--- In cybalist@..., "Joseph S Crary" <pva@...> wrote:
>
> Cort
>
> I think the Cattle Raid of Hermes is a myth about change, lunar
> eclipses and seasonal. Here Hermes plays the part of the underworld
> god. The bovines are lunar cattle that pull the cart that the moon
> and/or sun god drives. It seems that Initially, the myth was about
> the IE deity Silen-os. This is a name that can mean both moon and
> sun, as in solar. Later Silenos is reduced in status, while
remaining
> the myth's main action figure As the Apollon deity usurped Silenos
> by the time the myth was recorded, the former was simply inserted
> into the cattle raid story to explain why he also was a god of
music.
I read a critique of Silenos being attached to the cattle raid story,
as the source for this is a satyr-play where Silenos assisted Apollo
retrieve his cattle. The satyrs, and naturally Silenos as their
headman, always play a major role in the satyr plays, even in myths
where they are otherwise uninvolved. Is there evidence linking
Silenos to this myth independent of the satyr play?
I agree in part wit the idea that the musical instrument part of the
story was created to explain Apollo's musical power.The fact that
Apollo has powers as musician and prophet, traditionally the turf of
the king of beasts-underworld-fertility type deity, yet functions as
a cultural hero requires explanation. This story provides this in the
traditional heroic fashion, Apollo following the underworld deity to
his lair and besting him, gaining his newfound lyre as a prize.
I also read a story that has Apollo gaining his prophetic powers from
Pan, again a fertility lord of the wild type.
-Cort Williams