the
coast of Anatolia, usually islands said to be strongholds of
Pelasgian culture.
Could this be an example of a war between two mother god concepts,
with Hera/Uni winning out except in a few remote sanctuaries, and
Leto as an old construct? Perhaps an analogy for the Pelasgian
peoples being chased about by increasingly aggressive competing
cultures and belief systems?
Regarding the Akkadian origin of Aplu, is this certain? Could the
Akkadian ruler's name be taken from an Anatolian source? I have no
idea about this, just curious.
The staff and twig are both symbols of the magician. The twig in
particular sounds like a divination rod to me, maybe I'm reaching
with that one, though. In any case, would this weather god connection
in particular have to do with Apollo's connection as a prophetic god?
Etruscan Apulu was said to be connected closely with divination and
lightning.
Just a whole bunch of speculation.
-Mr. Caws